Joyce's bookshelf: librarybook en-US Tue, 13 May 2025 10:58:36 -0700 60 Joyce's bookshelf: librarybook 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)]]> 150247395
Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.]]> 410 Robert Jackson Bennett 1984820702 Joyce 0 librarybook
This new series reminds me of T. Kingfisher at her most whimsical -- in other words, without much feminist rigor. In fact it's quite notable that a mouthy, eccentric female investigator of no apparent fortune gets basically zero static for her gender in a world run by the military and landed gentry. If you like Kingfisher or AG Slatter but find them too grim and airlessly woman-centric, Bennett may well be the delightful romp you're looking for.]]> 4.28 2024 The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/05/10
date added: 2025/05/13
shelves: librarybook
review:
The miracle of what we call genre fiction is that the basic ingredients get constantly recombined into new, fresh entertainments. We've seen all of the elements here before -- a "Holmes and Watson" story set in an oddly technological fantasy world -- but rarely accomplished with this much elan.

This new series reminds me of T. Kingfisher at her most whimsical -- in other words, without much feminist rigor. In fact it's quite notable that a mouthy, eccentric female investigator of no apparent fortune gets basically zero static for her gender in a world run by the military and landed gentry. If you like Kingfisher or AG Slatter but find them too grim and airlessly woman-centric, Bennett may well be the delightful romp you're looking for.
]]> <![CDATA[Picks and Shovels (Martin Hench, #3)]]> 211004856 New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow returns to the world of Red Team Blues to bring us the origin story of Martin Hench and the most powerful new tool for crime ever the personal computer.

The year is 1986. The city is San Francisco. Here, Martin Hench will invent the forensic accountant--what a bounty hunter is to people, he is to money--but for now he's an MIT dropout odd-jobbing his way around a city still reeling from the invention of a revolutionary new technology that will change everything about crime forever, one we now take completely for granted.

When Marty finds himself hired by Silicon Valley PC startup the Three Wise Men to investigate a group of disgruntled ex-employees who've founded a competitor startup, he quickly realizes he's on the wrong side. Marty ditches the greasy old guys running Three Wise Men without a second thought, utterly infatuated with the electric atmosphere of Magenta Women's Enterprise. Located in the heart of the Mission, this group of brilliant young women found themselves exhausted by the predatory business practices of Three Wise Men and set out to beat them at their own game, making better computers and driving Three Wise Men out of business. But this optimistic startup, fueled by young love and California-style burritos, has no idea the depth of the evil they're seeking to unroot or the risks they run.

In this company-eat-company city, Martin and his friends will be lucky to escape with their lives.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 400 Cory Doctorow 1250865905 Joyce 0 librarybook
The plot here isn't gonna win too many awards for plausibility, but the setting and characters are pleasantly reminiscent of _Halt and Catch Fire_. Possibly Hench's three clients are a bit TOO saintly, but they make an effective vehicle to talk about the idealistic strain of tech, which was largely missing from the first two volumes in this series. Also I hope that young readers take seriously what a miracle SPREADSHEETS in particular were at that time. The kinds of analysis and modeling you could do with a spreadsheet were a huge revelation compared to paper ledgers, but PCs revolutionized even being able to quickly detect gross malfeasance like embezzlement in a business.

I'd especially recommend this book to young women who are interested in the tech business! There's very little sex or drugs or even drinking here, unlike the other volumes in the series which are soaked in 15 year old whisky and lightly dusted with cocaine offered by gorgeous and expensive women. I'm interested to see where the series is going, because so far he basically has gone backwards a decade with each episode but I don't think he can keep that particular gimmick going indefinitely.]]> 4.17 2025 Picks and Shovels (Martin Hench, #3)
author: Cory Doctorow
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/20
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: librarybook
review:
In this story we're going WAAYYY back before the Internet, to the early days of the personal computer revolution. Our erstwhile protagonist Martin Hench was young, uncertain of his path in life, and if not actually poor he doesn't yet solve 80% of his problems with a platinum card either.

The plot here isn't gonna win too many awards for plausibility, but the setting and characters are pleasantly reminiscent of _Halt and Catch Fire_. Possibly Hench's three clients are a bit TOO saintly, but they make an effective vehicle to talk about the idealistic strain of tech, which was largely missing from the first two volumes in this series. Also I hope that young readers take seriously what a miracle SPREADSHEETS in particular were at that time. The kinds of analysis and modeling you could do with a spreadsheet were a huge revelation compared to paper ledgers, but PCs revolutionized even being able to quickly detect gross malfeasance like embezzlement in a business.

I'd especially recommend this book to young women who are interested in the tech business! There's very little sex or drugs or even drinking here, unlike the other volumes in the series which are soaked in 15 year old whisky and lightly dusted with cocaine offered by gorgeous and expensive women. I'm interested to see where the series is going, because so far he basically has gone backwards a decade with each episode but I don't think he can keep that particular gimmick going indefinitely.
]]> <![CDATA[Red Team Blues (Martin Hench, #1)]]> 60784417
Martin Hench is 67 years old, single, and successful in a career stretching back to the beginnings of Silicon Valley. He lives and roams California in a very comfortable fully-furnished touring bus, The Unsalted Hash, that he bought years ago from a fading rock star. He knows his way around good food and fine drink. He likes intelligent women, and they like him back often enough.

Martin is a―contain your excitement―self-employed forensic accountant, a veteran of the long guerilla war between people who want to hide money, and people who want to find it. He knows computer hardware and software alike, including the ins and outs of high-end databases and the kinds of spreadsheets that are designed to conceal rather than reveal. He’s as comfortable with social media as people a quarter his age, and he’s a world-level expert on the kind of international money-laundering and shell-company chicanery used by Fortune 500 companies, mid-divorce billionaires, and international drug gangs alike. He also knows the Valley like the back of his hand, all the secret histories of charismatic company founders and Sand Hill Road VCs. Because he was there at all the beginnings. He’s not famous, except to the people who matter. He’s made some pretty powerful people happy in his time, and he’s been paid pretty well. It’s been a good life.

Now he’s been roped into a job that’s more dangerous than anything he’s ever agreed to before―and it will take every ounce of his skill to get out alive.]]> 213 Cory Doctorow 1250865840 Joyce 0 librarybook
A lot of the joy of the scenario for older techies like myself is the pitch-perfect depiction of Silicon Valley's unique combo of technical idealism and sick amounts of money. Martin Hench is a professional skeptic but the habits and mores of the Bay Area are also deeply ingrained in him -- from living on a tour bus, to sleeping with beautiful women who basically see him as a well-mannered and undemanding friend, to taking 25% as his finder's fee -- he's a perfect observer as he moves through the world, cloaked by the fact he looks like a middle-aged forensic accountant named Marty.

Doctorow handles the thriller elements competently but there are few surprises in that area, except for a brief interlude where Marty has to hide in plain sight that was fresh if not particularly believable. Characterizations aren't deep, but these are all people who live for their work so that might be just as well. The story feels a lot like having a long boozy dinner with an old friend in Palo Alto, for better and worse.]]> 3.77 2023 Red Team Blues (Martin Hench, #1)
author: Cory Doctorow
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/16
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: librarybook
review:
I've been aware of Cory Doctorow for MANY years, and have read his essays and blogs for almost as long -- but I'd never actually read the fiction which he's been releasing for 22+ years now. This was partly because I perceived it to be designed to appeal to younger, hipper readers: the kind who live in cohousing or polycules, are makers and practitioners of Burning Man-relevant hobbies, and experiment with physical and mental alterations. But now Cory is middle-aged like me, and he seems to be looking backwards to the era when tech was FUN with this newer thriller series about a middle-aged forensic accountant in Silicon Valley.

A lot of the joy of the scenario for older techies like myself is the pitch-perfect depiction of Silicon Valley's unique combo of technical idealism and sick amounts of money. Martin Hench is a professional skeptic but the habits and mores of the Bay Area are also deeply ingrained in him -- from living on a tour bus, to sleeping with beautiful women who basically see him as a well-mannered and undemanding friend, to taking 25% as his finder's fee -- he's a perfect observer as he moves through the world, cloaked by the fact he looks like a middle-aged forensic accountant named Marty.

Doctorow handles the thriller elements competently but there are few surprises in that area, except for a brief interlude where Marty has to hide in plain sight that was fresh if not particularly believable. Characterizations aren't deep, but these are all people who live for their work so that might be just as well. The story feels a lot like having a long boozy dinner with an old friend in Palo Alto, for better and worse.
]]> <![CDATA[Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King, #2)]]> 63910262 In the luscious, dark sequel to One Dark Window, Elspeth must face the consequences of what she's wrought - perfect for readers of Hannah Whitten's For the Wolf and Alexis Henderson's The Year of the Witching.

Elspeth and Ravyn have gathered most of the twelve Providence Cards, but the last, and most important one remains to be found: The Twin Alders.

If they are going to find it before the Solstice and cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it, they will need to journey beyond the dangerous mist-cloaked forest that surrounds their kingdom.

And the only one who can lead them there is the monster that shares Elspeth's head. The Nightmare. And he's not eager to share any longer.]]> 437 Rachel Gillig 0356519503 Joyce 0 librarybook
One of the quirks of this novel is that it depends for a surprising amount of effect on people knowing about a bunch of tree species that are neither common nor particularly valued in the US. I looked them all up and was surprised to find that the sinister yew is... a quick-growing but invasive shrub that people use to fill up bare spots in the yards of houses they're trying to sell! Hawthorns and rowans are both shrubby but pretty members of Rosaceae with attractive red berries; spindle trees are similar but with extra-hard wood that can be sharpened to a point to make spindles, and a poisonous 4 lobed fruit.

The author did an extra good job showing how utterly helpless magic-users are when the source of their magic is taken away. These characters barely know how to throw a punch or detect a half-truth because they have magic that does all that for them. And unlike magical systems in many fantasy books, the cards are entirely effort-free if used appropriately -- there's no special bloodline you need to have, no awakening, no training necessary. You just tap the right card three times and get whatever you're promised... subject to the rules of balance.]]> 4.38 2023 Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King, #2)
author: Rachel Gillig
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves: librarybook
review:
The conclusion of a duology that is essentially one very long novel. Absolutely no point starting it if you haven't read the first volume, _One Dark Window_.

One of the quirks of this novel is that it depends for a surprising amount of effect on people knowing about a bunch of tree species that are neither common nor particularly valued in the US. I looked them all up and was surprised to find that the sinister yew is... a quick-growing but invasive shrub that people use to fill up bare spots in the yards of houses they're trying to sell! Hawthorns and rowans are both shrubby but pretty members of Rosaceae with attractive red berries; spindle trees are similar but with extra-hard wood that can be sharpened to a point to make spindles, and a poisonous 4 lobed fruit.

The author did an extra good job showing how utterly helpless magic-users are when the source of their magic is taken away. These characters barely know how to throw a punch or detect a half-truth because they have magic that does all that for them. And unlike magical systems in many fantasy books, the cards are entirely effort-free if used appropriately -- there's no special bloodline you need to have, no awakening, no training necessary. You just tap the right card three times and get whatever you're promised... subject to the rules of balance.
]]> <![CDATA[One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)]]> 58340706
Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom of Blunder—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.

But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure Blunder from the dark magic infecting it. And the highwayman? He just so happens to be the King’s nephew, Captain of the most dangerous men in Blunder…and guilty of high treason.

Together they must gather twelve Providence Cards—the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.]]> 399 Rachel Gillig 0316312487 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.25 2022 One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)
author: Rachel Gillig
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: librarybook
review:
The setup here is pretty standard -- a young woman from a noble family, struggling with magic while forced into a deadly game of court politics -- but the card-based magic system will appeal to players of TTRPGs in particular. I personally found the protagonist a little too lightly sketched -- for instance, what did she do all day before the action of the book started? there's no real clue, she had no duties or hobbies AFAICT unless you count occasionally zoning out to chat with her alter ego the Nightmare -- but it's a common failing in romantasy, where slightly unusual physical beauty + strong magic often stand in for more durable virtues.
]]> All the Murmuring Bones 55302933
A spellbinding tale of dark family secrets, magic and witches, and creatures of myth and the sea; of strong women and the men who seek to control them.]]> 337 A.G. Slatter Joyce 0 librarybook
All of these novels to date involve young women who are the underestimated and underloved scions of powerful families, valued only insofar as they are exceptionally capable at unglamorous chores disdained by others or expected to marry for the benefit of others. Most of the others are very much "land" novels, but this one is pervaded by saltwater. Miren O'Malley is the final member of a once-wealthy mercantile family come upon hard times due to their failure to keep an ancient bargain with the sea. She is expected to somehow recoup all their losses, but she also has plenty of her own personal tragedies -- such as the disappearance of her parents when she was a baby -- to grieve, investigate, and avenge.

I didn't find this novel as rich and multifaceted as the others in this loose series, but that's a pretty high bar. There's no need whatsoever to read the books in order, and to be frank I'd probably do this one after the others.]]> 3.95 2021 All the Murmuring Bones
author: A.G. Slatter
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
Slatter has, for most of her career, been a well-regarded short story specialist whose work tends to be published in anthologies and small-press editions if it's available at all -- clearly an artiste, not a commercial writer except for a urban fantasy trilogy that apparently went nowhere. But during COVID she suddenly burst forth as a full-on novelist, blending horror, suspense, historical fiction, fantasy, and feminism into a heady cocktail -- beginning with this volume and continuing in rapid succession with _The Path of Thorns_, _The Briar Book of the Dead_, and the upcoming _The Crimson Road_.

All of these novels to date involve young women who are the underestimated and underloved scions of powerful families, valued only insofar as they are exceptionally capable at unglamorous chores disdained by others or expected to marry for the benefit of others. Most of the others are very much "land" novels, but this one is pervaded by saltwater. Miren O'Malley is the final member of a once-wealthy mercantile family come upon hard times due to their failure to keep an ancient bargain with the sea. She is expected to somehow recoup all their losses, but she also has plenty of her own personal tragedies -- such as the disappearance of her parents when she was a baby -- to grieve, investigate, and avenge.

I didn't find this novel as rich and multifaceted as the others in this loose series, but that's a pretty high bar. There's no need whatsoever to read the books in order, and to be frank I'd probably do this one after the others.
]]> <![CDATA[The Restaurant of Lost Recipes (Kamogawa Food Detectives, #2)]]> 205063868 The Restaurant of Lost Recipes is the second book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Kamogawa Food Detectives series, for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

We all hold lost recipes in our hearts. A very special restaurant in Kyoto helps recreate them...

Chef Nagare and his daughter Koishi serve their customers more than delicious food at their Kamogawa Diner down a quiet street in Kyoto. They can help recreate meals from their customers� most treasured memories. Through ingenious investigations, these “food detectives� untangle flavors and pore through old shopping lists to remake unique dishes from the past.

From the swimmer who misses his father’s lunchbox to the model who longs for fried rice from her childhood, each customer leaves the diner forever changed—though not always in the ways they expect�

A beloved bestseller in Japan, The Restaurant of Lost Recipes is a tender and healing novel that celebrates the power of community and delicious food.]]> 214 Hisashi Kashiwai 0593717805 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.85 2014 The Restaurant of Lost Recipes (Kamogawa Food Detectives, #2)
author: Hisashi Kashiwai
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: librarybook
review:
If you've already enjoyed _The Kamogawa Food Detectives_, you'll also enjoy this one. Really not much more to say about it, except I'd forgotten how mouthwatering the descriptions of Japanese food are!
]]> <![CDATA[Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy, #1)]]> 217536270
In the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn't much a girl wouldn't do for a glass of water.

Twenty-four-year-old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets. No one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen's reservoirs for as long as she can remember.

But a secret is like a knot. Sooner or later, it is bound to come undone.

When Saeris comes face-to-face with Death himself, she inadvertently re-opens a gateway between realms and is transported to a land of ice and snow. The Fae have always been the stuff of myth, of legend, of nightmares... but it turns out they're real, and Saeris has landed herself in the middle of a centuries-long conflict that might just get her killed.

The first of her kind to tread the frozen mountains of Yvelia in over a thousand years, Saeris mistakenly binds herself to Kingfisher, a handsome Fae warrior, who has secrets and nefarious agendas of his own. He will use her Alchemist's magic to protect his people, no matter what it costs him . . . or her.

Death has a name. It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. His past is murky. His attitude stinks. And he's the only way Saeris is going to make it home.]]> 624 Callie Hart 1538774194 Joyce 0 librarybook
The protagonist is bratty and impulsive to distraction at first -- I get why she might be, but also would a successful thief and rebel be THIS unable to keep her mouth shut!?!? -- but it works for the narrative. The author also doesn't shrink away from showing that magic always extracts a price, sometimes the right person isn't the one who pays it, and raw power is often subordinate to making the right choices.]]> 4.28 2024 Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy, #1)
author: Callie Hart
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
Callie Hart is a longtime romance novelist -- one of her most recent series is set in a high school! -- who suddenly busted out with a very long, detailed fantasy novel. I always enjoy seeing writers who have toiled for years without finding that one great concept, when they FINALLY hit... and she deserves all the praise because this reads like a new classic of the romantasy genre.

The protagonist is bratty and impulsive to distraction at first -- I get why she might be, but also would a successful thief and rebel be THIS unable to keep her mouth shut!?!? -- but it works for the narrative. The author also doesn't shrink away from showing that magic always extracts a price, sometimes the right person isn't the one who pays it, and raw power is often subordinate to making the right choices.
]]> The Path of Thorns 55302954 365 A.G. Slatter 1789094380 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.98 2022 The Path of Thorns
author: A.G. Slatter
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
Self-described by the author in the end note as "Jane Eyre meets Dr Frankenstein". Much more of a horror vibe than I expected, but as always Slatter's true forte is making you understand how growing up with a lack of love and attention can make women vulnerable -- no matter how intelligent or otherwise competent they are.
]]> The Briar Book of the Dead 128746994 Set in the same universe as the acclaimed All the Murmuring Bones and The Path of Thorns (one of Oprah Daily's Top 25 Fantasy Novels of 2022), this beautifully told Gothic fairy tale of ghosts, witches, deadly secrets and past sins, will be perfect for fans of Hannah Whitten and Ava Reid.

Ellie Briar is the first non-witch to be born into her family for generations. The Briar family of witches run the town of Silverton, caring for its inhabitants with their skills and magic. In the usual scheme of things, they would be burnt for their sorcery, but the church has given them dispensation in return for their protection of the borders of the Darklands, where the much-feared Leech Lords hold sway.

Ellie is being trained as a steward, administering for the town, and warding off the insistent interest of the church. When her grandmother dies suddenly, Ellie's cousin Audra rises to the position of Briar Witch, propelling Ellie into her new role. As she navigates fresh challenges, an unexpected new ability to see and speak to the dead leads her to uncover sinister family secrets, stories of burnings, lost grimoires and evil spells. Reeling from one revelation to the next, she seeks answers from the long dead and is forced to decide who to trust, as a devastating plot threatens to destroy everything the Briar witches have sacrificed so much to build.

Told in the award-winning author's trademark gorgeous, addictive prose, this is an intricately woven tale of a family of witches struggling against the bonds of past sins and persecution.]]> 368 A.G. Slatter 1803364556 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.07 2024 The Briar Book of the Dead
author: A.G. Slatter
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/28
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
This author excels at depicting supremely competent young women who carry a lifelong wound from feeling unloved and unspecial. In this case the protagonist is an administrator -- the one who gets all the tedious shit done without complaint or excuse -- from a famed family of witches, despite her lack of any magic herself. The family is undergoing a tumultuous generational change as well as dealing with mysterious deaths, hauntings, and external threats in their prosperous but creepy village. A very small amount of romance, of the "they went into the cottage together" variety, but Slatter does not hesitate to describe various bodily fluids in nauseating detail.
]]> Nettle & Bone 56590186 This isn't the kind of fairytale where the princess marries a prince.
It's the one where she kills him.

Marra never wanted to be a hero.

As the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter, she escaped the traditional fate of princesses, to be married away for the sake of an uncaring throne. But her sister wasn’t so fortunate—and after years of silence, Marra is done watching her suffer at the hands of a powerful and abusive prince.

Seeking help for her rescue mission, Marra is offered the tools she needs, but only if she can complete three seemingly impossible tasks:
—build a dog of bones
—sew a cloak of nettles
—capture moonlight in a jar

But, as is the way in tales of princes and witches, doing the impossible is only the beginning.

Hero or not—now joined by a disgraced ex-knight, a reluctant fairy godmother, an enigmatic gravewitch and her fowl familiar—Marra might finally have the courage to save her sister, and topple a throne.]]> 259 T. Kingfisher Joyce 0 librarybook 4.26 2022 Nettle & Bone
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/26
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
A fleshed-out fairytale with a proto-feminist twist. I loved how thoroughly the author demonstrated that borrowed power -- power because you're born into a certain family, or married into one, or are beautiful, or bore a much-desired heir -- is more a liability than an asset. Most of the story is taken up with understanding the central conflict and then the whole "putting a team together" aspect, with a relatively small part devoted to the actual mission. There only a hint of romance here but the whole story is driven by violence towards women,so I'd say this novel is suitable for some teens but not all.
]]> <![CDATA[The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)]]> 45047384
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.]]> 394 T.J. Klune Joyce 0 librarybook 4.37 2020 The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/23
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: librarybook
review:
Heartwarming little fable, but wow is it didactic about prejudice and repression! It's a little bit risky to have a protagonist who starts off our tale both rigidly rule-following AND basically with no backstory whatsoever except a love of golden oldies music -- no family, no old traumas or significant events, no siblings, no friends, dude has never even been on vacation! -- and I'm not sure Klune pulls it off here. He is a writer who excels at heartbreak that can't ever really be healed and complex love affairs that often take time to work themselves out, and the main story here simply doesn't have the room for what he does best.
]]> Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) 90202302 “The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.� —Xaden Riorson

Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.

Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders� capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves.

Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits—and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.

But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year.

Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.]]> 623 Rebecca Yarros 1649374178 Joyce 0 librarybook
Ahhh, the DIFFICULT second book in a trilogy -- the one that needs to move the plot along, dispose of old characters and add new ones, and set up the finale for maximum impact. This one suffers from a couple of not uncommon problems, the most important of which is that the entire plot basically requires the characters to love each other but not be able to communicate at all for various reasons -- which leads to MANY MANY MANY scenes of Violet screeching to herself that she Must Nobly Remain Silent To Save Others No Matter The Cost To Her, and then randomly reversing her decisions because she wants to have sex or feels guilty, and then reversing AGAIN when she's feeling more logical.

The villains are basically avatars of pure evil because this author isn't good at depicting the subtler motivations that would lead someone to truly BELIEVE they were doing the right thing by, for instance, torturing someone. Instead we get a Snidely Whiplash type, veritably twirling his villainous mustachios while lurking in the corridors of the academy; the well-nigh miraculous return of an old enemy; and a new romantic rival.

Nevertheless, the pages turned! I did have to read the book twice because I found I couldn't follow the plot very well the first time, and some of the most important "clues" can be very brief -- a mere word or two in a reasonably long conversation. And of course the story ended with some of the author's massive cliffhangers. It's hard to see how the author can maintain the frame of three years at a military academy considering the events of this volume, but I'm looking forward to seeing how Yarros wraps up her story.]]> 4.33 2023 Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/21
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: librarybook
review:
SPOILERS AHEAD

Ahhh, the DIFFICULT second book in a trilogy -- the one that needs to move the plot along, dispose of old characters and add new ones, and set up the finale for maximum impact. This one suffers from a couple of not uncommon problems, the most important of which is that the entire plot basically requires the characters to love each other but not be able to communicate at all for various reasons -- which leads to MANY MANY MANY scenes of Violet screeching to herself that she Must Nobly Remain Silent To Save Others No Matter The Cost To Her, and then randomly reversing her decisions because she wants to have sex or feels guilty, and then reversing AGAIN when she's feeling more logical.

The villains are basically avatars of pure evil because this author isn't good at depicting the subtler motivations that would lead someone to truly BELIEVE they were doing the right thing by, for instance, torturing someone. Instead we get a Snidely Whiplash type, veritably twirling his villainous mustachios while lurking in the corridors of the academy; the well-nigh miraculous return of an old enemy; and a new romantic rival.

Nevertheless, the pages turned! I did have to read the book twice because I found I couldn't follow the plot very well the first time, and some of the most important "clues" can be very brief -- a mere word or two in a reasonably long conversation. And of course the story ended with some of the author's massive cliffhangers. It's hard to see how the author can maintain the frame of three years at a military academy considering the events of this volume, but I'm looking forward to seeing how Yarros wraps up her story.
]]> <![CDATA[Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile� humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]> 517 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.56 2023 Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/27
date added: 2024/10/27
shelves: librarybook
review:
The gigantic publishing phenom is actually worth the excitement! This story is actually more impressive to me because it covers so many stereotypical beats: a magical military academy with deadly practices, hormones running riot, dragons, and potentially sinister authorities -- there have been SO MANY stories with some or all of these factors! But this author breathes new life into the old tropes, from her first scene (walking across a thin parapet to the school, where one misstep means death) to the last (can't say, major spoiler). Her heroine would be considered disabled in our world, probably with something like Ehlers-Danlos, but it mostly works for the story.
]]> Brothersong (Green Creek, #4) 62039433 The beloved fantasy romance sensation by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, about love, loyalty, betrayal, and joy. The Bennett family has a They're not just a family, they're a pack. Brothersong is Carter Bennett's story.In the ruins of Caswell, Maine, Carter Bennett learned the truth of what had been right in front of him the entire time. And then it—he—was gone. Desperate for answers, Carter takes to the road, leaving family and the safety of his pack behind, all in the name of a man he only knows as a feral wolf. But therein lies the wolves are pack animals, and the longer Carter is on his own, the more his mind slips toward the endless void of Omega insanity. But he pushes on, following the trail left by Gavin. Gavin, the son of Robert Livingstone. The half-brother of Gordo Livingstone.What Carter finds will change the course of the wolves forever. Because Gavin’s history with the Bennett pack goes back further than anyone knows, a secret kept hidden by Carter’s father, Thomas Bennett. And with this knowledge comes a the sins of the fathers now rest upon the shoulders of their sons.The Green Creek Series is for adult readers.Now available from Tor Books.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 576 T.J. Klune 1250890381 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.43 2020 Brothersong (Green Creek, #4)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/23
date added: 2024/10/27
shelves: librarybook
review:
If you still believe in triumphant endings after 3 volumes of this series, this final one will try to burn it out of you. Seriously bleak for most of its narrative, and doesn't answer a lot of long-existing questions.
]]> Heartsong (Green Creek, #3) 176408159 Heartsong is the third book in the Green Creek series, the beloved fantasy romance sensation by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, about love, loyalty, betrayal, and family.

“Complex and startling... Green Creek is the perfect setting.� � Charlaine Harris

The Bennett family has a They're not just a family, they're a pack. Heartsong is Robbie Fontaine's story.

All Robbie Fontaine ever wanted was a place to belong. After the death of his mother, he bounces around from pack to pack, forming temporary bonds to keep from turning feral. It’s enough―until he receives a summons from the wolf stronghold in Caswell, Maine. Life as the trusted second to Michelle Hughes―the Alpha of all―and the cherished friend of a gentle old witch teaches Robbie what it means to be pack, to have a home. But when a mission from Michelle sends Robbie into the field, he finds himself questioning where he belongs and everything he’s been told.

Whispers of traitorous wolves and wild magic abound―but who are the traitors and who the betrayed? More than anything, Robbie hungers for answers, because one of those alleged traitors is Kelly Bennett―the wolf who may be his mate.

The truth has a way of coming out. And when it does, everything will shatter.

The Green Creek Series is for adult readers.
Now available from Tor Books.]]> 480 T.J. Klune 1250890403 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.46 2019 Heartsong (Green Creek, #3)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/22
date added: 2024/10/27
shelves: librarybook
review:
This series is getting darker and darker as it goes on, and putting more harsh consequences on the relatively happy, bouncy characters. This episode is notable for a relationship between an asexual (ace) character and his fated mate.
]]> Ravensong (Green Creek, #2) 62039416
“Complex and startling... Green Creek is the perfect setting.� —Charlaine Harris

The Bennett family has a secret: They're not just a family, they're a pack. Ravensong is Gordo Livingstone's story.

Gordo Livingstone never forgot the lessons carved into his skin. Hardened by the betrayal of a pack that left him behind, he sought solace in the garage in his tiny mountain town, vowing never again to involve himself in the affairs of wolves.

It should have been enough.

It was, until the wolves came back, and with them, Mark Bennett. And when his town is caught in the jaws of a beast, Gordo is summoned back into the life that left him.

“Gordo, you must rise. For your pack. For us. I must ask you to become the witch to the wolves.�

Now, a year later, Gordo has once again found himself the witch of the Bennett pack. Green Creek has settled after the death of Richard Collins, and Gordo constantly struggles to ignore Mark and the song that howls between them.

But time is running out. Something is coming. And this time, it’s coming from within.

The Green Creek Series is for adult readers.
Now available from Tor Books.]]> 512 T.J. Klune 1250890349 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.30 2018 Ravensong (Green Creek, #2)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/21
date added: 2024/10/27
shelves: librarybook
review:
The first volume in this series, _Wolfsong_, was so suffused by young first love that this one might be startling for those who don't pay attention -- because it's about first love that curdles and goes muscularly wrong. It fills in a lot of details that weren't available from the first story, but also goes into areas that might not be appropriate for younger readers.
]]> Wolfsong (Green Creek, #1) 62039417
Oxnard Matheson was twelve when his father taught him that Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then his father left.

Ox was sixteen when the energetic Bennett family moved in next door, harboring a secret that would change him forever. The Bennetts are shapeshifters. They can transform into wolves at will. Drawn to their magic, loyalty, and enduring friendships, Ox feels a gulf between this extraordinary new world and the quiet life he’s known, but he finds an ally in Joe, the youngest Bennett boy.

Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town and tore a hole in his heart. Violence flared, tragedy split the pack, and Joe left town, leaving Ox behind. Three years later, the boy is back. Except now he’s a man � charming, handsome, but haunted � and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them.

The beloved fantasy romance sensation by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, about love, loyalty, betrayal, and family.

The Green Creek Series is for adult readers.

Now available from Tor Books.]]> 528 T.J. Klune 1250890314 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.04 2016 Wolfsong (Green Creek, #1)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/27
shelves: librarybook
review:
Seems like this author is now being marketed as a cute, sweet, nostalgic storyteller -- but I can tell you that his real strength is making you cry when you understand the sacrifices everyone needs to make to keep a community going. This is actually the simplest and most straightforward of the four episodes in this series, so if you don't like this one I can't imagine there would be much point in going on.
]]> <![CDATA[The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)]]> 22733729
Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.

Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.]]> 518 Becky Chambers 1500453307 Joyce 0 librarybook
I've always rather enjoyed stories about daily life on small, unimpressive spaceships but if that's not your thing the first half of this one might drag. There's also a lot of speculation about what it might actually be like to live in a multi-species universe -- and guess what, it's not all Captain Kirk and a series of beautiful women with blue skin. The main POV character, Rosemary, serves as our naive stand-in as the crew of the good ship _Wayfarer_ as it goes about its task of creating wormholes for hire.

I've seen a lot of reviews that say not very much HAPPENS plotwise, and the book can sometimes read more like a collection of short stories than a novel. Everyone needs to have a few novels tucked away for days when they're sick or otherwise low-energy, and this one is good at soothing without becoming pablum.]]> 4.15 2014 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)
author: Becky Chambers
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/19
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: librarybook
review:
Something about the synopsis and cover art on this book made me think it would be a swift, larky, _Hitchhiker's Guide_ style romp -- which it definitely is NOT. Instead it's a book full of secrets, which are doled out slowly at first until they're finally tumbling out at breakneck speed in the second half.

I've always rather enjoyed stories about daily life on small, unimpressive spaceships but if that's not your thing the first half of this one might drag. There's also a lot of speculation about what it might actually be like to live in a multi-species universe -- and guess what, it's not all Captain Kirk and a series of beautiful women with blue skin. The main POV character, Rosemary, serves as our naive stand-in as the crew of the good ship _Wayfarer_ as it goes about its task of creating wormholes for hire.

I've seen a lot of reviews that say not very much HAPPENS plotwise, and the book can sometimes read more like a collection of short stories than a novel. Everyone needs to have a few novels tucked away for days when they're sick or otherwise low-energy, and this one is good at soothing without becoming pablum.
]]> <![CDATA[Paladin's Faith (The Saint of Steel, #4)]]> 201967303
Shane is a paladin with three problems. His god is dead, his client is much too attractive for his peace of mind, and a powerful organization is trying to have them both killed.

Add in a brilliant artificer with a device that may change the world, a glittering and dangerous court, and a demon-led cult, and Shane and Marguerite will be lucky to escape with their souls intact, never mind their hearts. . .]]> 446 T. Kingfisher Joyce 0 librarybook 4.16 2023 Paladin's Faith (The Saint of Steel, #4)
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/01
date added: 2024/09/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
Marguerite, the brilliant and worldly spy from the beginning of this series, is back -- and running from her former employers, who probably want to kill her. She teams up with the best looking of the Saint of Steel's former paladin's to attend a house party full of aristos and spies. This could be the setup for a very conventional mystery-romance, but there are so many twists and turns that I just did not see coming! In some ways the most spiritual of the series.
]]> <![CDATA[Paladin's Hope (The Saint of Steel, #3)]]> 59109627
Galen is a paladin of a dead god, lost to holiness and no longer entirely sane. He has long since given up on any hope of love. But when the two men and a brave gnole constable are drawn into the web of the mysterious killer, it's Galen's job to protect Piper from the traps that await them.

He's just not sure if he can protect Piper from the most dangerous threat of all…]]> 300 T. Kingfisher Joyce 0 librarybook 4.14 2021 Paladin's Hope (The Saint of Steel, #3)
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/31
date added: 2024/09/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
The love story here involves two men, one a paladin and the other what we would call a forensic pathologist, on the trail of a possible serial killer. The vast majority of the story occurs in a single building which has been turned into something straight from a horror movie. As always with this writer, the secondary characters -- in this case a gnole, a member of a species that resembles large badgers -- are vivid and adorable almost to a fault.
]]> <![CDATA[Paladin's Strength (The Saint of Steel, #2)]]> 57119466
When their paths cross at the point of a sword, Istvhan and Clara will be pitched headlong into each other’s quests, facing off against enemies both living and dead. But Clara has a secret that could jeopardize the growing trust between them, a secret that will lead them to the gladiatorial pits of a corrupt city, and beyond...]]> 445 T. Kingfisher Joyce 0 librarybook 4.20 2021 Paladin's Strength (The Saint of Steel, #2)
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/30
date added: 2024/09/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
Of the four volumes in this series, this is my least favorite if only because it's quite repetitive -- particularly all the "thwarted romance" bits. By the middle of the book you're practically screaming at them to get it on or get over it! Also I'm by far not the most perceptive about plot twists, but I figured out this one in the first chapter. If you're going to read the whole series you'll definitely want to read this one but definitely don't start here.
]]> <![CDATA[Paladin's Grace (The Saint of Steel, #1)]]> 50702014 Stephen's god died on the longest day of the year�

Three years later, Stephen is a broken paladin, living only for the chance to be useful before he dies. But all that changes when he encounters a fugitive named Grace in an alley and witnesses an assassination attempt gone wrong. Now the pair must navigate a web of treachery, beset on all sides by spies and poisoners, while a cryptic killer stalks one step behind�

From the Hugo and Nebula Award winning author of Swordheart and The Twisted Ones comes a saga of murder, magic, and love on the far side of despair.]]> 366 T. Kingfisher Joyce 0 librarybook
I am never entirely sure how to define "romantasy" but I suspect this is it. The devoted servant of a god who died, and a self-made perfumer who may or may not be a poisoner, are the couple at the heart of the story. The characters feel a bit like a high school musical, in that the most interesting ones are not the central couple but the character actors. Luckily it seems that the secondary characters will have their own stories in this series soon!]]> 4.08 2020 Paladin's Grace (The Saint of Steel, #1)
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/19
date added: 2024/08/25
shelves: librarybook
review:
Kingfisher is one of the most charming writers in the business, but I suspect held back from mass market success by not having a single famous series. This newish series is sort of an addendum to her "Clocktaur war" duology and her "Swordheart" standalone... but there's no need to have read either to enjoy it.

I am never entirely sure how to define "romantasy" but I suspect this is it. The devoted servant of a god who died, and a self-made perfumer who may or may not be a poisoner, are the couple at the heart of the story. The characters feel a bit like a high school musical, in that the most interesting ones are not the central couple but the character actors. Luckily it seems that the secondary characters will have their own stories in this series soon!
]]> <![CDATA[Trading in Danger (Vatta's War, #1)]]> 284658
Expelled from the Academy in disgrace—and returning home to her humiliated family, a storm of high-profile media coverage, and the gaping void of her own future—Ky is ready to face the inevitable onslaught of anger, disappointment, even pity. But soon after opportunity's door slams shut, Ky finds herself with a ticket to ride—and a shot at redemption—as captain of a Vatta Transport ship.

It's a simple assignment: escorting one of the Vatta fleet's oldest ships on its final voyage . . . to the scrapyard. But keeping it simple has never been Ky's style. And even though her father has provided a crew of seasoned veterans to baby-sit the fledgling captain on her maiden milk run, they can't stop Ky from turning the routine mission into a risky venture—in the name of turning a profit for Vatta Transport, of course.

By snapping up a lucrative delivery contract defaulted on by a rival company, and using part of the proceeds to upgrade her condemned vehicle, Ky aims to prove she's got more going for her than just her family's famous name. But business will soon have to take a backseat to bravery, when Ky's change of plans sails her and the crew straight into the middle of a colonial war. For all her commercial savvy, it's her military training and born-soldier's instincts that Ky will need to call on in the face of deadly combat, dangerous mercenaries, and violent mutiny. . . .]]> 357 Elizabeth Moon 0345447611 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.97 2003 Trading in Danger (Vatta's War, #1)
author: Elizabeth Moon
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/17
date added: 2024/08/25
shelves: librarybook
review:
Elizabeth Moon has been writing military SFF with female protagonists for basically my entire adult life, and this is the first volume of her most recent long-running series. Extremely competent and rather convincing: Vatta is not gifted with superhuman strength or speed or intelligence, she spends a lot of time worrying about scraping together money for various subplots, and a lot of the point of this book is what happens to people in spacegoing societies when their technology is sabotaged. No sex or romance.
]]> <![CDATA[The Mimicking of Known Successes (The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti, #1)]]> 60784309 The Mimicking of Known Successes presents a cozy Holmesian murder mystery and sapphic romance, set on Jupiter, by Malka Older, author of the critically-acclaimed Centenal Cycle.

On a remote, gas-wreathed outpost of a human colony on Jupiter, a man goes missing. The enigmatic Investigator Mossa follows his trail to Valdegeld, home to the colony’s erudite university—and Mossa’s former girlfriend, a scholar of Earth’s pre-collapse ecosystems.

Pleiti has dedicated her research and her career to aiding the larger effort towards a possible return to Earth. When Mossa unexpectedly arrives and requests Pleiti’s assistance in her latest investigation, the two of them embark on a twisting path in which the future of life on Earth is at stake—and, perhaps, their futures, together.]]> 169 Malka Ann Older 1250860504 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.56 2023 The Mimicking of Known Successes (The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti, #1)
author: Malka Ann Older
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/22
date added: 2024/06/22
shelves: librarybook
review:
This newish series is often called a Holmes and Watson but it actually seems a bit more like a short, swift version of Gaudy Night -- but set in a far-future Jupiter, where most of humanity had to take refuge after fucking up Earth. One of the protagonists is an Investigator, a position that seems to grant an awful lot of autonomy, and the other is an academic. Most of the action here takes place in or around a future university -- our heroines' alma mater -- that seems to be modeled more on the Oxford/Cambridge setup than a US one. The one really Holmesian aspect is that each of the sleuths is reluctant to explain their leaps of deduction while they're proving them out... but that's common to the classic mystery genre, and all the better to conceal the earthshaking denouement.
]]> <![CDATA[The Edge of Worlds (The Books of the Raksura, #4)]]> 25898527
Prior to the groundlings� arrival, the Indigo Cloud court had been plagued by visions of a disaster that could destroy all the courts in the Reaches. Now, the court’s mentors believe the ancient city is connected to the foretold danger. A small group of warriors, including consort Moon, an orphan new to the colony and the Raksura’s idea of family, and sister queen Jade, agree to go with the groundling expedition to investigate. But the predatory Fell have found the city too, and in the race to keep the danger contained, the Raksura may be the ones who inadvertently release it.

The Edge of Worlds, from celebrated fantasy author Martha Wells, returns to the fascinating world of The Cloud Roads for the first book in a new series of strange lands, uncanny beings, dead cities, and ancient danger.]]> 388 Martha Wells 1597808431 Joyce 0 failed-attempts, librarybook
The plot here seems to be recycled wholesale from the MacGuffin of the previous book in the series, and literally nothing much happens until halfway through the story -- which is about where I quit. Moon is also pretty comfortable in his role as an unusual consort by now, and his growth as a character seems minimal. In the first book I felt like I was never sure how he'd react to events, but now he pretty much does what I'd expect. This series just seems like it's running out of gas, I think it would have benefited from switching viewpoint characters every couple of books.]]> 4.01 2016 The Edge of Worlds (The Books of the Raksura, #4)
author: Martha Wells
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/22
date added: 2024/06/22
shelves: failed-attempts, librarybook
review:
There's nothing more disappointing than getting deep into a series and running into a bummer volume which brings you to a screeching halt. It's like eating a delicious box of chocolates and then running into one with coconut. :(

The plot here seems to be recycled wholesale from the MacGuffin of the previous book in the series, and literally nothing much happens until halfway through the story -- which is about where I quit. Moon is also pretty comfortable in his role as an unusual consort by now, and his growth as a character seems minimal. In the first book I felt like I was never sure how he'd react to events, but now he pretty much does what I'd expect. This series just seems like it's running out of gas, I think it would have benefited from switching viewpoint characters every couple of books.
]]> <![CDATA[The Siren Depths (Books of the Raksura, #3)]]> 13649197
But now a rival court has laid claim to Moon, and Jade may or may not be willing to fight for him. Beset by doubts, Moon must travel in the company of strangers to a distant realm where he will finally face the forgotten secrets of his past, even as an old enemy returns with a vengeance.

The Fell, a vicious race of shapeshifting predators, menaces groundlings and Raksura alike. Determined to crossbreed with the Raksura for arcane purposes, they are driven by an ancient voice that cries out from...THE SIREN DEPTHS]]> 277 Martha Wells 1597804401 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.21 2012 The Siren Depths (Books of the Raksura, #3)
author: Martha Wells
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/20
date added: 2024/06/20
shelves: librarybook
review:
So far the most action-packed of the series, with the characters barely getting to eat or sleep for big chunks of the story. A lot of emotional shocks too, as pretty much everything we've learned about Moon's backstory and the world of the Raksura to date is upended.
]]> <![CDATA[The Serpent Sea (Books of the Raksura, #2)]]> 11834447
But when the travelers reach the ancestral home of Indigo Cloud, shrouded within the trunk of a mountain-sized tree, they discover a blight infecting its core. Nearby they find the remains of the invaders who may be responsible, as well as evidence of a devastating theft. This discovery sends Moon and the hunters of Indigo Cloud on a quest for the heartstone of the tree � a quest that will lead them far away, across the Serpent Sea.]]> 340 Martha Wells 1597803324 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.06 2012 The Serpent Sea (Books of the Raksura, #2)
author: Martha Wells
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/16
date added: 2024/06/17
shelves: librarybook
review:
Second novels in a series are often weak because they are used as a bridge to a bigger story arc, but this one could genuinely be a standalone as it has a clear plot that has a beginning, a middle, and a satisfying end with a decent McGuffin. You'll learn more about the world that the Raksura live in, and its boundaries which are many -- for instance it's easy to think "flying would be great, I could go anywhere!" but it's hard to remember you could find yourself stranded in the middle of a large body of water with no way to rest or eat. Here lifelong-loner Moon also has to really confront what it means to be part of a species that does everything in groups.
]]> All the Sinners Bleed 61884832 A Black sheriff. A serial killer. A small town ready to combust.

Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia. In recent decades, Charon has had only two murders. After years of working as an FBI agent, Titus knows better than anyone that while his hometown might seem like a land of moonshine, cornbread, and honeysuckle, secrets always fester under the surface.

Then a year to the day after Titus’s election, a school teacher is killed by a former student and the student is fatally shot by Titus’s deputies. Those festering secrets are now out in the open and ready to tear the town apart.

As Titus investigates the shootings, he unearths terrible crimes and a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight, haunting the dirt lanes and woodland clearings of Charon. With the killer’s possible connections to a local church and the town’s harrowing history weighing on him, Titus projects confidence about closing the case while concealing a painful secret from his own past. At the same time, he also has to contend with a far-right group that wants to hold a parade in celebration of the town’s Confederate history.

Powerful and unforgettable, All the Sinners Bleed confirms S. A. Cosby as “one of the most muscular, distinctive, grab-you-by-both-ears voices in American crime fiction� (The Washington Post).]]> 338 S.A. Cosby 1250831911 Joyce 0 librarybook
I wouldn't describe the book as "pleasurable"; in fact for most of it I felt a measure of dread every time I picked it up. But I admired the hell out of many of the author's decisions -- particularly how deftly he grounded the protagonist's investigation in two indelible constants: the love of his family, and the petty politics of policing in a small town, but especially one that is still de-facto segregated. Sheriff Titus Crown is chasing a trio of horrific child-killers but he still has to make time to sign off on expense reports and field calls from the chairman of the town council. The only things that didn't ring true to me were that the Crown family apparently only had three members -- no cousins or aunties in a town that size? -- and that the sheriff was able to hold off the FBI and state police from interfering except for moderate technical help.

I'll give the reader a challenge here, and I honestly can't think of one fairer than this: read this book alongside the first Jack Reacher novel, _Killing Floor_ (or season 1 of the TV series), and see which is the richer and more grown-up storytelling. For all intents and purposes Titus is in the same situation as Finlay, both educated and proud Black men stuck in small Southern towns due to tragedies in their former lives. Try them side by side, it's truly a worthwhile experience. Cosby shows every sign of a writer who has just hit his full stride, like a church organist opening all the stops, and I honestly just hope he isn't sucked up by Hollywood before he can fulfill his potential as a novelist.]]> 4.18 2023 All the Sinners Bleed
author: S.A. Cosby
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/14
date added: 2024/06/17
shelves: librarybook
review:
This novel goes down like a tiny bomb you swallowed, full of lingering truths that explode in your gut. Only a ROOTED son of the South -- Cosby is from Virginia -- would be able to so indelibly mix the beauty, heritage, and community for which the area has always been known with the racism, violence, and lust for revenge for which the area has also always been known.

I wouldn't describe the book as "pleasurable"; in fact for most of it I felt a measure of dread every time I picked it up. But I admired the hell out of many of the author's decisions -- particularly how deftly he grounded the protagonist's investigation in two indelible constants: the love of his family, and the petty politics of policing in a small town, but especially one that is still de-facto segregated. Sheriff Titus Crown is chasing a trio of horrific child-killers but he still has to make time to sign off on expense reports and field calls from the chairman of the town council. The only things that didn't ring true to me were that the Crown family apparently only had three members -- no cousins or aunties in a town that size? -- and that the sheriff was able to hold off the FBI and state police from interfering except for moderate technical help.

I'll give the reader a challenge here, and I honestly can't think of one fairer than this: read this book alongside the first Jack Reacher novel, _Killing Floor_ (or season 1 of the TV series), and see which is the richer and more grown-up storytelling. For all intents and purposes Titus is in the same situation as Finlay, both educated and proud Black men stuck in small Southern towns due to tragedies in their former lives. Try them side by side, it's truly a worthwhile experience. Cosby shows every sign of a writer who has just hit his full stride, like a church organist opening all the stops, and I honestly just hope he isn't sucked up by Hollywood before he can fulfill his potential as a novelist.
]]> <![CDATA[Black Fall (Jessica Blackwood, #3)]]> 31290886 “Enthralling . . . . The author, a professional magician, makes the impossible seem probable in this twisty, clever treat.”ĚýĚýâ€�Publishers Weekly

In Black Fall, the third book in the ITW Award-nominated mystery series,Ěýmagician-turned-FBI agent Jessica Blackwood investigates a series of seemingly unrelated, but equally bizarre and sinister, crimes that lead her to the Colorado desert and a town that has, simply, disappeared.

With two big cases under her belt, FBI Agent Jessica Blackwood is learning to embrace her unconventional past as the rising star in a family dynasty of illusionists. Her talent and experience endow her with a unique understanding of the power and potential of deception, and a gift for knowing when things are not always as they appear to be. Once resenting her eccentric grandfather, a brilliant magician in his own right, Jessica now sees him as a mentor and regularly seeks his advice about her work.

But Jessica’s routine surveillance operation becomes a fight for survival when a disturbed young woman, clutching a baby, shows up at the stake-out location and threatens to kill her child. On the same day, an hour after a severe earthquake rocks the eastern seaboard, a strange video goes viral. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Peter Devon has been dead for eight years, yet here he is on camera, predicting the location and date of the earthquake. Jessica is put on the case by her boss, Dr. Ailes, but when Detective Aileen Lewis reports that they’ve found a Jane Doe who matches her description of her attacker, she’s torn between professional duty and a personal desire to find out who the woman was, and why she was killed.

The investigations pull her in very different directions—until they start to converge, leading Jessica to confront something darker, and more powerful, than anyone expected. Something so twisted, only one person could be behind it…the Warlock.




Ěý

Ěý

Ěý

Ěý

Ěý



Ěý

Ěý]]> 368 Andrew Mayne 0062492160 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.26 2017 Black Fall (Jessica Blackwood, #3)
author: Andrew Mayne
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/02
date added: 2024/06/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
I'll give Andrew Mayne this much: he doesn't think small. Before this book is done, American society itself will be teetering on the edge -- driven by our peculiar combination of religion, technology, and other forms of magical thinking. I didn't find the plot believable in the slightest, but it was diverting and fast-paced enough that there just wasn't ROOM for much of the "inside the protagonist's nighttime thoughts" stuff that I feel is the weakest part of this series.
]]> <![CDATA[The Cloud Roads (Books of the Raksura, #1)]]> 9461562 ]]> 278 Martha Wells 1597802166 Joyce 0 librarybook
Hardly any sex but a LOT of implied -- and often graphically described -- violence.]]> 3.94 2011 The Cloud Roads (Books of the Raksura, #1)
author: Martha Wells
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/01
date added: 2024/06/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
Good old-fashioned fantasy about shapeshifter society. Our hero, Moon, has spent his adult life hiding the fact that he can change to a winged creature with a long prehensile tail. He has frequently faced isolation and poverty when he gets found out and kicked out of the human-ish settlements where he tries to fit in. And then one day another Raksura, as he learns his people are called, finds him -- and of course he turns out to be a missing prince-consort!

Hardly any sex but a LOT of implied -- and often graphically described -- violence.
]]> <![CDATA[Name of the Devil (Jessica Blackwood #2)]]> 24821488 Angel Killer, magician-turned-FBI-agent Jessica Blackwood must channel her past to catch a killer consumed by a desire for revenge.

When a church combusts in rural Appalachia, the bizarre trail of carnage suggests diabolical forces are at work. Charged with explaining the inexplicable, the FBI's Dr. Ailes and Agent Knoll once again turn to the ace up their Agent Jessica Blackwood, a former prodigy from a family dynasty of illusionists. After playing a pivotal role in the capture of the Warlock, a seemingly supernatural serial killer, Jessica can no longer ignore the world, and the skills, she left behind. Her talent and experience endow her with a knack for knowing when things are not always as they appear to be, and she soon realizes this explosion is just the first of many crimes.

As the death toll mounts, Jessica discovers the victims share a troubling secret with far-reaching implications that stretch from the hills of West Virginia to cartel-corrupted Mexico to the hallowed halls of the Vatican. Everyone involved in what happened on that horrible night so long ago has tried to bury it—except for one person, who believes that the past can be hidden, but never forgiven. Can Jessica draw on her unique understanding of the power and potential of deception to thwart a murderer determined to avenge the past?]]> 320 Andrew Mayne 0062348906 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.23 2015 Name of the Devil (Jessica Blackwood #2)
author: Andrew Mayne
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/30
date added: 2024/06/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
Decent FBI thriller with a (not particularly deep) religious theme, but somewhat puzzling in this series because there is way less magic than in the author's debut. Protagonist can get kinda shrill and repetitive about her problems with FBI culture, but I prefer "I'm frustrated by this territorial other agent" -- which at least seems realistic -- to the previous "I just don't want to be noticed or have any important cases" characterization, which let's face it there's rarely been a successful magician OR FBI agent who thinks that way.
]]> <![CDATA[Angel Killer (Jessica Blackwood #1)]]> 20527023
A hacker who identifies himself only as "Warlock" brings down the FBI's website and posts a code in its place that leads to a Michigan cemetery, where a dead girl is discovered rising from the ground . . . as if she tried to crawl out of her own grave.

Born into a dynasty of illusionists, Jessica Blackwood is destined to become its next star—until she turns her back on her troubled family to begin a new life in law enforcement. But FBI consultant Dr. Jeffrey Ailes's discovery of an old magic magazine will turn Jessica's world upside down. Faced with a crime that appears beyond explanation, Ailes has nothing to lose—and everything to gain—by taking a chance on an agent raised in a world devoted to achieving the seemingly impossible.

The body in the cemetery is only the first in the Warlock's series of dark miracles. Thrust into the media spotlight, with time ticking away until the next crime, can Jessica confront her past to stop a depraved killer? If she can't, she may become his next victim.]]> 368 Andrew Mayne 0062348876 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.99 2014 Angel Killer (Jessica Blackwood #1)
author: Andrew Mayne
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/23
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: librarybook
review:
First entry in a new series about former stage magician and current FBI agent Jessica Blackwood. Author is a slick and inventive plotter, reminiscent of Jeffrey Deaver, but his descriptions of the protagonist's thoughts and feelings are tedious and repetitive.
]]> <![CDATA[Gods of the Wyrdwood (Forsaken, #1)]]> 62874007 In a world locked in eternal winter and haunted by prophecy, a young boy trains for years to become the Chosen One, only for another to rise and claim his place in the start of an unmissable epic from a rising star in fantasy.Ěý

The northlands of Crua are locked in eternal winter, but prophecy tells of the chosen child � who will rule in the name of their God, and take warmth back from the South. Cahal du Nahere was raised to be this person: the Cowl-Rai, the saviour. Taken from his parents and prepared for his destiny.

But his time never came

When he was fifteen he ceased to matter. Another Cowl-Rai had risen, another chosen one, raised in the name of a different God. The years of vicious physical and mental training he had endured, the sacrifice, all for nothing. He became nothing.

Twenty years later, and Cahal lives a life of secrecy on the edges of Crua’s giant forests � hiding what he is, running from what he can do. But when he is forced to reveal his true nature, he sets off a sequence of events that will reveal secrets that will shake the bedrock of his entire world, and expose lies that have persisted for generations.]]> 640 R.J. Barker 0316401587 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.99 2023 Gods of the Wyrdwood (Forsaken, #1)
author: R.J. Barker
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/08
date added: 2024/05/12
shelves: librarybook
review:
Oddly paced novel that spends about 2/3 of its length setting up a LOT of frequently unpleasant backstory -- and man did I hate those incessant flashbacks, all of which basically were the same -- before taking a sharp turn to something I'd describe as "Seven Samurai + ents". Notable for a well-drawn and compelling nonbinary character who demonstrates what it takes to be true to oneself in a situation with no good options.
]]> <![CDATA[Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes, #1)]]> 61242426
The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success � not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won't be able to go it alone.

But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.]]> 296 Travis Baldree Joyce 0 librarybook 4.04 2022 Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes, #1)
author: Travis Baldree
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/10
date added: 2024/05/12
shelves: librarybook
review:
I was aware that this story is a huge fan-favorite, so even though the premise -- an ogre pulling lattes in a magical kingdom? -- seemed almost like a joke, I figured I'd give it a try. Turns out the lattes are somewhat orthogonal to the actual story, which is all about building a community or family of choice. There's next to no action here, there's a MacGuffin but it's pretty transparently just a way to introduce some tension and set up the third act. This is as cozy as SFF ever gets, there's no sex and little violence, and you can safely recommend it to almost any age of reader.
]]> <![CDATA[Without Fail (Jack Reacher, #6)]]> 21745
Skilled, cautious, and anonymous, Jack Reacher is perfect for the job: to assassinate the vice president of the United States. Theoretically, of course. A female Secret Service agent wants Reacher to find the holes in her system, and fast - because a covert group already has the vice president in their sights. They've planned well. There's just one thing they didn't plan on: Reacher.]]> 14 Lee Child 1590860624 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.15 2002 Without Fail (Jack Reacher, #6)
author: Lee Child
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at: 2024/03/06
date added: 2024/03/08
shelves: librarybook
review:
Who doesn't love Frances Neagley? She's become a fan favorite, I think partly because the outings in which she's featured tend to be among the most action-packed. This is the first novel in which she appears -- remember, she was in Season One of the TV show but NOT in the book on which that season was based -- and it's a nice _In the Line of Fire_ type story built around the potential assassination of a vice president before Inauguration Day. More conventional than a lot of Reacher stories, maybe a bit like a Bob the Nailer novel, but still high quality fun.
]]> <![CDATA[Echo Burning (Jack Reacher, #5)]]> 455930
He never expected it to be somebody like Carmen. She’s alone, driving a Cadillac. She’s beautiful, young and rich. She has a little girl who is being watched by unseen observers. And a husband who is in jail. Who will beat her senseless when he comes out. If he doesn’t kill her first.

Reacher is no stranger to trouble. And at Carmen’s remote ranch in Echo County there is plenty of it: lies and prejudice, hatred and murder. Reacher can never resist a lady in distress. Her family is hostile. The cops can’t be trusted. The lawyers won’t help. If Reacher can’t set things straight, who can?]]> 432 Lee Child 0515133310 Joyce 0 librarybook, failed-attempts 3.98 2001 Echo Burning (Jack Reacher, #5)
author: Lee Child
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at: 2024/03/05
date added: 2024/03/08
shelves: librarybook, failed-attempts
review:
I have to confess that this is my absolute least favorite Reacher novel, and I'm not entirely sure I've ever been able to make it all the way through it. I believe that the reason for my antipathy is that the racism depicted here just doesn't ring true to me. It's VERY hard to write about the specific forms and practices of racism in a place you aren't familiar with, and although I'm far from an expert on Texas I just didn't buy it.
]]> <![CDATA[Running Blind (Jack Reacher, #4)]]> 455925 512 Lee Child 0515130974 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.09 2000 Running Blind (Jack Reacher, #4)
author: Lee Child
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at: 2024/03/04
date added: 2024/03/08
shelves: librarybook
review:
I've often said that the Reacher books are divided into rural and urban settings, but there's a third category: the ones set in what amounts to government bureaucracies. This is arguably the first of those. It feels rather prescient because the reason Reacher gets involved has to do with sexual misconduct in the military -- a theme he will return to again and again over the years.
]]> Tripwire (Jack Reacher, #3) 220970 432 Lee Child 0515128635 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.08 1999 Tripwire (Jack Reacher, #3)
author: Lee Child
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at: 2024/03/03
date added: 2024/03/08
shelves: librarybook
review:
This volume began the practice of Reacher books loosely alternating between super-rural and super-urban settings -- this is the first one largely focused on a city, in fact on New York City. Also [SPOILER ALERT] it feels a little more dated than most -- for instance it's important to the plot that two of the characters are the parents of a Vietnam veteran, albeit elderly ones, and I'm not sure there are any of those plausibly alive any more.
]]> <![CDATA[Killing Floor (Jack Reacher #1)]]> 78129 474 Lee Child 0515141429 Joyce 0 librarybook
The genius of Lee Child is that you can know all that and STILL get completely caught up in believing everything he says. I can remember when this book first came out, how BLINDINGLY CLEAR it was from the very beginning that Reacher was going to be more than a very successful book series -- this series has been a phenomenon that's changed a whole bunch of rules and basically ate the entire thriller market for a generation.]]> 4.08 1997 Killing Floor (Jack Reacher #1)
author: Lee Child
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at: 2024/03/01
date added: 2024/03/08
shelves: librarybook
review:
After 27 years and the TV series, I decided to go back and re-read a lot of the early Reacher books because I was laid up with COVID for over a week. The thing that's odd about the Reacher books from this remove is that they don't really have THAT many markers of being set in a specific era or locale -- the music is mostly classic blues, the clothes aren't trendy enough to scream a certain decade, Reacher is the last person to care about things like whether the kitchen cabinets are from the 80's -- but the actual PLOTS of the books themselves often rely on certain kinds of tradecraft that were only possible before a particular date. For instance, one of the later books ONLY works if you can posit a town so remote that cellphones don't work there. All the books written before 2001 show their age by allowing Reacher to buy a plane ticket for cash at the airport and travel without ID. And in this particular case, this plot was more or less impossible even before the book was published for a very specific reason.

The genius of Lee Child is that you can know all that and STILL get completely caught up in believing everything he says. I can remember when this book first came out, how BLINDINGLY CLEAR it was from the very beginning that Reacher was going to be more than a very successful book series -- this series has been a phenomenon that's changed a whole bunch of rules and basically ate the entire thriller market for a generation.
]]> The Bomb Maker 35412374 The Bomb Maker, Thomas Perry introduces us to the dark corners of a mind intent on transforming a simple machine into an act of murder--and to those committed to preventing that outcome at any cost. A threat is called into the LAPD Bomb Squad and when tragedy ensues, the fragmented unit turns to Dick Stahl, a former Bomb Squad commander who now operates his own private security company. Just returned from a tough job in Mexico, Stahl is at first reluctant to accept the offer, but his sense of duty to the technicians he trained is too strong to turn it down. On his first day back at the head of the squad, Stahl's three-person team is dispatched to a suspected car bomb. And it quickly becomes clear to him that they are dealing with an unusual mastermind--one whose intended target seems to be the Bomb Squad itself.

As the shadowy organization sponsoring this campaign of violence puts increasing pressure on the bomb maker, and Stahl becomes dangerously entangled with a member of his own team, the fuse on this high-stakes plot only burns faster. The Bomb Maker is Thomas Perry's biggest, most unstoppable thriller yet.]]> 384 Thomas Perry 0802127487 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.66 2018 The Bomb Maker
author: Thomas Perry
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/04
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves: librarybook
review:
This is a creditable example of a small subgenre of novel: one where a bomb maker is trying to take down a bomb squad. It's the kind of thriller that requires a LOT of research and scene-setting, and it often starts slowly but by the end the pages will be flying by.
]]> <![CDATA[A Marvellous Light (The Last Binding, #1)]]> 53217284
For fans of Georgette Heyer or Julia Quinn's Bridgerton, who'd like to welcome magic into their lives...

Young baronet Robin Blyth thought he was taking up a minor governmental post. However, he's actually been appointed parliamentary liaison to a secret magical society. If it weren’t for this administrative error, he’d never have discovered the incredible magic underlying his world.

Cursed by mysterious attackers and plagued by visions, Robin becomes determined to drag answers from his missing predecessor � but he’ll need the help of Edwin Courcey, his hostile magical-society counterpart. Unwillingly thrown together, Robin and Edwin will discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles.]]> 377 Freya Marske 1250788897 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.94 2021 A Marvellous Light (The Last Binding, #1)
author: Freya Marske
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2023/11/10
date added: 2023/12/03
shelves: librarybook
review:
Entertaining quasi-historical story that is just very similar to _Witchmark_ in almost every way.
]]> <![CDATA[The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches]]> 60018635 A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family--and a new love--changes the course of her life.

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and...Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he's concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn't know she was looking for....
]]> 318 Sangu Mandanna 059343935X Joyce 0 librarybook
The big theme of the story is that niceness and kindness are not the same thing -- and that many apparently nice people are actually users and bullies, while kindness can sometimes entail gruffness, inflexibility, or even lies in the pursuit of the greatest good. Notably the characters in this novel rarely express anger... which is honestly a rarity in fantasy novels, where women in particular are often allowed to be toweringly pissed-off in ways they rarely get to express in real life.

One thing I really enjoyed is that the author actually is very familiar with the setting here -- physical and social -- instead of getting it all out of guidebooks and tourist visits. She is a real British person of Indian ancestry who lives in Norfolk, which lends a lot of depth to the story. She also mixes "literary Old England" (country houses, solicitors, gardens) with "literary Newer England" (people of all ethnicities, red-brick universities, LGBTQ+ characters) in a loving way that embraces both.]]> 4.04 2022 The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/10/24
date added: 2023/10/24
shelves: librarybook
review:
I have friends who, due to their professions or upbringings (in the American South!), are fantastic at steamrolling others while smiling and being ladylike and leaving an impression of "niceness" the entire time. I'm basically the opposite of this, so I've never quite been able to understand their inner thoughts... but this book helped me get halfway there!

The big theme of the story is that niceness and kindness are not the same thing -- and that many apparently nice people are actually users and bullies, while kindness can sometimes entail gruffness, inflexibility, or even lies in the pursuit of the greatest good. Notably the characters in this novel rarely express anger... which is honestly a rarity in fantasy novels, where women in particular are often allowed to be toweringly pissed-off in ways they rarely get to express in real life.

One thing I really enjoyed is that the author actually is very familiar with the setting here -- physical and social -- instead of getting it all out of guidebooks and tourist visits. She is a real British person of Indian ancestry who lives in Norfolk, which lends a lot of depth to the story. She also mixes "literary Old England" (country houses, solicitors, gardens) with "literary Newer England" (people of all ethnicities, red-brick universities, LGBTQ+ characters) in a loving way that embraces both.
]]> The Enchanted Hacienda 61987490
The Estrada family farm in Mexico houses an abundance of charmed flowers cultivated by Harlow’s mother, sisters, aunt, and cousins. By harnessing the magic in these flowers, they can heal hearts, erase memories, interpret dreams—but not Harlow. So when her mother and aunt give her a special task involving the family’s magic, she panics. How can she rise to the occasion when she isĚýmagicless ? But maybe it’s not magic she’s missing, but belief in herself. When she finally embraces her unique gifts and opens her heart to a handsome stranger, she discovers she’s far more powerful than she imagined.Ěý]]> 368 J.C. Cervantes 0778334058 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.61 2023 The Enchanted Hacienda
author: J.C. Cervantes
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/09/24
date added: 2023/10/24
shelves: librarybook
review:
I didn't realize the extent to which this is a straight romance novel! I think I found it in a book review roundup with a bunch of other books with magical themes, so I thought it would be more of a fantasy thing. It was sweet and all, but quite forgettable.
]]> <![CDATA[The Inheritance of OrquĂ­dea Divina]]> 56898076
Seven years later, her gifts have manifested in different ways for Marimar, Rey, and Tatinelly’s daughter, Rhiannon, granting them unexpected blessings. But soon, a hidden figure begins to tear through their family tree, picking them off one by one as it seeks to destroy Orquídea’s line. Determined to save what’s left of their family and uncover the truth behind their inheritance, the four descendants travel to Ecuador—to the place where Orquídea buried her secrets and broken promises and never looked back.]]> 336 Zoraida Córdova 1982102543 Joyce 0 librarybook
The issue, I think, is that there are simply too many characters and therefore most of them are underdrawn. I had a hard time keeping the many many family members -- OrquĂ­dea is married four times so there are a lot -- straight in my mind except for the ones that were super broadly drawn: the gay one, the saint, the gifted child. They don't appear to have anything approaching normal lives -- jobs are sketchy if even mentioned, relationships are facts of life instead of things that require constant care and negotiation, and our viewpoint characters are constantly haring off on quests that seem to mostly consist of hanging around until someone decides to reveal long-buried secrets. There is a murder mystery, but it's not fair-play at all... the murderer simply appears, there's little real detection.

And yet, the author clearly has an undeniable gift for striking images. From beginning to end, dramatic lighting illuminates scene after cinematic scene like a music video or a Baz Luhrmann film. In the right hands this novel could become a gorgeous feature film, and I hope it's been optioned for one already.]]> 3.91 2021 The Inheritance of OrquĂ­dea Divina
author: Zoraida CĂłrdova
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2023/09/09
date added: 2023/09/19
shelves: librarybook
review:
Who amongst us does not love a spot of Ecuadorian-American magical realism, very reminiscent of a grown-up version of _Encanto_ maybe mixed with a little _Like Water For Chocolate_ and a pinch of _Evita_? But it's one of those stories that seems lovely and rather profound while you're reading... but a week later you can't remember much about it!

The issue, I think, is that there are simply too many characters and therefore most of them are underdrawn. I had a hard time keeping the many many family members -- OrquĂ­dea is married four times so there are a lot -- straight in my mind except for the ones that were super broadly drawn: the gay one, the saint, the gifted child. They don't appear to have anything approaching normal lives -- jobs are sketchy if even mentioned, relationships are facts of life instead of things that require constant care and negotiation, and our viewpoint characters are constantly haring off on quests that seem to mostly consist of hanging around until someone decides to reveal long-buried secrets. There is a murder mystery, but it's not fair-play at all... the murderer simply appears, there's little real detection.

And yet, the author clearly has an undeniable gift for striking images. From beginning to end, dramatic lighting illuminates scene after cinematic scene like a music video or a Baz Luhrmann film. In the right hands this novel could become a gorgeous feature film, and I hope it's been optioned for one already.
]]> <![CDATA[The Premonition: A Pandemic Story]]> 56790170 For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about.

Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios. Michael Lewis’s taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19.

The characters you will meet in these pages are as fascinating as they are unexpected. A thirteen-year-old girl’s science project on transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model of disease control. A local public-health officer uses her worm’s-eye view to see what the CDC misses, and reveals great truths about American society. A secret team of dissenting doctors, nicknamed the Wolverines, has everything necessary to fight the pandemic: brilliant backgrounds, world-class labs, prior experience with the pandemic scares of bird flu and swine flu…everything, that is, except official permission to implement their work.

Michael Lewis is not shy about calling these people heroes for their refusal to follow directives that they know to be based on misinformation and bad science. Even the internet, as crucial as it is to their exchange of ideas, poses a risk to them. They never know for sure who else might be listening in.]]> 304 Michael Lewis 0393881555 Joyce 0 librarybook
The players here are experts in public health, mostly trained as doctors but now working as hospital administrators, local health officers, and advisors to the White House. Surprisingly, most of the "action" happens years before COVID -- with the SARS and swine flu outbreaks, which most Americans didn't even really pay attention to. But a few eccentrics who called themselves the Wolverines (Red Dawn, not Michigan) started to self-organize around -- of all things -- computer models of epidemics.

I'm a programmer myself, and I work with a lot of "data-driven" people -- so it was a total shock to learn that how recently computer models were completely ignored by the CDC and the rest of America's "official" epidemiology apparatus. Believe it or not, the computer model at the center of this book was originally a middle-school student's science fair project!!! And it was for a long time! She didn't even win the science fair!!

The reason the grand poobahs of public health didn't buy into computer models was that they have "too many assumptions" built into them. The author points out that the experts had even more assumptions -- but they kept them mostly locked in their heads, rather than transparently showing and adjusting their algorithms. But also, the CDC -- as we all now know after three years of COVID -- is as isolated and siloed as any organization in the US government. And despite its fabled scientific halo, it has apparently developed a culture based on political risk-aversion and learned helplessness. Although Lewis doesn't bang on this point overly hard, it's also true that public health in the USA had largely come to be associated with the "war" against obesity and the chronic diseases associated with it, rather than the heroic era of the germ theory of disease. You'll likely be shocked at some point in this book by how flimsy the evidence was upon which the CDC acted... or more frequently made excuses about why they didn't need to act. Turns out they didn't even have good data on the 1918 flu pandemic!!!

It's not a spoiler because you learn about it in the first chapter of the book, but it turns out that a single factor probably accounts for a LOT of why America can't have nice things in public health -- and that single factor is closing schools. From Day One the Wolverines' computer model found again and again that children have a lot more social contacts than we had assumed... and therefore they are the most critical part of the population for epidemics. However, because they rarely actually fell ill with COVID -- and due to our shitty childcare infrastructure which put enormous pressures on American mothers -- a lot of Americans simply could not stomach the two interventions (closing schools and vaccinations) which would have potentially made the biggest differences in controlling COVID.

In the end, a surprisingly small part of this story is about COVID. The author isn't interested in recounting every beat of the pandemic saga in America, and it's probably too fresh for us to get perspective on it anyway. But it's deeply unsettling to realize that the Wolverines were almost the only people in America who truly grasped that a million Americans would probably die from COVID -- and they also aren't super sanguine about what will happen the next time we get an even worse pandemic.]]> 4.25 2021 The Premonition: A Pandemic Story
author: Michael Lewis
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2023/01/03
date added: 2023/06/24
shelves: librarybook
review:
A dark morality tale wrapped in Lewis's trademark cheery gee-whiz prose. It's only too timely as we sit around pretending that the COVID pandemic is over... and it doesn't give the reader a lot of confidence that this will be the last or worst pandemic of our lifetimes.

The players here are experts in public health, mostly trained as doctors but now working as hospital administrators, local health officers, and advisors to the White House. Surprisingly, most of the "action" happens years before COVID -- with the SARS and swine flu outbreaks, which most Americans didn't even really pay attention to. But a few eccentrics who called themselves the Wolverines (Red Dawn, not Michigan) started to self-organize around -- of all things -- computer models of epidemics.

I'm a programmer myself, and I work with a lot of "data-driven" people -- so it was a total shock to learn that how recently computer models were completely ignored by the CDC and the rest of America's "official" epidemiology apparatus. Believe it or not, the computer model at the center of this book was originally a middle-school student's science fair project!!! And it was for a long time! She didn't even win the science fair!!

The reason the grand poobahs of public health didn't buy into computer models was that they have "too many assumptions" built into them. The author points out that the experts had even more assumptions -- but they kept them mostly locked in their heads, rather than transparently showing and adjusting their algorithms. But also, the CDC -- as we all now know after three years of COVID -- is as isolated and siloed as any organization in the US government. And despite its fabled scientific halo, it has apparently developed a culture based on political risk-aversion and learned helplessness. Although Lewis doesn't bang on this point overly hard, it's also true that public health in the USA had largely come to be associated with the "war" against obesity and the chronic diseases associated with it, rather than the heroic era of the germ theory of disease. You'll likely be shocked at some point in this book by how flimsy the evidence was upon which the CDC acted... or more frequently made excuses about why they didn't need to act. Turns out they didn't even have good data on the 1918 flu pandemic!!!

It's not a spoiler because you learn about it in the first chapter of the book, but it turns out that a single factor probably accounts for a LOT of why America can't have nice things in public health -- and that single factor is closing schools. From Day One the Wolverines' computer model found again and again that children have a lot more social contacts than we had assumed... and therefore they are the most critical part of the population for epidemics. However, because they rarely actually fell ill with COVID -- and due to our shitty childcare infrastructure which put enormous pressures on American mothers -- a lot of Americans simply could not stomach the two interventions (closing schools and vaccinations) which would have potentially made the biggest differences in controlling COVID.

In the end, a surprisingly small part of this story is about COVID. The author isn't interested in recounting every beat of the pandemic saga in America, and it's probably too fresh for us to get perspective on it anyway. But it's deeply unsettling to realize that the Wolverines were almost the only people in America who truly grasped that a million Americans would probably die from COVID -- and they also aren't super sanguine about what will happen the next time we get an even worse pandemic.
]]> <![CDATA[This Wicked Fate (This Poison Heart, #2)]]> 55818283 How much would you risk to save the ones you love? Would you tempt even the most dangerous fate?

Briseis has one chance to save her mother, but she'll need to do the impossible: find the last fragment of the deadly Absyrtus Heart. If she is to locate the missing piece, she must turn to the blood relatives she's never known, learn about their secret powers, and take her place in their ancient lineage. Briseis is not the only one who wants the Heart, and her enemies will stop at nothing to fulfill their own ruthless plans. The fates tell of a truly dangerous journey, one that could end in more heartache, more death. Bolstered by the sisterhood of ancient magic, can Briseis harness her power to save the people she loves most?]]> 320 Kalynn Bayron 1547610697 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.98 2022 This Wicked Fate (This Poison Heart, #2)
author: Kalynn Bayron
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/11
date added: 2023/06/03
shelves: librarybook
review:
This is the denouement of the very long story begun in _This Poison Heart_, and no one should read one without the other.
]]> <![CDATA[This Poison Heart (This Poison Heart, #1)]]> 54860241
Briseis has a gift: she can grow plants from tiny seeds to rich blooms with a single touch.

When Briseis's aunt dies and wills her a dilapidated estate in rural New York, Bri and her parents decide to leave Brooklyn behind for the summer. Hopefully there, surrounded by plants and flowers, Bri will finally learn to control her gift. But their new home is sinister in ways they could never have imagined--it comes with a specific set of instructions, an old-school apothecary, and a walled garden filled with the deadliest botanicals in the world that can only be entered by those who share Bri's unique family lineage.

When strangers begin to arrive on their doorstep, asking for tinctures and elixirs, Bri learns she has a surprising talent for creating them. One of the visitors is Marie, a mysterious young woman who Bri befriends, only to find that Marie is keeping dark secrets about the history of the estate and its surrounding community. There is more to Bri's sudden inheritance than she could have imagined, and she is determined to uncover it . . . until a nefarious group comes after her in search of a rare and dangerous immortality elixir. Up against a centuries-old curse and the deadliest plant on earth, Bri must harness her gift to protect herself and her family.

From the bestselling author of Cinderella Is Dead comes another inspiring and deeply compelling story about a young woman with the power to conquer the dark forces descending around her.]]> 384 Kalynn Bayron 1547603909 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.10 2021 This Poison Heart (This Poison Heart, #1)
author: Kalynn Bayron
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/10
date added: 2023/06/03
shelves: librarybook
review:
Wholly original story of a Black queer family who find themselves embroiled in mysteries involving plants, poisons, and paranoia. Not gonna lie: sometimes the ancient and contemporary aspects of this duology rub up against each other in awkward ways -- for instance the use of very contemporary Black slang to describe ancient Greek myths -- but if you're willing to roll with it you'll find a lot of energy and a unique voice here.
]]> Iron Widow (Iron Widow, #1) 52459864
When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it's to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister's death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.�

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia�. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.]]> 394 Xiran Jay Zhao 0735269939 Joyce 0 librarybook
The setup and writing are strange in a specific way. The entire backstory hinges on this society being old-school Chinese repressive and cruel to women, seeing them as nothing but free labor to be used up and then discarded. It's established very early in the narration that the protagonist, Zetian, has bound feet -- and you better believe there's no nonsense here about the horrific process that entails -- and that she is constantly being threatened with "being drowned in a pig cage" or frequent beatings for daring to exert any control whatsoever over her bodily autonomy and destiny. The anger expressed about gender relations is believably lava-hot from start to finish. Zetian spends a LOT of her interior life thinking about who she is going to kill and how she plans to do it.

However, layered on top of what amounts to a Chinese imperial court drama featuring the legendary Tang Dynasty empress Wu Zetian is a contemporary action movie with mechas and aliens -- similar to _Pacific Rim_. To make this combination work for a YA audience, the author uses a narrative voice that is very... contemporary, with a lot of slang. For instance, at one point our heroine says "What's your deal!?!?" to her mecha co-pilot.

The whole production might be off-putting to older readers -- even the book's editors didn't expect it to become a bestseller! -- but it's clear that is not the audience Zhao writes for. She is Gen Z to the bone and so is this book: energetic, angry, charming, insistent, cinematic, and ultimately more nuanced than I would have expected.]]> 4.03 2021 Iron Widow (Iron Widow, #1)
author: Xiran Jay Zhao
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2022/11/29
date added: 2022/11/30
shelves: librarybook
review:
I'm super enjoying the numerous young Asian women and non-binary writers who are now writing SF/F! This author is also emblematic of many demographic trends because they're an immigrant (Chinese -> Canada), a cosplayer and anime and Asian drama fan, and a Gen Z-er who deftly uses Tiktok and YouTube to market their books.

The setup and writing are strange in a specific way. The entire backstory hinges on this society being old-school Chinese repressive and cruel to women, seeing them as nothing but free labor to be used up and then discarded. It's established very early in the narration that the protagonist, Zetian, has bound feet -- and you better believe there's no nonsense here about the horrific process that entails -- and that she is constantly being threatened with "being drowned in a pig cage" or frequent beatings for daring to exert any control whatsoever over her bodily autonomy and destiny. The anger expressed about gender relations is believably lava-hot from start to finish. Zetian spends a LOT of her interior life thinking about who she is going to kill and how she plans to do it.

However, layered on top of what amounts to a Chinese imperial court drama featuring the legendary Tang Dynasty empress Wu Zetian is a contemporary action movie with mechas and aliens -- similar to _Pacific Rim_. To make this combination work for a YA audience, the author uses a narrative voice that is very... contemporary, with a lot of slang. For instance, at one point our heroine says "What's your deal!?!?" to her mecha co-pilot.

The whole production might be off-putting to older readers -- even the book's editors didn't expect it to become a bestseller! -- but it's clear that is not the audience Zhao writes for. She is Gen Z to the bone and so is this book: energetic, angry, charming, insistent, cinematic, and ultimately more nuanced than I would have expected.
]]> Angel Mage 41951611
A seemingly impossible quest, but Liliath is one of the greatest practitioners of angelic magic to have ever lived, summoning angels and forcing them to do her bidding.

Liliath knew that most of the inhabitants of Ystara died from the Ash Blood plague or were transformed into beastlings, and she herself led the survivors who fled into neighboring Sarance. Now she learns that angels shun the Ystaran’s descendants. If they are touched by angelic magic, their blood will turn to ash. They are known as Refusers, and can only live the most lowly lives.

But Liliath cares nothing for the descendants of her people, save how they can serve her. It is four young Sarancians who hold her interest: Simeon, a studious doctor-in-training; Henri, a dedicated fortune hunter; Agnez, an adventurous musketeer cadet; and Dorotea, an icon-maker and scholar of angelic magic. They are the key to her quest.

The four feel a strange kinship from the moment they meet, but do not know why, or suspect their importance. All become pawns in Liliath’s grand scheme to fulfill her destiny and be united with the love of her life. No matter the cost to everyone else. . .]]> 496 Garth Nix 0062683241 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.62 2019 Angel Mage
author: Garth Nix
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2022/11/25
date added: 2022/11/26
shelves: librarybook
review:
Goth fantasy that is also a loose rewrite of _The Three Musketeers_, except a version of the Ancien Regime which knows no barriers of gender, sexuality, or skin color -- and that uses magic to enslave angels. As always Nix keeps the pages turning, but in the end this swashbuckling adventure story can also be read as an indictment of the shallowness of evil motivations.
]]> <![CDATA[Half a Soul (Regency Faerie Tales, #1)]]> 60717747 It's difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you're a young lady with only half a soul.

Ever since she was cursed by a faerie, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear or embarrassment - a condition which makes her prone to accidental scandal. Dora hopes to be a quiet, sensible wallflower during the London Season - but when the strange, handsome and utterly uncouth Lord Sorcier discovers her condition, she is instead drawn into dangerous and peculiar faerie affairs.

If Dora's reputation can survive both her curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all of high society, then she may yet reclaim her normal place in the world. . . but the longer Dora spends with Elias Wilder, the more she begins to suspect that one may indeed fall in love, even with only half a soul.

Bridgerton meets Howl's Moving Castle in this enchanting historical fantasy, where the only thing more meddlesome than faeries is a marriage-minded mother.

Pick up HALF A SOUL, and be stolen away into Olivia Atwater's charming, magical version of Regency England!]]> 304 Olivia Atwater Joyce 0 librarybook 4.04 2020 Half a Soul (Regency Faerie Tales, #1)
author: Olivia Atwater
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2022/11/11
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: librarybook
review:
Very well-done fantasy-regency, with all the classic devices -- nubile maidens, eccentric lordships, and overpowering mamas -- but with far better-explained motivations. This author never lets you forget that the whole realm of regency romance rests upon very open power relations -- and that during the period in question, power increasingly came to mean cash money rather than agricultural land.
]]> By the Book (Meant to Be, #2) 58950845 A tale as old as time—for a new generation�

Isabelle is completely lost. When she first began her career in publishing right out of college, she did not expect to be twenty-five, living at home, still an editorial assistant, and the only Black employee at her publishing house. Overworked and underpaid, constantly torn between speaking up or stifling herself, Izzy thinks there must be more to this publishing life. So when she overhears her boss complaining about a beastly high-profile author who has failed to deliver his long-awaited manuscript, Isabelle sees an opportunity to finally get the promotion she deserves.

All she has to do is go to the author’s Santa Barbara mansion and give him a quick pep talk or three. How hard could it be?

But Izzy quickly finds out she is in over her head. Beau Towers is not some celebrity lightweight writing a tell-all memoir. He is jaded and withdrawn and—it turns out—just as lost as Izzy. But despite his standoffishness, Izzy needs Beau to deliver, and with her encouragement, his story begins to spill onto the page. They soon discover they have more in common than either of them expected, and as their deadline nears, Izzy and Beau begin to realize there may be something there that wasn't there before.

Best-selling author Jasmine Guillory’s reimagining of a beloved fairy tale is a romantic triumph of love and acceptance and learning that sometimes to truly know a person you have to read between the lines. ]]> 320 Jasmine Guillory 1368053386 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.68 2022 By the Book (Meant to Be, #2)
author: Jasmine Guillory
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2022/11/12
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: librarybook
review:
Exceptionally charming tale of an editorial assistant -- always an easy protagonist for most readers to emphathize with! -- assigned to wheedle a memoir out of a spoiled Hollywood scion. Really a love letter to the power of persistence and routine. The sex in this book is extremely discreet -- sort of at the "they entered the bedroom kissing" level -- so it wouldn't be inappropriate for some teenage readers.
]]> The Midnight Bargain 49151031
In a stroke of luck, Beatrice finds a grimoire that contains the key to becoming a Magus, but before she can purchase it, a rival sorceress swindles the book right out of her hands. Beatrice summons a spirit to help her get it back, but her new ally exacts a price: Beatrice’s first kiss . . . with her adversary’s brother, the handsome, compassionate, and fabulously wealthy Ianthe Lavan.

The more Beatrice is entangled with the Lavan siblings, the harder her decision becomes: If she casts the spell to become a Magus, she will devastate her family and lose the only man to ever see her for who she is; but if she marries—even for love—she will sacrifice her magic, her identity, and her dreams. But how can she choose just one, knowing she will forever regret the path not taken?]]> 375 C.L. Polk 1645660079 Joyce 0 failed-attempts, librarybook 3.73 2020 The Midnight Bargain
author: C.L. Polk
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2022/10/26
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: failed-attempts, librarybook
review:
I've enjoyed this author's Witchmark series, but I just couldn't finish this fantasy-regency. The characters just never came alive for me at all.
]]> <![CDATA[Soulstar (The Kingston Cycle, #3)]]> 53205896 With Soulstar, C. L. Polk concludes her riveting Kingston Cycle, a whirlwind of magic, politics, romance, and intrigue that began with the World Fantasy Award-winning Witchmark. Assassinations, deadly storms, and long-lost love haunt the pages of this thrilling final volume.

For years, Robin Thorpe has kept her head down, staying among her people in the Riverside neighborhood and hiding the magic that would have her imprisoned by the state. But when Grace Hensley comes knocking on Clan Thorpe’s door, Robin’s days of hiding are at an end. As freed witches flood the streets of Kingston, scrambling to reintegrate with a kingdom that destroyed their lives, Robin begins to plot a course that will ensure a freer, juster Aeland. At the same time, she has to face her long-bottled feelings for the childhood love that vanished into an asylum twenty years ago.

Can Robin find happiness among the rising tides of revolution? Can Kingston survive the blizzards that threaten, the desperate monarchy, and the birth throes of democracy? Find out as the Kingston Cycle comes to an end.]]> 304 C.L. Polk 1250203570 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.86 2021 Soulstar (The Kingston Cycle, #3)
author: C.L. Polk
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2022/10/25
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: librarybook
review:
Conclusion of this trilogy focuses on a very different protagonist: Robin Thorpe, the nurse turned medical student turned what amounts to union organizer. Unlike Miles and Grace, she doesn't come from the unhappy upper crust of Aeland but from the hidden subculture of witches -- who seem to be mostly people of color? -- who live in harmonious family communes. She's practically the only character in this whole saga that hasn't been tortured by her family, her class, and her fellow witches into a form of luxurious slavery -- but her long-lost love complicates matters considerably.
]]> <![CDATA[Dance with the Devil (Mercenary Librarians, #3)]]> 58724874
POWER IS NEVER GIVEN, ONLY TAKEN

Tobias Richter, the fearsome VP of Security of the TechCorps is dead. The puppetmaster is gone and the organization is scrambling to maintain control by ruthlessly limiting Atlanta's access to resources, hoping to quell rebellion. Our band of mercenary librarians have decided that the time for revolution has come.

Maya uses her wealth of secrets to weaken the TechCorps from within. Dani strikes from the shadows, picking off the chain of command one ambush at a time. And Nina is organizing their community―not just to survive, but to fight back. When Maya needs to make contact with a sympathetic insider, Dani and Rafe are the only ones with the skill-set and experience to infiltrate the highest levels of the TechCorps. They'll go deep undercover in the decadent, luxury-soaked penthouses on the Hill.

Bringing Dani face-to-face with the man who turned her into a killer. And forcing Rafe to decide how far he'll go to protect both of his families―the one he was born to, and the one he made for himself.

Victory will break the back of Power. Failure will destroy Atlanta.]]> 352 Kit Rocha 1250781493 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.02 2022 Dance with the Devil (Mercenary Librarians, #3)
author: Kit Rocha
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2022/10/23
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: librarybook
review:
This volume focuses on super-assassin Dani, who lacks the ability to feel pain, and deceptively fuckboi-ish Rafe as they infiltrate high society. Honestly found it sort of forgettable.
]]> <![CDATA[The Devil You Know (Mercenary Librarians, #2)]]> 53205965 The Mercenary Librarians and the Silver Devils are back in The Devil You Know, the next installment of USA Today and New York Times bestselling author Kit Rocha’s post-apocalyptic action/romance, with hints of Orphan Black and the Avengers

Maya has had a price on her head from the day she escaped the TechCorps. Genetically engineered for genius and trained for revolution, there’s only one thing she can’t do—forget.

Gray has finally broken free of the Protectorate, but he can’t escape the time bomb in his head. His body is rejecting his modifications, and his months are numbered.

When Maya’s team uncovers an operation trading in genetically enhanced children, she’ll do anything to stop them. Even risk falling back into the hands of the TechCorps.

And Gray has found a purpose for his final days: keeping Maya safe.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 416 Kit Rocha 1250209374 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.97 2021 The Devil You Know (Mercenary Librarians, #2)
author: Kit Rocha
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2022/10/20
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: librarybook
review:
My favorite of this series to date, this episode focuses on the geeky Maya who was genetically engineered to remember things on behalf of her boss but secretly raised to become a revolutionary by that same boss. She discovers her own talents for building community, for kicking ass, and for hot sex with a dying sniper.
]]> <![CDATA[Stormsong (The Kingston Cycle, #2)]]> 41473380
Dame Grace Hensley helped her brother Miles undo the atrocity that stained her nation, but now she has to deal with the consequences. With the power out in the dead of winter and an uncontrollable sequence of winter storms on the horizon, Aeland faces disaster. Grace has the vision to guide her people to safety, but a hostile queen and a ring of rogue mages stand in the way of her plans. There's revolution in the air, and any spark could light the powder. What's worse, upstart photojournalist Avia Jessup draws ever closer to secrets that could topple the nation, and closer to Grace's heart.

Can Aeland be saved without bloodshed? Or will Kingston die in flames, and Grace along with it?]]> 345 C.L. Polk 0765398982 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.87 2020 Stormsong (The Kingston Cycle, #2)
author: C.L. Polk
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2022/10/02
date added: 2022/10/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
Second volume in the trilogy focuses on Grace, the sister of Miles from the first book. Her life choices are even more thorny than her brother's, because while he just wants to use his power of healing -- she has been groomed from childhood to become the head stormsinger and Chancellor of Aeland. Polk maintains a convincing atmosphere of paranoia but there's one big lacunae in the plot that I had a hard time getting over: for this story to work, we have to believe that the Amaranthines (basically Tolkienish elves) -- could destroy entire nations without effort, but it's equally important that they can't actually show their destructive power. That's a very tough narrative task, and I'm not sure the author accomplishes it with what amounts to a handful of glamours.
]]> Make Me (Jack Reacher, #20) 23664710 “Why is this town called Mother’s Rest?�

That’s all Reacher wants to know. But no one will tell him. It’s a tiny place hidden in a thousand square miles of wheat fields, with a railroad stop, and sullen and watchful people, and a worried woman named Michelle Chang, who mistakes him for someone else: her missing partner in a private investigation she thinks must have started small and then turned lethal.

Reacher has no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there, and there’s something about Chang . . . so he teams up with her and starts to ask around. He thinks: How bad can this thing be? But before long he’s plunged into a desperate race through LA, Chicago, Phoenix, and San Francisco, and through the hidden parts of the internet, up against thugs and assassins every step of the way—right back to where he started, in Mother’s Rest, where he must confront the worst nightmare he could imagine.

Walking away would have been easier. But as always, Reacher’s rule is: If you want me to stop, you’re going to have to make me.]]> 428 Lee Child 0593073894 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.93 2015 Make Me (Jack Reacher, #20)
author: Lee Child
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2019/08/01
date added: 2019/08/16
shelves: librarybook
review:
One of the biggest problems facing crime writers today is the ubiquity of cell phones and the Internet. I sort of suspect that part of Reacher's appeal is that he doesn't deal with either of them -- but here it's critical to the plot that no one else can either. This one is notable for having an Asian female in the co-investigator's role.
]]> <![CDATA[The Art of the English Murder: From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock]]> 20729814
Ever since the Ratcliff Highway Murders caused a nation-wide panic in Regency England, the British have taken an almost ghoulish pleasure in 'a good murder'. This fascination helped create a whole new world of entertainment, inspiring novels, plays and films, puppet shows, paintings and true-crime journalism - as well as an army of fictional detectives who still enthral us today.

'A Very British Murder' is Lucy Worsley's captivating account of this curious national obsession. It is a tale of dark deeds and guilty pleasures, a riveting investigation into the British soul by one of our finest historians.]]> 312 Lucy Worsley 1605986348 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.72 2013 The Art of the English Murder: From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock
author: Lucy Worsley
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2019/08/01
date added: 2019/08/16
shelves: librarybook
review:
Extremely well-researched -- she didn't just read about the once-popular puppet shows featuring murderers, she actually tried out the puppets! -- but wears its erudition lightly. Makes an original argument that true crime and crime fiction influenced each other as twinned types of popular entertainment in 19th and early 20th century England. She unapologetically holds Dorothy Sayers up as the epitome of British crime fiction -- without making any attempt to sugarcoat the author's many flaws as a human being -- and I think that gives you quite an accurate idea of Worsley's bluestocking Oxbridge charms.
]]> IQ (IQ, #1) 28962895 A resident of one of LA's toughest neighborhoods uses his blistering intellect to solve the crimes the LAPD ignores.
East Long Beach. The LAPD is barely keeping up with the neighborhood's high crime rate. Murders go unsolved, lost children unrecovered. But someone from the neighborhood has taken it upon himself to help solve the cases the police can't or won't touch.
They call him IQ. He's a loner and a high school dropout, his unassuming nature disguising a relentless determination and a fierce intelligence. He charges his clients whatever they can afford, which might be a set of tires or a homemade casserole. To get by, he's forced to take on clients that can pay.
This time, it's a rap mogul whose life is in danger. As Isaiah investigates, he encounters a vengeful ex-wife, a crew of notorious cutthroats, a monstrous attack dog, and a hit man who even other hit men say is a lunatic. The deeper Isaiah digs, the more far reaching and dangerous the case becomes.

Winner of the Anthony, Macavity, and Shamus Awards]]> 325 Joe Ide 0316267724 Joyce 0 librarybook
It's always uncomfortable to read a story set in LA ghetto culture, and some of the minor characters here are awfully stereotypical. But the strong suit here is the protagonist's voice: Isaiah Quintabe, the eponymous IQ, former boy genius thrown off his expected life course when a tragedy strikes his family. There's also an awfully Elmore Leonard-esque bad guy, you can practically see Walton Goggins in the role.]]> 3.72 2016 IQ (IQ, #1)
author: Joe Ide
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2019/07/13
date added: 2019/07/13
shelves: librarybook
review:
What would Sherlock Holmes be like if he were born a young Black man in Long Beach CA? Joe Ide kicks off an indelible new series based on that premise.

It's always uncomfortable to read a story set in LA ghetto culture, and some of the minor characters here are awfully stereotypical. But the strong suit here is the protagonist's voice: Isaiah Quintabe, the eponymous IQ, former boy genius thrown off his expected life course when a tragedy strikes his family. There's also an awfully Elmore Leonard-esque bad guy, you can practically see Walton Goggins in the role.
]]> Lincoln in the Bardo 29906980 Lincoln in the Bardo is a literary experience unlike any other—for no one but Saunders could conceive it.

February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. "My poor boy, he was too good for this earth," the president says at the time. "God has called him home." Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returned to the crypt several times alone to hold his boy's body.

From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a thrilling, supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory, where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie's soul.

Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction's ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices—living and dead, historical and invented—to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?]]> 368 George Saunders 0812995341 Joyce 0 librarybook
Given the setup everyone is going to talk about how this book is about grief -- but I think it's really about memory, personal and collective. The grief aspect is handled with tact and as little mawkishness as possible, all things considered. Instead the slipperiness of memory is underlined by many chapters entirely composed of quick exerpts from real (and imagined?) historical accounts of Lincoln's presidency, which manage to undercut a lot of our expectations with efficiency. Instead of being lauded as one of the greatest presidents of all time, Lincoln in the winter of 1863 was widely considered a failure and an incompetent for failing to stop the Civil War within 90 days -- and was even criticized for having a long-planned soiree at the White House while Willie lay dying.

Despite the undeniable comedic aspects and formal delights, a book with this theme is not complete if it doesn't hit you hard in the feels. Don't lend this tome to anyone who has suffered a recent loss, particularly of a child, and I could imagine it might be less interesting to non-Americans... but this is the rare novel that actually made me feel what literature is supposed to.]]> 3.75 2017 Lincoln in the Bardo
author: George Saunders
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2019/04/11
date added: 2019/04/13
shelves: librarybook
review:
Literary novels that receive rapturous critical reviews are not my usual jam, but who doesn't love a ghost story built around Abraham Lincoln? More to the point, who doesn't love a cacophony of voices conducted by Saunders, famed for what he can do with little but voice in the far less forgiving medium of the short story. There is even one character here that amazes you with her specificity considering she doesn't have a voice at all.

Given the setup everyone is going to talk about how this book is about grief -- but I think it's really about memory, personal and collective. The grief aspect is handled with tact and as little mawkishness as possible, all things considered. Instead the slipperiness of memory is underlined by many chapters entirely composed of quick exerpts from real (and imagined?) historical accounts of Lincoln's presidency, which manage to undercut a lot of our expectations with efficiency. Instead of being lauded as one of the greatest presidents of all time, Lincoln in the winter of 1863 was widely considered a failure and an incompetent for failing to stop the Civil War within 90 days -- and was even criticized for having a long-planned soiree at the White House while Willie lay dying.

Despite the undeniable comedic aspects and formal delights, a book with this theme is not complete if it doesn't hit you hard in the feels. Don't lend this tome to anyone who has suffered a recent loss, particularly of a child, and I could imagine it might be less interesting to non-Americans... but this is the rare novel that actually made me feel what literature is supposed to.
]]> <![CDATA[The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation]]> 10340846
November 1958: the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Into the rarefied atmosphere of wealth and tradition comes the most unlikely of horses—a drab white former plow horse named Snowman—and his rider, Harry de Leyer. They were the longest of all longshots—and their win was the stuff of legend.
Ěý
Harry de Leyer first saw the horse he would name Snowman on a bleak winter afternoon between the slats of a rickety truck bound for the slaughterhouse. He recognized the spark in the eye of the beaten-up horse and bought him for eighty dollars. On Harry’s modest farm on Long Island, the horse thrived. But the recent Dutch immigrant and his growing family needed money, and Harry was always on the lookout for the perfect thoroughbred to train for the show-jumping circuit—so he reluctantly sold Snowman to a farm a few miles down the road.
Ěý
But Snowman had other ideas about what Harry needed. When he turned up back at Harry’s barn, dragging an old tire and a broken fence board, Harry knew that he had misjudged the horse. And so he set about teaching this shaggy, easygoing horse how to fly. One show at a time, against extraordinary odds and some of the most expensive thoroughbreds alive, the pair climbed to the very top of the sport of show jumping.
Ěý
Here is the dramatic and inspiring rise to stardom of an unlikely duo, based on the insight and recollections of “the Flying Dutchman� himself. Their story captured the heart of Cold War–era America—a story of unstoppable hope, inconceivable dreams, and the chance to have it all. Elizabeth Letts’s message is Never give up, even when the obstacles seem sky-high. There is something extraordinary in all of us.]]> 329 Elizabeth Letts 0345521080 Joyce 0 librarybook
Unfortunately, Letts is no Hillenbrand when it comes to writing skill -- but very few are. This story reads more like a children's book than a mature work of art. I sort of suspect that's apropos for Snowman, but if what you're really looking for is a sequel to Seabiscuit I think you could do better elsewhere.]]> 4.21 2011 The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation
author: Elizabeth Letts
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2019/03/22
date added: 2019/03/24
shelves: librarybook
review:
In a lot of ways Snowman is an even more inspirational story than Seabiscuit. Snowy was a nag without pedigree rescued literally from the glue factory wagon, whereas Seabiscuit had quite good racehorse breeding but simply refused to run. Seabiscuit was the pride of a very wealthy owner and won serious money on the flats, while Snowman was owned and ridden over jumps by an impecunious immigrant riding instructor. The racehorse wasn't ill-tempered as these things go, but the jumper was as famously sweet-tempered and adored by children as any horse has ever been -- even during his championship years he would spend his off-seasons as a nanny, ferrying small children to the beach and taking them swimming.

Unfortunately, Letts is no Hillenbrand when it comes to writing skill -- but very few are. This story reads more like a children's book than a mature work of art. I sort of suspect that's apropos for Snowman, but if what you're really looking for is a sequel to Seabiscuit I think you could do better elsewhere.
]]> <![CDATA[The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain]]> 25489012 The hilarious and loving sequel to a hilarious and loving classic of travel writing: Notes from a Small Island, Bill Bryson’s valentine to his adopted country of England

In 1995 Bill Bryson got into his car and took a weeks-long farewell motoring trip about England before moving his family back to the United States. The book about that trip, Notes from a Small Island, is uproarious and endlessly endearing, one of the most acute and affectionate portrayals of England in all its glorious eccentricity ever written. Two decades later, he set out again to rediscover that country, and the result is The Road to Little Dribbling. Nothing is funnier than Bill Bryson on the road—prepare for the total joy and multiple episodes of unseemly laughter.]]> 380 Bill Bryson 0385539282 Joyce 0 librarybook
There are two main problems with this strategy. Not to belabor the point, but "decaying seaside resorts" is not exactly an appealing and jolly subject -- and insofar as there's anything fresh to say about it, Bryson does not say it. The other issue is that the author basically doesn't speak to anyone for the whole 561 pages, and on the few occasions when he reports a conversation it is almost always one with a poorly paid service worker whose attitude manages to awaken an inner monologue which literally comes down to "Fuck you" -- EVERY TIME. In a well-to-do 60-something man, this comes across as far less charming than the writer obviously intended it to.

I can't imagine this book could possibly appeal to anyone who is not middle-aged to elderly. No one else could think the point of travel writing is to catalog how many villages still have bookshops, what you ate for dinner that night, and how every village in England is apparently either empty or too full of traffic.]]> 3.62 2015 The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain
author: Bill Bryson
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2019/03/15
date added: 2019/03/18
shelves: librarybook
review:
Not what I expected. I had known Bryson previously from his hiking misadventures with a drunk buddy on the Appalachian Trail, and I'm not too familiar with England, so I thought this would be a book about hiking with eccentrics... but that was in another country and besides, the wench is dead. The main activity here is visiting faded English tourist spots and taking shortish walks around them where he judges the number and beauty of the shops, pubs, and guesthouses while complaining about the tourist trade.

There are two main problems with this strategy. Not to belabor the point, but "decaying seaside resorts" is not exactly an appealing and jolly subject -- and insofar as there's anything fresh to say about it, Bryson does not say it. The other issue is that the author basically doesn't speak to anyone for the whole 561 pages, and on the few occasions when he reports a conversation it is almost always one with a poorly paid service worker whose attitude manages to awaken an inner monologue which literally comes down to "Fuck you" -- EVERY TIME. In a well-to-do 60-something man, this comes across as far less charming than the writer obviously intended it to.

I can't imagine this book could possibly appeal to anyone who is not middle-aged to elderly. No one else could think the point of travel writing is to catalog how many villages still have bookshops, what you ate for dinner that night, and how every village in England is apparently either empty or too full of traffic.
]]> <![CDATA[1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus]]> 39020 In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492.

Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. The astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had running water and immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city. Mexican cultures created corn in a specialized breeding process that it has been called man’s first feat of genetic engineering. Indeed, Indians were not living lightly on the land but were landscaping and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. Challenging and surprising, this a transformative new look at a rich and fascinating world we only thought we knew.

]]> 563 Charles C. Mann 1400032059 Joyce 0 librarybook
If that sounds utterly preposterous to you, it's a sign of how deeply we've imbibed certain myths about the Indians of the Americas: that the North and South American continents were thinly populated wilderness, that subsistence type agriculture or hunting/gathering was all the Indians could manage, and that they lacked writing or math skills. All of these assumptions turn out to be wrong, or at the very least extremely under debate as archeologists dig into the tropical rainforests and prairies. Mann takes a fairly maximalist position on all matters, positing that not only was the population of the Americas much higher than we assumed at the time of Columbus's intervention -- but that all those Indians were busy managing the environment, trading with each other, building great cities and complex polities, reaching artistic and cultural peaks many times, and generally doing a whole lot of extra-subsistence living.

There's no gauzy Dances with Wolves romanticizing any of this, because Mann admires exactly the same thing in Inka or Haudenosaunee or Olmec society that he would about European or Asian civilizations of the same era: competence, ingenuity, making the most of the resources they had, and beauty. He seems quite gleeful in describing how Peru rewarded trading between seashore and uplands, or how cultures in the Amazon cultivated trees rather than grasses, or how bison were managed to NOT live in gigantic thundering herds -- details that show how the Indians solved basic economic problems in creative and unique ways that could show us a thing or two even today. Hanging over all of this ingenuity and self-reliance though were the twin scourges of violent colonialism and especially epidemic disease that undid so much of the careful balance of pre-Columbian American life. It would be hard for the Conquistadors and early English settlers to get a fair rap in a book like this, but it's particularly galling when you realize how puny the goals of the colonizers were: entire cultures were despoiled because a few soldiers of fortune selfishly wanted to buy noble titles for themselves.

I don't personally care if Mann's conclusions are "correct" but I imagine there was a LOT of pushback -- overt and otherwise -- to the book. You can tell just from internal context and footnotes that the author always picked the highest range of population figures and earliest dates possible from the evidence. He never claims to be a primary researcher, and I imagine he'd be nothing but thrilled if anyone ended up researching more deeply than he did -- even if they came to a very different conclusion. For those of us who aren't professional archeologists though, this is a wonderfully written and exciting new view of the world before a very meaningful "hinge of history" moment.]]> 4.04 2005 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
author: Charles C. Mann
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at: 2019/02/21
date added: 2019/03/04
shelves: librarybook
review:
One of the gravest duties of every American is to think as seriously as we can about reparations for the historical sins of our nation -- most of which, as John Brown noted, are rooted in our peculiar racial history. As part of this, I've recently been wondering what it would be like for every American to have to spend some time living on land controlled by the indigenous people of that area.

If that sounds utterly preposterous to you, it's a sign of how deeply we've imbibed certain myths about the Indians of the Americas: that the North and South American continents were thinly populated wilderness, that subsistence type agriculture or hunting/gathering was all the Indians could manage, and that they lacked writing or math skills. All of these assumptions turn out to be wrong, or at the very least extremely under debate as archeologists dig into the tropical rainforests and prairies. Mann takes a fairly maximalist position on all matters, positing that not only was the population of the Americas much higher than we assumed at the time of Columbus's intervention -- but that all those Indians were busy managing the environment, trading with each other, building great cities and complex polities, reaching artistic and cultural peaks many times, and generally doing a whole lot of extra-subsistence living.

There's no gauzy Dances with Wolves romanticizing any of this, because Mann admires exactly the same thing in Inka or Haudenosaunee or Olmec society that he would about European or Asian civilizations of the same era: competence, ingenuity, making the most of the resources they had, and beauty. He seems quite gleeful in describing how Peru rewarded trading between seashore and uplands, or how cultures in the Amazon cultivated trees rather than grasses, or how bison were managed to NOT live in gigantic thundering herds -- details that show how the Indians solved basic economic problems in creative and unique ways that could show us a thing or two even today. Hanging over all of this ingenuity and self-reliance though were the twin scourges of violent colonialism and especially epidemic disease that undid so much of the careful balance of pre-Columbian American life. It would be hard for the Conquistadors and early English settlers to get a fair rap in a book like this, but it's particularly galling when you realize how puny the goals of the colonizers were: entire cultures were despoiled because a few soldiers of fortune selfishly wanted to buy noble titles for themselves.

I don't personally care if Mann's conclusions are "correct" but I imagine there was a LOT of pushback -- overt and otherwise -- to the book. You can tell just from internal context and footnotes that the author always picked the highest range of population figures and earliest dates possible from the evidence. He never claims to be a primary researcher, and I imagine he'd be nothing but thrilled if anyone ended up researching more deeply than he did -- even if they came to a very different conclusion. For those of us who aren't professional archeologists though, this is a wonderfully written and exciting new view of the world before a very meaningful "hinge of history" moment.
]]> <![CDATA[Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory]]> 8302794 Filled with spies, double agents, rogues, heroes & a corpse, the story of Operation Mincemeat reads like an international thriller. Unveiling never-before-released material, Macintyre goes into the minds of intelligence officers, their moles & spies, & the German Abwehr agents who suffered the “twin frailties of wishfulness & yesmanship.� He weaves together the eccentric personalities of Cholmondeley & Montagu & their improbable feats into an adventure that saved thousands & paved the way for the conquest of Sicily.

]]> 434 Ben Macintyre Joyce 0 librarybook 4.06 2010 Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory
author: Ben Macintyre
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at: 2019/01/13
date added: 2019/01/14
shelves: librarybook
review:
Pretty sure I read Montagu's _The Man Who Wasn't There_ when I was a kid, but Macintyre is a far superior writer plus he didn't have the Official Secrets Act hanging over his head. This author excels at maintaining something of the suspense that must have been chokingly thick during the operation -- largely by shining a light on all the little mistakes of tradecraft that COULD have come back to bite the operation -- without nostalgia or favor. However he allows himself to revel a bit in the indubitable joys of pre-war British eccentricity -- the whole saga of the don's long underwear, for instance -- and displays more than a little empathy for the corpse of a man whose life was as small and pinched as his life after death was grand and important.
]]> <![CDATA[The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South]]> 31812079 "The one food book you must read this year."
--Southern Living

One of Christopher Kimball's Six Favorite Books About Food

A people's history that reveals how Southerners shaped American culinary identity and how race relations impacted Southern food culture over six revolutionary decades

Like great provincial dishes around the world, potlikker is a salvage food. During the antebellum era, slave owners ate the greens from the pot and set aside the leftover potlikker broth for the enslaved, unaware that the broth, not the greens, was nutrient rich. After slavery, potlikker sustained the working poor, both black and white. In the South of today, potlikker has taken on new meanings as chefs have reclaimed it. Potlikker is a quintessential Southern dish, and The Potlikker Papers is a people's history of the modern South, told through its food. Beginning with the pivotal role cooks and waiters played in the civil rights movement, noted authority John T. Edge narrates the South's fitful journey from a hive of racism to a hotbed of American immigration. He shows why working-class Southern food has become a vital driver of contemporary American cuisine.

Food access was a battleground issue during the 1950s and 1960s. Ownership of culinary traditions has remained a central contention on the long march toward equality. The Potlikker Papers tracks pivotal moments in Southern history, from the back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s to the rise of fast and convenience foods modeled on rural staples. Edge narrates the gentrification that gained traction in the restaurants of the 1980s and the artisanal renaissance that began to reconnect farmers and cooks in the 1990s. He reports as a newer South came into focus in the 2000s and 2010s, enriched by the arrival of immigrants from Mexico to Vietnam and many points in between. Along the way, Edge profiles extraordinary figures in Southern food, including Fannie Lou Hamer, Colonel Sanders, Mahalia Jackson, Edna Lewis, Paul Prudhomme, Craig Claiborne, and Sean Brock.

Over the last three generations, wrenching changes have transformed the South. The Potlikker Papers tells the story of that dynamism--and reveals how Southern food has become a shared culinary language for the nation.]]> 384 John T. Edge 1594206554 Joyce 0 librarybook
Although he's certainly no outsider or hater, the author never wavers in his view that slavery was a near-mortal wound on this nation that we can barely stand to look at much less heal. Racists will find scant sympathy in these pages -- I'm not even sure Edge truly believes a racist can cook well -- because it is mostly expended on the African-American and female home cooks, restaurant kitchen staff, and entrepreneurs whose innovations were so often exploited and bastardized. To witness Edge at his best, watch him trace the winding paths of Edna Lewis or Nathalie Dupree -- it's striking how many times they took steps back in their careers, taking jobs at department stores or remote hotels even after they had taught Southern cooking and eating to the masses.

Unlike most books aimed at foodies, this author is not in unquestioning thrall to the artisanal. Don't get me wrong, he clearly loves his country hams and bourbon, his skillet-fried chicken and whole hog melted over pecan coals -- but he is open both to the democratizing possibilities of mass-market "Southern" food (especially as it intersected with women working) and also how much even the most reverently hand-crafted foods are products of great marketing. Those two edges (see what I did there?) give this people's history its distinctive flavor of appreciation mixed with a little polite skepticism.]]> 3.82 2017 The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South
author: John T. Edge
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2018/07/07
date added: 2019/01/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
Fresh and tasty food history of the South from the mid-1950s to the mid-2010s, by a bona fide son of Dixie. I was exposed to a lot of nuanced takes that I'd never heard before. For instance, turns out the Montgomery bus boycotts were partially funded by black women selling cakes to covert white sympathizers. A surprising amount of the story is given over to hippies in their communes. Also I was surprised to learn that since 1990 the region of the country that has taken in the most immigrants is the South.

Although he's certainly no outsider or hater, the author never wavers in his view that slavery was a near-mortal wound on this nation that we can barely stand to look at much less heal. Racists will find scant sympathy in these pages -- I'm not even sure Edge truly believes a racist can cook well -- because it is mostly expended on the African-American and female home cooks, restaurant kitchen staff, and entrepreneurs whose innovations were so often exploited and bastardized. To witness Edge at his best, watch him trace the winding paths of Edna Lewis or Nathalie Dupree -- it's striking how many times they took steps back in their careers, taking jobs at department stores or remote hotels even after they had taught Southern cooking and eating to the masses.

Unlike most books aimed at foodies, this author is not in unquestioning thrall to the artisanal. Don't get me wrong, he clearly loves his country hams and bourbon, his skillet-fried chicken and whole hog melted over pecan coals -- but he is open both to the democratizing possibilities of mass-market "Southern" food (especially as it intersected with women working) and also how much even the most reverently hand-crafted foods are products of great marketing. Those two edges (see what I did there?) give this people's history its distinctive flavor of appreciation mixed with a little polite skepticism.
]]> Blackjack (Cross Novels, #1) 12983880 ĚýĚýĚý "Bolshe!" he barked into a satellite phone. He listened to the response, then said, "Ne vazhno!" into the mouthpiece, and thumbed off the phone.
ĚýĚýĚý He signaled to a group of men standing close by. A line of five identical midnight blue Audi A8 sedans pulled to the empty curb. As Viktor prepared to enter the back seat of the middle car, the satellite phone in his hand seemed to change color, as if a shroud of shadow had been draped over it. A low sound, outside the human hearing threshold, came, short and
ĚýĚýĚý "Ńбил!"
Ěý
#

ĚýĚýĚý Just before daylight, a Chicago cop stared through the windshield of his cruiser. "Holy Jumping Jesus Christ! I've been on the force since before you were born, kid. And I've never seen anything like ... that."
ĚýĚýĚý Both the retirement-age sergeant and the rookie sitting next to him were staring at bodies draped over a row of identical dark blue sedans. Each body had been skinned, graphically displaying that all were missing large bones, from femurs to skulls.
ĚýĚýĚý Neither cop noticed the city-camo shark as it slipped past the scene. Running without headlights, it looked more like a shifting shadow than a car.
ĚýĚýĚý Inside that shark, Buddha said, "Someone got to him first, boss." His gloved hands delicately fingered the thickly padded steering wheel as his eyes checked the instrument display projected on the lower windshield.
ĚýĚýĚý "Viktor always was an optimist."
ĚýĚýĚý "Huh?"
ĚýĚýĚý "He was a HALO jumper," Cross said. "Absolutely positive his chute would open whenever he decided to pull the chord. This time, the ground got there first."
ĚýĚýĚý "Chang sees a picture of this, he'll think you worked some magic, getting it done so fast."
ĚýĚýĚý "Yeah. So will the Russians."
ĚýĚýĚý " They paid, too?"
ĚýĚýĚý "More than Chang. The Russian Bear is a sacred icon to them. In their eyes, Viktor was looting a national treasure."
ĚýĚýĚý "But it had to be some of their own people doing the actual poaching."
ĚýĚýĚý "Sure. But that's their problem, at their end. We only got paid to solve the one at ours."
ĚýĚýĚý "Comes out perfect, boss. It's like Viktor's number came up, and we hit that number at the same time."
ĚýĚýĚý "Yeah," Cross says. "Perfect."
ĚýĚýĚý "What's wrong?"
ĚýĚýĚý "Come on, Buddha. You saw those bodies yourself. All of a sudden we got partners? Silent partners?"ĚýĚýĚý Ěý ĚýĚý]]> 240 Andrew Vachss 0307949575 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.14 2012 Blackjack (Cross Novels, #1)
author: Andrew Vachss
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.14
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2018/05/22
date added: 2018/05/22
shelves: librarybook
review:
Genuinely unsure what to think about this mashup of Vachss's signature vigilante justice tropes with what can gingerly be described as a horror theme. It's undoubtedly cinematic and fast-paced, with a retro Chicago setting. I admire a warhorse like this author trying to grow and expand his shtick. There were a LOT of characters and I'm not sure I ended up understanding a lot of their characterizations and motivations. Might have been more successful as a graphic novel Ă  la Frank Miller?
]]> Markswoman (Asiana, #1) 35008759
When Tamsyn, the powerful and dangerous Mistress of Mental Arts, assumes control of the Order, Kyra is forced on the run. She is certain that Tamsyn committed murder in a twisted bid for power, but she has no proof.

Kyra escapes through one of the strange Transport Hubs that are the remnants of Asiana’s long-lost past and finds herself in the unforgiving wilderness of a desert that is home to the Order of Khur, the only Order composed of men. Among them is Rustan, a disillusioned Marksman whose skill with a blade is unmatched. He understands the desperation of Kyra’s quest to prove Tamsyn’s guilt, and as the two grow closer, training daily on the windswept dunes of Khur, both begin to question their commitment to their Orders. But what they don’t yet realize is that the line between justice and vengeance is thin . . . as thin as the blade of a knife.]]> 371 Rati Mehrotra 0062564544 Joyce 0 librarybook 3.54 2018 Markswoman (Asiana, #1)
author: Rati Mehrotra
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2018/05/06
date added: 2018/05/06
shelves: librarybook
review:
Except for an insulting vague multi-culti setting in "Asiana" -- where all the people seem to have blue eyes! -- this is basically a bad Disney movie. The villainess of the piece is particularly one-dimensional, fond of sneaking up on the weakest girls in the order and whispering cartoonishly inflated threats on the order of "You must die because you ate snacks without my permission!" Try to find a single redeeming quality in her character (besides "good at mind control") or any shred of backstory to explain her actions! I'll say that the plot takes some turns that one could never have predicted, mostly having to do with this low-tech planet's status as the detritus of a high-tech civilization which vanished almost without a trace except for these convenient teleporting modules... but all of that suggests a novice writer struggling mightily to control a lot of disparate elements, rather than anything like convincing world-building.
]]> Tehanu (Earthsea Cycle, #4) 13661
Once, when they were young, they helped each other at a time of darkness and danger and shared an adventure like no other. Now they must join forces again, to help another in need -- the physically and emotionally scarred child whose own destiny has yet to be revealed.]]> 281 Ursula K. Le Guin 1416509631 Joyce 0 librarybook
Male and female magic-users are almost always portrayed as being of equal power in fantasy novels today, and I think the reason is partly because Le Guin problematized the whole issue here. She explicitly calls out the question of why male mages (aka wizards) are so much more powerful than females (aka witches). She collects a range of answers and non-answers. Many of them only make poetic sense, not logical sense. The whole project is not at all comfortable in the context of this series to date. And yet... without Le Guin's insistent questioning, would the genre have moved forward so quickly? I think not.]]> 4.03 1990 Tehanu (Earthsea Cycle, #4)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at: 2018/04/05
date added: 2018/04/05
shelves: librarybook
review:
A bridge too far for many SF/F readers, this meditation on gender was unloved when first published and will still strike many as uneven, awkwardly paced, and lacking the impressionistic vigor of her other work. Not that any of that is wrong, but it's clear that in many ways this is the most personal of Le Guin's books in this series and I think a true landmark.

Male and female magic-users are almost always portrayed as being of equal power in fantasy novels today, and I think the reason is partly because Le Guin problematized the whole issue here. She explicitly calls out the question of why male mages (aka wizards) are so much more powerful than females (aka witches). She collects a range of answers and non-answers. Many of them only make poetic sense, not logical sense. The whole project is not at all comfortable in the context of this series to date. And yet... without Le Guin's insistent questioning, would the genre have moved forward so quickly? I think not.
]]> <![CDATA[Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy]]> 26597345 From New York Times bestselling author and economics columnist Robert Frank, a compelling book that explains why the rich underestimate the importance of luck in their success, why that hurts everyone, and what we can do about it

How important is luck in economic success? No question more reliably divides conservatives from liberals. As conservatives correctly observe, people who amass great fortunes are almost always talented and hardworking. But liberals are also correct to note that countless others have those same qualities yet never earn much. In recent years, social scientists have discovered that chance plays a much larger role in important life outcomes than most people imagine. In Success and Luck, bestselling author and New York Times economics columnist Robert Frank explores the surprising implications of those findings to show why the rich underestimate the importance of luck in success--and why that hurts everyone, even the wealthy.

Frank describes how, in a world increasingly dominated by winner-take-all markets, chance opportunities and trivial initial advantages often translate into much larger ones--and enormous income differences--over time; how false beliefs about luck persist, despite compelling evidence against them; and how myths about personal success and luck shape individual and political choices in harmful ways.

But, Frank argues, we could decrease the inequality driven by sheer luck by adopting simple, unintrusive policies that would free up trillions of dollars each year--more than enough to fix our crumbling infrastructure, expand healthcare coverage, fight global warming, and reduce poverty, all without requiring painful sacrifices from anyone. If this sounds implausible, you'll be surprised to discover that the solution requires only a few, noncontroversial steps.

Compellingly readable, Success and Luck shows how a more accurate understanding of the role of chance in life could lead to better, richer, and fairer economies and societies.]]> 208 Robert H. Frank 0691167400 Joyce 0 librarybook
An inordinate amount of the book is spent trying to convince skeptical readers that success tracks more closely with luck than skill/hard work... or rather probably something more like, within a given tier of skill/hard work the outcomes correlate more strongly to luck than to additional skill or work. I had no idea that this view was so controversial on the political right until I read a book recently about the Koch brothers, who revere the myth of the lone entrepreneur despite the fact that they inherited vast fortunes. I personally do not find the critical importance of luck controversial, partly because I decided to read this book only after already being convinced by the 2018 Pluchino et al paper on "Talent vs Luck" which tackles the question more directly (via computer simulation) than Frank does. I believe this author is one of the originators of the theory of "winner take all markets" so he is no rookie at this topic.

A feature of the book that I specifically enjoyed was the author's attempt to speak directly to the people most affected by the luck/talent argument, the affluent (basically defined as those who have plenty for needs but still have to prioritize for wants). The practical correlate of luck is to encourage the affluent to pay more tax to fund social equalizers, especially public education. Frank's cute twist is to point out in various ways that a lot of what the upper classes want money for is conspicuous or comparative consumption... so if ALL OF US in a certain income tier took the same tax haircut for wants, we would still be good because we'd only be competing with each other. Makes perfect sense to me and I hope the idea of consumption tax gets some traction.]]> 3.65 2016 Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy
author: Robert H. Frank
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2018/03/31
date added: 2018/03/31
shelves: librarybook
review:
Delightful little polemic, refreshingly free of tedious moralizing. If anything the author seems so genuinely humble and grateful for the luck he's experienced in his own life that he somewhat undercuts his own argument -- because many of his confessed strokes of luck would be considered unlucky by a less mature mind! For instance, it turns out that he was given up for adoption at birth by a member of a wealthy family... and he ends up concluding that this was very lucky for him because he considers himself naturally lazy and thinks a trust fund would have sapped him of the work ethic he needed to succeed in life. Much later he credits his survival after a medical emergency to the happenstance of close ambulance location -- but most people would be forgiven for not thinking of TOTAL HEART FAILURE as any kind of good luck! He even slyly manages to turn a savage cable TV interview into an argument for his own position.

An inordinate amount of the book is spent trying to convince skeptical readers that success tracks more closely with luck than skill/hard work... or rather probably something more like, within a given tier of skill/hard work the outcomes correlate more strongly to luck than to additional skill or work. I had no idea that this view was so controversial on the political right until I read a book recently about the Koch brothers, who revere the myth of the lone entrepreneur despite the fact that they inherited vast fortunes. I personally do not find the critical importance of luck controversial, partly because I decided to read this book only after already being convinced by the 2018 Pluchino et al paper on "Talent vs Luck" which tackles the question more directly (via computer simulation) than Frank does. I believe this author is one of the originators of the theory of "winner take all markets" so he is no rookie at this topic.

A feature of the book that I specifically enjoyed was the author's attempt to speak directly to the people most affected by the luck/talent argument, the affluent (basically defined as those who have plenty for needs but still have to prioritize for wants). The practical correlate of luck is to encourage the affluent to pay more tax to fund social equalizers, especially public education. Frank's cute twist is to point out in various ways that a lot of what the upper classes want money for is conspicuous or comparative consumption... so if ALL OF US in a certain income tier took the same tax haircut for wants, we would still be good because we'd only be competing with each other. Makes perfect sense to me and I hope the idea of consumption tax gets some traction.
]]> <![CDATA[Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right]]> 27833494
The conventional answer is that a popular uprising against “big government� led to the ascendancy of a broad-based conservative movement. But as Jane Mayer shows in this powerful, meticulously reported history, a network of exceedingly wealthy people with extreme libertarian views bankrolled a systematic, step-by-step plan to fundamentally alter the American political system.

The network has brought together some of the richest people on the planet. Their core beliefs—that taxes are a form of tyranny; that government oversight of business is an assault on freedom—are sincerely held. But these beliefs also advance their personal and corporate interests: Many of their companies have run afoul of federal pollution, worker safety, securities, and tax laws.

The chief figures in the network are Charles and David Koch, whose father made his fortune in part by building oil refineries in Stalin’s Russia and Hitler’s Germany. The patriarch later was a founding member of the John Birch Society, whose politics were so radical it believed Dwight Eisenhower was a communist. The brothers were schooled in a political philosophy that asserted the only role of government is to provide security and to enforce property rights.

When libertarian ideas proved decidedly unpopular with voters, the Koch brothers and their allies chose another path. If they pooled their vast resources, they could fund an interlocking array of organizations that could work in tandem to influence and ultimately control academic institutions, think tanks, the courts, statehouses, Congress, and, they hoped, the presidency. Richard Mellon Scaife, the mercurial heir to banking and oil fortunes, had the brilliant insight that most of their political activities could be written off as tax-deductible “philanthropy.�

These organizations were given innocuous names such as Americans for Prosperity. Funding sources were hidden whenever possible. This process reached its apotheosis with the allegedly populist Tea Party movement, abetted mightily by the Citizens United decision—a case conceived of by legal advocates funded by the network.

The political operatives the network employs are disciplined, smart, and at times ruthless. Mayer documents instances in which people affiliated with these groups hired private detectives to impugn whistle-blowers, journalists, and even government investigators. And their efforts have been remarkably successful. Libertarian views on taxes and regulation, once far outside the mainstream and still rejected by most Americans, are ascendant in the majority of state governments, the Supreme Court, and Congress. Meaningful environmental, labor, finance, and tax reforms have been stymied.

Jane Mayer spent five years conducting hundreds of interviews-including with several sources within the network-and scoured public records, private papers, and court proceedings in reporting this book. In a taut and utterly convincing narrative, she traces the byzantine trail of the billions of dollars spent by the network and provides vivid portraits of the colorful figures behind the new American oligarchy.

Dark Money is a book that must be read by anyone who cares about the future of American democracy.]]> 464 Jane Mayer Joyce 0 librarybook
The irony, for those of us who read Kevin Phillips, is that both the Koch fortune and the Koch chip-on-shoulder have their origins in the previous round of robber-baronage. The pater familias, Fred C Koch, was a brilliant chemical engineer who was forced by Standard Oil's monopolism to take his improved "cracking" show on the road to Stalin's USSR and Hitler's Germany. When he died in the late 60's, he left $300mm each and a strong distaste for democratic government to his four sons (two of whom were bought out early on for being insufficiently doctrinaire).

There are three things every American needs to know about the Kochs:

* They believe that the ONLY legitimate role of government is guaranteeing property rights. No defense, no education, no nothing except making sure the rich keep their riches.

* The American tax system's charity provisions made it possible for them to basically fund THE ENTIRE ECOSYSTEM of right-wing think-tanks and university feeder programs. Turns out you can buy a shit-ton of third-rate academics for a couple hundred million dollars. A few tens of millions of dollars will let you flip the debate around a single issue such as climate change, especially if it is difficult to understand.

* In the end, it's all just about money. Koch Industries makes petroleum and things that are made out of petroleum, so they have a very strong interest in hobbling any governmental action regulating petroleum and its byproducts. Although they were ferociously opposed to practically everything Obama did, they were in favor of his bailout because without it they would have lost a lot of money. Basically one man changed our entire political system and potentially our global climate because he happened to inherit a very profitable petroleum processing plant.

Ever since I read this book, I can't stop asking myself one question: what would it be like to genuinely believe that the ONLY THING unrestrained capitalism can't do adequately by itself is police property rights? Think how much clearer your worldview would be, and how much more focused your actions could be. Even as great an entrepreneur as Bill Gates is pulled in many directions of philanthropy because he wants to improve several areas of urgent need: education, health, energy, women's rights, etc. Charles Koch doesn't have that problem because he genuinely believes that rich people deserve everything that their money buys no matter how dire the consequences for everyone else. There is no such thing as a tragedy of the commons in Kochworld.

And yet, that single-mindedness is the essence of Charles Koch's undoubted genius. He was never an innovator in business per se -- Koch Industries is merely playing out the string on a bunch of businesses that haven't been innovative since WWII -- but he is one of the greatest Americans ever at the true business of American big business, which is bending government to their self-interest or in other words rent-seeking. The irony, of course, is that the fanatical Libertarian is the man who first truly grasped that a couple million a year in lobbyist dollars does not move the needle any more: to keep Koch Industries maximally profitable in the age of global warming required the literal creation of an entire intellectual and political support apparatus at vast (tax-deductible) expense.

And therein lies the potential silver lining in what is, despite Jane Mayer's impeccable reportage and skillful writing, a pretty damn depressing work. Charles Koch is 82 years old, and he seems to be pretty hands-on when it comes to his philanthropy. I'll be fascinated to see what happens to the whole Cato-Heritage-National Review-Olin Fellows pack after the money runs out... because Koch also doesn't seem like the type to keep funding a mass of apparatchiks after they won't be of DIRECT PERSONAL benefit to him any longer.]]> 4.28 2016 Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
author: Jane Mayer
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2018/03/04
date added: 2018/03/05
shelves: librarybook
review:
It is every American's painful duty to read this book if they wish to have a prayer of understanding the state of public life today. At some level I sort of knew a lot of the facts laid out herein, having attended one of the most conservative universities during the period covered by this book; but the firm narrative just kept getting more and more chilling as it moved from John Birch to Citizens United. I have a strong disposition to default to the theory that people are good but stupid rather than smart but evil; but after a stiff shot of Charles Koch, I'm open to revising that theory.

The irony, for those of us who read Kevin Phillips, is that both the Koch fortune and the Koch chip-on-shoulder have their origins in the previous round of robber-baronage. The pater familias, Fred C Koch, was a brilliant chemical engineer who was forced by Standard Oil's monopolism to take his improved "cracking" show on the road to Stalin's USSR and Hitler's Germany. When he died in the late 60's, he left $300mm each and a strong distaste for democratic government to his four sons (two of whom were bought out early on for being insufficiently doctrinaire).

There are three things every American needs to know about the Kochs:

* They believe that the ONLY legitimate role of government is guaranteeing property rights. No defense, no education, no nothing except making sure the rich keep their riches.

* The American tax system's charity provisions made it possible for them to basically fund THE ENTIRE ECOSYSTEM of right-wing think-tanks and university feeder programs. Turns out you can buy a shit-ton of third-rate academics for a couple hundred million dollars. A few tens of millions of dollars will let you flip the debate around a single issue such as climate change, especially if it is difficult to understand.

* In the end, it's all just about money. Koch Industries makes petroleum and things that are made out of petroleum, so they have a very strong interest in hobbling any governmental action regulating petroleum and its byproducts. Although they were ferociously opposed to practically everything Obama did, they were in favor of his bailout because without it they would have lost a lot of money. Basically one man changed our entire political system and potentially our global climate because he happened to inherit a very profitable petroleum processing plant.

Ever since I read this book, I can't stop asking myself one question: what would it be like to genuinely believe that the ONLY THING unrestrained capitalism can't do adequately by itself is police property rights? Think how much clearer your worldview would be, and how much more focused your actions could be. Even as great an entrepreneur as Bill Gates is pulled in many directions of philanthropy because he wants to improve several areas of urgent need: education, health, energy, women's rights, etc. Charles Koch doesn't have that problem because he genuinely believes that rich people deserve everything that their money buys no matter how dire the consequences for everyone else. There is no such thing as a tragedy of the commons in Kochworld.

And yet, that single-mindedness is the essence of Charles Koch's undoubted genius. He was never an innovator in business per se -- Koch Industries is merely playing out the string on a bunch of businesses that haven't been innovative since WWII -- but he is one of the greatest Americans ever at the true business of American big business, which is bending government to their self-interest or in other words rent-seeking. The irony, of course, is that the fanatical Libertarian is the man who first truly grasped that a couple million a year in lobbyist dollars does not move the needle any more: to keep Koch Industries maximally profitable in the age of global warming required the literal creation of an entire intellectual and political support apparatus at vast (tax-deductible) expense.

And therein lies the potential silver lining in what is, despite Jane Mayer's impeccable reportage and skillful writing, a pretty damn depressing work. Charles Koch is 82 years old, and he seems to be pretty hands-on when it comes to his philanthropy. I'll be fascinated to see what happens to the whole Cato-Heritage-National Review-Olin Fellows pack after the money runs out... because Koch also doesn't seem like the type to keep funding a mass of apparatchiks after they won't be of DIRECT PERSONAL benefit to him any longer.
]]> <![CDATA[The Farthest Shore (Earthsea Cycle, #3)]]> 13667 259 Ursula K. Le Guin 141650964X Joyce 0 librarybook
As ever, Le Guin's genius lies in the economy with which she makes her points. The proximate cause of this quest is the failure of magic throughout the realm, but that turns out to be just the tip of the iceberg. Along the way we see drug addiction, slavery, and piracy -- pretty shocking stuff for the time, especially for a children's book -- but the true extent of Earthsea's rot is signaled by the failure of weavers to weave, merchants to sell, farmers to farm. And this is conveyed by a singular literary device which could easily have backfired: Le Guin's afflicted speak in ALMOST intelligible sentences, circling around and around the words they can't say. It's not pure gibberish but streams of words that sorta kinda almost make sense... which in a world based on precision of naming carries a horror more than any violence or despoilment could.

It's not hard to see the parallels to our own cultural moment in the masses of drug addicts dosing themselves right to death's door, or the old people joylessly complaining about how "in my day" things were so much better. But the mirror the author holds up to the present day is also about the rot of language itself: our advanced technological society demands precision of naming just as much as Earthsea, and yet we too seem to be losing shared meanings. Words that used to have widely-shared connotations -- "vaccine", "liberty", "Nazi" -- are sprouting new fractals of meaning to subsets of the country. In fantasy novels these problems can ultimately be solved by mages, kings, the fulfillment of long-foretold destinies... but in our world no such device seems likely to save us with magic and heroism.]]> 4.13 1972 The Farthest Shore (Earthsea Cycle, #3)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1972
rating: 0
read at: 2018/02/25
date added: 2018/02/25
shelves: librarybook
review:
It's astonishing that this book is marketed as YA fiction, because it's about as dystopian as fantasy gets. Even _The Lord of the Rings_ in all its darkness externalizes corruption and makes it mostly about a grand lust for power; but there is no real externalization or channeling here of the petty human desire for eternal life.

As ever, Le Guin's genius lies in the economy with which she makes her points. The proximate cause of this quest is the failure of magic throughout the realm, but that turns out to be just the tip of the iceberg. Along the way we see drug addiction, slavery, and piracy -- pretty shocking stuff for the time, especially for a children's book -- but the true extent of Earthsea's rot is signaled by the failure of weavers to weave, merchants to sell, farmers to farm. And this is conveyed by a singular literary device which could easily have backfired: Le Guin's afflicted speak in ALMOST intelligible sentences, circling around and around the words they can't say. It's not pure gibberish but streams of words that sorta kinda almost make sense... which in a world based on precision of naming carries a horror more than any violence or despoilment could.

It's not hard to see the parallels to our own cultural moment in the masses of drug addicts dosing themselves right to death's door, or the old people joylessly complaining about how "in my day" things were so much better. But the mirror the author holds up to the present day is also about the rot of language itself: our advanced technological society demands precision of naming just as much as Earthsea, and yet we too seem to be losing shared meanings. Words that used to have widely-shared connotations -- "vaccine", "liberty", "Nazi" -- are sprouting new fractals of meaning to subsets of the country. In fantasy novels these problems can ultimately be solved by mages, kings, the fulfillment of long-foretold destinies... but in our world no such device seems likely to save us with magic and heroism.
]]> <![CDATA[The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle, #2)]]> 13662
Then a wizard, Ged Sparrowhawk, comes to steal the Tombs� greatest hidden treasure, the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. Tenar’s duty is to protect the Ring, but Ged possesses the light of magic and tales of a world that Tenar has never known. Will Tenar risk everything to escape from the darkness that has become her domain?]]> 180 Ursula K. Le Guin 0689845367 Joyce 0 librarybook 4.12 1971 The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle, #2)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1971
rating: 0
read at: 2018/02/18
date added: 2018/02/19
shelves: librarybook
review:
Not a comfortable book at all, especially after the relatively conventional "hero's journey" format of _A Wizard of Earthsea_. You can see Le Guin playing with an idea that is delivered much more bluntly in her contemporaneous short-story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelos": what if an entire civilization depended upon the near-literal entombment of a single small child? Furthermore, even after all the adventures in _Wizard_, nothing happened to make the characters question the fundamentals of their own civilization. Magic never stopped working, names didn't stop being the key to magic, dragons didn't start being cuddly pets, etc. In contrast, the deepest foundations of Tenar's life -- her entire basis for making meaning about her place in the universe -- are shaken to the core by the end of this tale.
]]> <![CDATA[A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)]]> 16029682 210 Ursula K. Le Guin 0544084373 Joyce 0 librarybook
Like a Chinese ink-painter, Le Guin conjures up vast landscapes and sharp portraits in just a few strokes of her transparent-seeming prose. Compare the simplicity of Earthsea to the Victorian edifices of Harry Potter to notice how much she is doing with how little. She famously doesn't care to make her characters brave, admirable, or even mannerly: Sparrowhawk is ungrateful, conceited, or cowardly pretty much all the time, and in fact (spoiler alert!) his greatest feats are undertaken to remove himself from situations where he could be endangering others, and his greatest magical gift turns out to be intuition.

Oddly enough I ended up wondering if this novel was a direct inspiration for Star Wars. It definitely has a strong theme of "balance in the Force" and characters reminiscent of Yoda and Obi-Wan, Luke Skywalker and Anakin. It just goes to prove that a great book lasts forever because its ideas get re-worked over and over in different forms.]]> 4.04 1968 A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1968
rating: 0
read at: 2018/02/17
date added: 2018/02/18
shelves: librarybook
review:
There are so many "education of the young wizard" fantasy stories out there now, but this is the granddaddy of them all -- and in many ways still the most subtle.

Like a Chinese ink-painter, Le Guin conjures up vast landscapes and sharp portraits in just a few strokes of her transparent-seeming prose. Compare the simplicity of Earthsea to the Victorian edifices of Harry Potter to notice how much she is doing with how little. She famously doesn't care to make her characters brave, admirable, or even mannerly: Sparrowhawk is ungrateful, conceited, or cowardly pretty much all the time, and in fact (spoiler alert!) his greatest feats are undertaken to remove himself from situations where he could be endangering others, and his greatest magical gift turns out to be intuition.

Oddly enough I ended up wondering if this novel was a direct inspiration for Star Wars. It definitely has a strong theme of "balance in the Force" and characters reminiscent of Yoda and Obi-Wan, Luke Skywalker and Anakin. It just goes to prove that a great book lasts forever because its ideas get re-worked over and over in different forms.
]]> <![CDATA[The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics]]> 17404747 For readers of Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit and Unbroken, the dramatic story of the American rowing team that stunned the world at Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olympics

Daniel James Brown’s robust book tells the story of the University of Washington’s 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936.

The emotional heart of the story lies with one rower, Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not for glory, but to regain his shattered self-regard and to find a place he can call home. The crew is assembled by an enigmatic coach and mentored by a visionary, eccentric British boat builder, but it is their trust in each other that makes them a victorious team. They remind the country of what can be done when everyone quite literally pulls together—a perfect melding of commitment, determination, and optimism.

Drawing on the boys� own diaries and journals, their photos and memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, The Boys in the Boat is an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate story of nine working-class boys from the American west who, in the depths of the Great Depression, showed the world what true grit really meant. It will appeal to readers of Erik Larson, Timothy Egan, James Bradley, and David Halberstam's The Amateurs.]]> 460 Daniel James Brown Joyce 0 librarybook
I grew up in Washington State, and the setting of this book there during the Great Depression was quite a nostalgic trip for me. My childhood spanned what I think of as the hinge era between Old Washington -- based on timber, salmon, and aviation -- and New Washington, based on software. The eponymous boys in the boat were the very heart and soul of Old Washington, which was already entering its dotage when I got there in 1979 -- the same year that Microsoft moved from Albuquerque to Bellevue. That pattern of young men who were educated at the University of Washington and then entered engineering careers either at Boeing or in the military was the epitome of what middle-class Washingtonians could aspire to before Bill Gates. I completely understood the thirst of the whole community to be known for something non-agrarian and of national importance, which really underlies a lot of the action here.

I ended up having a lot of questions about the rowing parts of the narrative -- how did they actually know the cadence of their strokes so precisely? why did Joe Rantz's boats apparently never have a quick start? are different physical types better in the various seats of an 8-man crew? -- but I figure it's good for any writer to elicit that type of curiosity in his readers. The Nazi parts of the narrative were appropriately sinister, but they never quite connected up with the rest of the themes. Honestly these wholesome apple-pie-loving American lads could just have easily rowed their hearts out in any nation of the world in just as oblivious a fashion.

All in all, a charming look at a Seattle which no longer exists -- one in which a young boy could row a tiny boat from Bainbridge Island, through the Ballard Locks and Lake Union, to Lake Washington and beyond.]]> 4.55 2013 The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
author: Daniel James Brown
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2017/08/09
date added: 2018/01/09
shelves: librarybook
review:
It's impossible to overstate how much this book was influenced by the blockbuster success of _Seabiscuit_. As long as there is an America, I guess there will always be a market for tales about uncouth Westerners who served up some frontier vigor to the overly refined denizens of the East; but this story adds another dimension when our boys take on the Nazis in full flower at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games.

I grew up in Washington State, and the setting of this book there during the Great Depression was quite a nostalgic trip for me. My childhood spanned what I think of as the hinge era between Old Washington -- based on timber, salmon, and aviation -- and New Washington, based on software. The eponymous boys in the boat were the very heart and soul of Old Washington, which was already entering its dotage when I got there in 1979 -- the same year that Microsoft moved from Albuquerque to Bellevue. That pattern of young men who were educated at the University of Washington and then entered engineering careers either at Boeing or in the military was the epitome of what middle-class Washingtonians could aspire to before Bill Gates. I completely understood the thirst of the whole community to be known for something non-agrarian and of national importance, which really underlies a lot of the action here.

I ended up having a lot of questions about the rowing parts of the narrative -- how did they actually know the cadence of their strokes so precisely? why did Joe Rantz's boats apparently never have a quick start? are different physical types better in the various seats of an 8-man crew? -- but I figure it's good for any writer to elicit that type of curiosity in his readers. The Nazi parts of the narrative were appropriately sinister, but they never quite connected up with the rest of the themes. Honestly these wholesome apple-pie-loving American lads could just have easily rowed their hearts out in any nation of the world in just as oblivious a fashion.

All in all, a charming look at a Seattle which no longer exists -- one in which a young boy could row a tiny boat from Bainbridge Island, through the Ballard Locks and Lake Union, to Lake Washington and beyond.
]]> <![CDATA[SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome]]> 25806629 607 Mary Beard 1631491253 Joyce 0 librarybook
The big question of the work is how a tiny and rather undistinguished village became the center of the world for quite a long time -- and how its denizens thought about that process, which was often quite a different thing. This author's answer (spoiler alert!) is basically immigration: Rome's big secret was that it allowed non-Romans to become Romans on a vast scale and often on rather easy terms. As one can imagine, in today's hypertensive political atmosphere this point of view earned Professor Beard quite a lot of hate-tweets -- but she stuck to her guns as a classicist and an educator through some almost unbelievably nasty trolling.

The title of the book refers to the Senate and People of Rome, and it seems clear that of the two this author is more fascinated by the People. Throughout this work, and also in a television mini-series she hosted in 2012, she works hard to find and interpret traces of the lives of Roman non-elites: working people, women, soldiers, slaves, and that peculiarly Roman class of ex-slaves (who were often especially skilled and thus well-to-do). In this regard Professor Beard is helped immensely by the unparalleled Roman love of tombstones with long, specific statements of their owners' triumphs and tribulations.

Although I stayed up late many nights trying to finish the book, it took me quite some time because of hot competition to check it out of the library! Should also mention that due to the theme-driven rather than narrative structure of the work, the Interwebs are going to be your friend in looking up a lot of historical context that, had it been included in the book, would have led to several hundred more pages and a far less sprightly read.]]> 4.17 2015 SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
author: Mary Beard
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2017/10/30
date added: 2018/01/09
shelves: librarybook
review:
Popular history has remained stubbornly narrative for decades after that kind of thing was rejected by academic history, presumably because a bestseller � even one by a famous Oxbridge don like this author � needs to give the people what they want. Mary Beard breaks with almost every convention of the genre except quality of writing. Not only is there a bracing lack of “and then, and then, and then� here, but she also covers an enormous range of time as she works through her themes.

The big question of the work is how a tiny and rather undistinguished village became the center of the world for quite a long time -- and how its denizens thought about that process, which was often quite a different thing. This author's answer (spoiler alert!) is basically immigration: Rome's big secret was that it allowed non-Romans to become Romans on a vast scale and often on rather easy terms. As one can imagine, in today's hypertensive political atmosphere this point of view earned Professor Beard quite a lot of hate-tweets -- but she stuck to her guns as a classicist and an educator through some almost unbelievably nasty trolling.

The title of the book refers to the Senate and People of Rome, and it seems clear that of the two this author is more fascinated by the People. Throughout this work, and also in a television mini-series she hosted in 2012, she works hard to find and interpret traces of the lives of Roman non-elites: working people, women, soldiers, slaves, and that peculiarly Roman class of ex-slaves (who were often especially skilled and thus well-to-do). In this regard Professor Beard is helped immensely by the unparalleled Roman love of tombstones with long, specific statements of their owners' triumphs and tribulations.

Although I stayed up late many nights trying to finish the book, it took me quite some time because of hot competition to check it out of the library! Should also mention that due to the theme-driven rather than narrative structure of the work, the Interwebs are going to be your friend in looking up a lot of historical context that, had it been included in the book, would have led to several hundred more pages and a far less sprightly read.
]]> <![CDATA[The Skin Collector (Lincoln Rhyme, #11)]]> 19626008 The Bone Collector, Jeffery Deaver introduced readers to Lincoln Rhyme-the nation's most renowned investigator and forensic detective.

Now, a new killer is on the loose: a criminal inspired by the Bone Collector. And Rhyme must untangle the twisted web of clues before the killer targets more victims-or Rhyme himself.

THE SKIN COLLECTOR

The killer's methods are terrifying. He stalks the basements and underground passageways of New York City. He tattoos his victims' flesh with cryptic messages, using a tattoo gun loaded with poison, resulting in an agonizing, painful death.

When a connection is made to the Bone Collector-the serial killer who terrorized New York more than a decade ago-Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are immediately drawn into the case.

Rhyme, Sachs, and the NYPD must race against time to answer the many questions the investigation uncovers: Whom will the killer attack next? What is the message behind the victims' tattoos? Does the killer's own inking--a fanged centipede sporting a woman's face--hold any significance? And what is his ultimate mission?

As time runs out, Rhyme discovers that the past has returned to haunt him in the most troubling way imaginable...]]> 448 Jeffery Deaver Joyce 0 librarybook 4.19 2014 The Skin Collector (Lincoln Rhyme, #11)
author: Jeffery Deaver
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2017/11/22
date added: 2018/01/09
shelves: librarybook
review:
I haven't read a Lincoln Rhyme story in a long time, and now I remember why. The forensic science and New York setting don't feel nearly as fresh as they did at the beginning of the series, and perhaps in response the motivations of the characters have gotten more icky and twisted rather than having a core of pathos. On the other hand, no one could possibly deny that Deaver is a pro at keeping the pages turning despite yourself.
]]> The Gone-Away World 6482796
There couldn’t be a fire along the Jorgmund Pipe. It was the last thing the world needed. But there it was, burning bright on national television. The Pipe was what kept the Livable Zone safe from the bandits, monsters and nightmares the Go Away War had left in its wake. The fire was a very big problem.

Enter Gonzo Lubitsch and his friends, the Haulage & HazMat Emergency Civil Freebooting Company, a team of master troubleshooters who roll into action when things get particularly hot. They helped build the Pipe. Now they have to preserve it—and save humanity yet again. But this job is not all it seems. It will touch more closely on Gonzo’s life, and that of his best friend, than either of them can imagine. And it will decide the fate of the Gone-Away World.

Equal parts raucous adventure, comic odyssey, geek nirvana and ultracool epic, The Gone-Away World is a story of—among other things—pirates, war, mimes, greed and ninjas. But it is also the story of a world, not unlike our own, in desperate need of heroes—however unlikely they may seem.]]> 594 Nick Harkaway Joyce 0 librarybook 4.20 2008 The Gone-Away World
author: Nick Harkaway
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2017/10/16
date added: 2017/11/04
shelves: librarybook
review:
Every first-time novelist decides to lead off with a dystopian science fiction romp featuring not one but TWO Asian masters of martial arts (both deeply charming in their own ways), a troupe of mimes, and the looming threat of ninjas -- right? And of course everyone needs to start the narration with a fairly standard "saddling up for action" sequence before launching into a "my life since childhood" digression that takes up a full TWO THIRDS of the pages. But recklessness turns to panache if you pull it off, and in fact with one exception Harkaway turns the weaknesses of his story into necessities by the end. Obviously his brand of English comic logorrhea isn't everyone's cup of tea, but for those of us who love Geoff Dyer, Elvis Costello, and Terry Pratchett this shaggy and cinematic tale marked the birth of a new cult favorite.
]]> Low Town (Low Town, #1) 12064335 Drug dealers, hustlers, brothels, dirty politics, corrupt cops . . . and sorcery. Welcome to Low Town. In the forgotten back alleys and flophouses that lie in the shadows of Rigus, the finest city of the Thirteen Lands, you will find Low Town. It is an ugly place, and its cham­pion is an ugly man. Disgraced intelligence agent. Forgotten war hero. Independent drug dealer. After a fall from grace five years ago, a man known as the Warden leads a life of crime, addicted to cheap violence and expensive drugs. Every day is a constant hustle to find new customers and protect his turf from low-life competition like Tancred the Harelip and Ling Chi, the enigmatic crime lord of the heathens. The Warden’s life of drugged iniquity is shaken by his dis­covery of a murdered child down a dead-end street . . . set­ting him on a collision course with the life he left behind. As a former agent with Black House—the secret police—he knows better than anyone that murder in Low Town is an everyday thing, the kind of crime that doesn’t get investi­gated. To protect his home, he will take part in a dangerous game of deception between underworld bosses and the psy­chotic head of Black House, but the truth is far darker than he imagines. In Low Town, no one can be trusted. Daniel Polansky has crafted a thrilling novel steeped in noir sensibilities and relentless action, and set in an original world of stunning imagination, leading to a gut-wrenching, unforeseeable conclusion. Low Town is an attention-grabbing debut that will leave readers riveted . . . and hun­gry for more.]]> 354 Daniel Polansky Joyce 0 librarybook 4.10 2011 Low Town (Low Town, #1)
author: Daniel Polansky
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2017/09/22
date added: 2017/11/04
shelves: librarybook
review:
Very much like a darker, more adult _Six of Crows_ with a little _Neuromancer_ edge. Bit hard to understand how a substance abuser on this epic scale could even manage to scheme and talk his way through the police dungeons, high society, Asian slums, and magician's towers that ring Low Town... but in the end perhaps old regrets are the real poison coursing through the veins of our Mayor.
]]> <![CDATA[The Lions of Lucerne (Scot Harvath, #1)]]> 206196
A shadowy coalition comprises some of the highest-ranking officials in government and business � men who operate above the law, realize the threat Scot poses to their hidden agenda, and will do anything to stop him. Framed for murder and on the run, Scot takes to the towering mountains of Switzerland with beautiful Claudia Mueller of the Swiss Federal Attorney's Office. They brave subzero temperatures and sheer heights of treacherous Mount Pilatus, and the den of notorious professional killers.]]> 544 Brad Thor 1416543686 Joyce 0 librarybook
The action set-pieces are the best work here, especially the ingenious kidnapping and avalanche that kick off the plot. As Harvath tells anyone who will listen, he is a man of action who eschews "analysis paralysis". Unfortunately 80% of the story actually consists of civil service office politics, evil villains gloating over their victims, and dumb mistakes made by alleged geniuses. If you can chew through a bunch of that sawdust, the last 100 pages rewards you with a welcome return to action.

One oddity I couldn't help but notice: this author comes up with some of the worst character names I've ever read. I mean... Zuschnitt? Helsabeck? Vance Boyson? A gay character named André (with accent mark!)? One or two oddball names add charm, but I started actually bracing myself for the wackness every time a new disposable character flitted onto the stage for a minute. I'm trying out a theory that a strange name in Thor-world -- and these are almost 100% white Americans we're talking about, with a couple of German-Swiss thrown in -- is the equivalent of a red shirt in Star Trek.]]> 4.06 2002 The Lions of Lucerne (Scot Harvath, #1)
author: Brad Thor
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at: 2017/09/04
date added: 2017/09/04
shelves: librarybook
review:
Promising but uneven debut of the long-running Scot Harvath series, featuring a former Navy SEAL turned Secret Service agent.

The action set-pieces are the best work here, especially the ingenious kidnapping and avalanche that kick off the plot. As Harvath tells anyone who will listen, he is a man of action who eschews "analysis paralysis". Unfortunately 80% of the story actually consists of civil service office politics, evil villains gloating over their victims, and dumb mistakes made by alleged geniuses. If you can chew through a bunch of that sawdust, the last 100 pages rewards you with a welcome return to action.

One oddity I couldn't help but notice: this author comes up with some of the worst character names I've ever read. I mean... Zuschnitt? Helsabeck? Vance Boyson? A gay character named André (with accent mark!)? One or two oddball names add charm, but I started actually bracing myself for the wackness every time a new disposable character flitted onto the stage for a minute. I'm trying out a theory that a strange name in Thor-world -- and these are almost 100% white Americans we're talking about, with a couple of German-Swiss thrown in -- is the equivalent of a red shirt in Star Trek.
]]> <![CDATA[Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities]]> 6106482
Menacing botanical illustrations and splendidly ghastly drawings create a fascinating portrait of the evildoers that may be lurking in your own backyard. Drawing on history, medicine, science, and legend, this compendium of bloodcurdling botany will entertain, alarm, and enlighten even the most intrepid gardeners and nature lovers.]]> 236 Amy Stewart 1565126831 Joyce 0 librarybook
There's nothing particularly WRONG with the text, it just misses the greatness you wish for it. The author tells you all the expected stories -- the spy killed by a ricin pellet, Socrates and the hemlock, the eponymous plant that killed Lincoln's mother (white snakeroot) -- but... the stories don't fascinate as told. I wasn't able to figure out whether missing element was the inimitable touch of a better writer -- a McPhee, Winchester, or Kolbert would surely have found some twisty and unexpected sequelae to the common tales -- or whether this format didn't bring out Stewart's undoubted talent, or what.]]> 3.83 2009 Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities
author: Amy Stewart
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at: 2017/06/17
date added: 2017/06/25
shelves: librarybook
review:
This is a perfectly fine book with a cover design, title, and overall marketing that make you think it's going to be a smasher. Basically it's a collection of short descriptions of plants (and fungi), classified by their effects on us: deadly, intoxicating, itch-causing, painful, etc. For gardeners who want to be sure they aren't planting flowers or leaving weeds that will kill their neighbors' pets, it's a nice quick reminder; otherwise the perfect volume to leave in the guest bathroom of your summer house.

There's nothing particularly WRONG with the text, it just misses the greatness you wish for it. The author tells you all the expected stories -- the spy killed by a ricin pellet, Socrates and the hemlock, the eponymous plant that killed Lincoln's mother (white snakeroot) -- but... the stories don't fascinate as told. I wasn't able to figure out whether missing element was the inimitable touch of a better writer -- a McPhee, Winchester, or Kolbert would surely have found some twisty and unexpected sequelae to the common tales -- or whether this format didn't bring out Stewart's undoubted talent, or what.
]]> <![CDATA[Bacteria... The Good, the Bad and the Ugly : Good Bugs, Bad Bugger-Boos and Nasty Little Bu--Ers]]> 7273408 0 Darryl Leslie Gopaul 0973327405 Joyce 0 librarybook
Unfortunately the whole field of bacteriology got its biggest boosts from giant outbreaks of bacterial infections such as cholera, E Coli, and typhus. In a way the tension between these two strains of bacterial thinking drives the whole book -- sometimes to odd effect, for instance a quite rote recitation of celebrated scientists who discovered bacterial disease, versus fascinated dives into the little-known bacteria of the deep oceans.

The author was a working microbiologist but not a particularly eminent one, which argues that the best writers aren't necessarily the best scientists because this book is unusually lively and yet well-informed. It helps to already know a bit about the evolution of single-celled organisms, in particular the ways in which they might have shared DNA with each other.]]> 0.0 Bacteria... The Good, the Bad and the Ugly : Good Bugs, Bad Bugger-Boos and Nasty Little Bu--Ers
author: Darryl Leslie Gopaul
name: Joyce
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2017/04/25
date added: 2017/05/08
shelves: librarybook
review:
Strange title given that it's quite clear the author doesn't think ANY bacteria is bad or ugly. In fact he frequently emphasizes his belief that the vast majority of bacteria just go about their business without harming humans whatsoever.

Unfortunately the whole field of bacteriology got its biggest boosts from giant outbreaks of bacterial infections such as cholera, E Coli, and typhus. In a way the tension between these two strains of bacterial thinking drives the whole book -- sometimes to odd effect, for instance a quite rote recitation of celebrated scientists who discovered bacterial disease, versus fascinated dives into the little-known bacteria of the deep oceans.

The author was a working microbiologist but not a particularly eminent one, which argues that the best writers aren't necessarily the best scientists because this book is unusually lively and yet well-informed. It helps to already know a bit about the evolution of single-celled organisms, in particular the ways in which they might have shared DNA with each other.
]]> <![CDATA[The Call of Blood (Sherlock Holmes & the Vampires of London #1)]]> 25260907 Sylvain Cordurié Joyce 0 librarybook 3.78 2010 The Call of Blood (Sherlock Holmes & the Vampires of London #1)
author: Sylvain Cordurié
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at: 2016/04/06
date added: 2017/01/20
shelves: librarybook
review:
Sherlock sounds suspiciously modern sometimes, but if you like historical vampire gore Ă  la The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen you might want to give it a shot. If you have a delicate stomach, avoid.
]]> <![CDATA[Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)]]> 22299763
Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives.

Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties.

A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets - a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.]]> 561 Leigh Bardugo Joyce 0 librarybook
_Crooked Kingdom_ gets off to a slow and rather gloomy start, and if you're ALSO struggling to recall who the characters are and why you should care about them the whole enterprise could be doomed. But if you get past the dead zone (~30% into this volume) the revenge story should start helping you slide downhill with increasing velocity.

I feel like sort of a grinch for mentioning that a lot of the downtime of the story is caused by the various romantic subplots. If that's what you liked about the previous volume, you'll find resolution here... maybe even a cloying amount of resolution. Surprises have to come from other directions in this tale, and if you push through the boring first third or so you will find more rewards in the plot. There are fewer delightful new settings or characters here, and I can't emphasize strongly enough how much this novel shouldn't even be attempted by those who didn't love some of the previous Grishaverse volumes.]]> 4.58 2016 Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2017/01/11
date added: 2017/01/13
shelves: librarybook
review:
Unfortunately I read the first volume in this duology (Six of Crows) before this second volume was even published. Don't make my mistake! You will enjoy the whole enterprise a lot more if you read them basically as one book, back to back with as little downtime as possible between the volumes.

_Crooked Kingdom_ gets off to a slow and rather gloomy start, and if you're ALSO struggling to recall who the characters are and why you should care about them the whole enterprise could be doomed. But if you get past the dead zone (~30% into this volume) the revenge story should start helping you slide downhill with increasing velocity.

I feel like sort of a grinch for mentioning that a lot of the downtime of the story is caused by the various romantic subplots. If that's what you liked about the previous volume, you'll find resolution here... maybe even a cloying amount of resolution. Surprises have to come from other directions in this tale, and if you push through the boring first third or so you will find more rewards in the plot. There are fewer delightful new settings or characters here, and I can't emphasize strongly enough how much this novel shouldn't even be attempted by those who didn't love some of the previous Grishaverse volumes.
]]> <![CDATA[Around the World in 80 Dinners: The Ultimate Culinary Adventure]]> 1860886 Where they celebrated a second honeymoon in Ubud and encountered a rogue monkey Australia
Where they found the world's best breakfast sandwich and visited family-owned wineries Thailand
Where they took a wild ride on an elephant in an enormous forest reserve India
Where they found themselves in the midst of Diwali, the Festival of Lights China
Where they attended a banquet of local Chiu Chow cuisine that required hours of preparation by the "Emeril of Chaozhou" and forty cooks South Africa
Where they went on a safari among rhinos, giraffes, and very hungry lions Brazil
Where they soaked in the sun and Creole flavors of the coastal town of Salvador Combining the intelligence and humor of Anthony Bourdain with the charm and insight of Frances Mayes, Around the World in 80 Dinners transforms traveling into an unforgettable odyssey.]]> 272 Bill Jamison 0060878959 Joyce 0 librarybook, failed-attempts 2.76 2008 Around the World in 80 Dinners: The Ultimate Culinary Adventure
author: Bill Jamison
name: Joyce
average rating: 2.76
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2016/12/23
date added: 2016/12/23
shelves: librarybook, failed-attempts
review:
There's a type of couple you meet quite frequently in forced shared-dining situations -- cruise ships, for instance, or weddings -- who insist on telling you every detail of their MARVELOUS world travels and all the WONDERFUL things they ate and the ADORABLE animals they attracted by the power of their own charisma. Three pages into this thing I could tell the Jamisons are that couple. Seriously, are even their best friends going to be interested in how they accumulated enough frequent flier miles to go around the world?!?! I certainly was not.
]]> <![CDATA[Earth Time: Exploring the Deep Past from Victorian England to the Grand Canyon]]> 2311932 304 Douglas Palmer 0470022213 Joyce 0 librarybook, failed-attempts 3.62 2005 Earth Time: Exploring the Deep Past from Victorian England to the Grand Canyon
author: Douglas Palmer
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at: 2016/12/12
date added: 2016/12/12
shelves: librarybook, failed-attempts
review:
I'm not sure I ever met a geology book I didn't like before, but this one consisted of endless iterations of "[British gentleman] went to [British place] and discovered rock formations (often with fossils) which led him to name a geological era." I'd expected something much more like a collection of very short Simon Winchester pieces, but this was a lot more like what you'd think of as an old-school history of geology. It was quite effective for helping me fall asleep, but honestly I still don't know much about more about the geological eras that are the ostensible narrative skeleton here.
]]> <![CDATA[The Wurst of Lucky Peach: A Treasury of Encased Meat: A Cookbook]]> 25893409 The best in wurst from around the world, with enough sausage-themed stories and picturesĚýstuffedĚýbetween these two covers to turnĚýanyone into a forcemeat aficionado.Lucky Peach presents a cookbook as a scrapbook, stuffed with curious local specialties, like cevapi, a caseless sausage that’s traveled all the way from the Balkans to underneath the M tracks in Ridgewood, Queens; a look into the great sausage trails of the world, from Bavaria to Texas Hill Country and beyond; and the ins and outs of making your own sausages, including fresh chorizo.]]> 434 Chris Ying 0804187789 Joyce 0 librarybook
There is no way to make sausage eating and categorizing very interesting, and I'm sure that goes double for hipster "food writers" (as I'm sure they'd style themselves) from Brooklyn, so the first half of the book is alternately dull and annoying. Sausage MAKING is pretty easy to make interesting though, and thus the book gains in strength as it goes along because it starts to be more and more about making sausage till at the end there are actual recipes. Reader should be warned that these are Lucky Peach recipes, which is to say they aren't exactly intended to be cooked by normal humans... and to be fair, they're pretty upfront about it. If you aren't the kind of person who will stash your mixer in the freezer or risk certain death to eat fermented pork balls, you're probably not Lucky Peach material.

For my money the best piece was the one about the changing character(s) of sausage-making in Austin TX.]]> 4.00 2016 The Wurst of Lucky Peach: A Treasury of Encased Meat: A Cookbook
author: Chris Ying
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2016/11/27
date added: 2016/11/27
shelves: librarybook
review:
The main thing I learned from this book is how thoroughly the industrial-grade American hot dog has infiltrated cuisines worldwide. From Thailand to Uruguay, Australia to Sweden, our shared humanity is most commonly celebrated by drunk people feeling the need to chow down on a grilled red hot with local breads and toppings.

There is no way to make sausage eating and categorizing very interesting, and I'm sure that goes double for hipster "food writers" (as I'm sure they'd style themselves) from Brooklyn, so the first half of the book is alternately dull and annoying. Sausage MAKING is pretty easy to make interesting though, and thus the book gains in strength as it goes along because it starts to be more and more about making sausage till at the end there are actual recipes. Reader should be warned that these are Lucky Peach recipes, which is to say they aren't exactly intended to be cooked by normal humans... and to be fair, they're pretty upfront about it. If you aren't the kind of person who will stash your mixer in the freezer or risk certain death to eat fermented pork balls, you're probably not Lucky Peach material.

For my money the best piece was the one about the changing character(s) of sausage-making in Austin TX.
]]> Vegetables 10928216 From Michael Pollan to locavores, Whole Foods to farmer’s markets,Ěý today cooks and foodies alike are paying more attention than ever before to the history of the food they bring into their kitchens—and especially to vegetables. Whether it’s an heirloom tomato, curled cabbage, or succulent squash, from a farmer’s market or a backyard plot, the humble vegetable offers more than just nutrition—it also represents a link with long tradition of farming and gardening, nurturing and breeding. .


In this charming new book, those veggies finally get their due. In capsule biographies of eleven different vegetables—artichokes, beans, chard, cabbage, cardoons, carrots, chili peppers, Jerusalem artichokes, peas, pumpkins, and tomatoes—Evelyne Bloch-Dano explores the world of vegetables in all its facets, from science and agriculture to history, culture, and, of course, cooking. From the importance of peppers in early international trade to the most recent findings in genetics, from the cultural cachet of cabbage to Proust’s devotion to beef-and-carrot stew, to the surprising array of vegetables that preceded the pumpkin as the avatar of All Hallow’s Eve, Bloch-Dano takes readers on a dazzling tour of the fascinating stories behind our daily repasts.


Spicing her cornucopia with an eye for anecdote and a ready wit, Bloch-Dano has created a feast that’s sure to satisfy gardeners, chefs, and eaters alike.

]]> 112 Evelyne Bloch-Dano 0226059944 Joyce 0 librarybook, failed-attempts 3.30 2008 Vegetables
author: Evelyne Bloch-Dano
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2016/10/13
date added: 2016/10/16
shelves: librarybook, failed-attempts
review:
I tried, I really did... but this book is just too French, and not in a good way. I know Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, and Bloch-Dano is no Brillat-Savarin. If you're going to attempt it at all, I would skip the rambling front section in favor of the marginally more focused chapters on individual vegetables -- but even here you should know that it begins with the question: "what distinguishes a donkey from a man?" Later chapters think nothing of mixing comments on Homer Simpson with pages-long French poems of dubious relevance and literary merit, as well as inevitable comments about how each vegetable was considered "sexy".
]]> <![CDATA[Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar]]> 13152194 The Rumpus, now revealed as Cheryl Strayed, author of the bestselling memoir Wild - is the person thousands turn to for advice.
Tiny Beautiful Things brings the best of Dear Sugar in one place and includes never-before-published columns and a new introduction by Steve Almond. ĚýRich with humor, insight, compassion - and absolute honesty - this book is a balm for everything life throws our way.]]> 354 Cheryl Strayed Joyce 0 librarybook
At the utmost pinnacle of advice written on the internet stands the column from which this book derives, _Dear Sugar_, hosted on the literary community called TheRumpus.net. Strayed only wrote the column for about a year while revising what became her massive bestseller _Wild_, after which (among other things) her pseudonymity would have been impossible to maintain, but she covered a lot of ground in that time.

Most of the questions Strayed answers -- unsurprisingly given the nature of the hosting website -- come from timid and vaguely artsy members of the upper-middle class. Strayed very often responds with a story from her own life, along the way proving over and over that it is SPECIFICITY which makes a writer -- and that sort of specific, pungent, sharp life experience is not especially separable from life trouble. As we all know by now Strayed's life took a wild turn when her mother suddenly died, and her response to a father whose son died is an all-time classic. But for my money the best story in the book is the extremely specific tale of a ritual called "rain" that Strayed learned while working as an out-of-her-depth "youth advocate" for angry young boys -- one of a series of sucky, ill-paid and sometimes perilous jobs that provided a bank of experience upon which Strayed drew for her writing, and which she tells us made her life "big". These columns make you realize that a lot of the problem with literature today is that it's both written and read mostly by those who have a very specific and quite deracinated kind of life experience -- for which the shortest shorthand is "MFA" -- that is just not big or specific enough to support any true art.

Many of these questions have to do with that eternal concern of advice columns everywhere these days: establishing boundaries with friends, lovers, and family members while still keeping alive the possibility of redemption. One thing I appreciated is that Strayed's advice in almost all cases is to not rush or let yourself be rushed by others to an emotional resolution that you don't truly feel. When I was going through my divorce, I was astonished at how quickly and universally I was advised to "move on" -- not that I wouldn't have taken that advice in a heartbeat if I could have, but in the long run I'm just as glad I couldn't.

After reading the book a couple of times, I couldn't help but wonder what the world would be like if I trained an advice-bot on only the most radically empathetic pearls of wisdom produced by (the women of) the internet. Maybe then our vision of AI in the future would be less like the Terminator and more like the Oracle.]]> 4.26 2012 Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
author: Cheryl Strayed
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2016/10/02
date added: 2016/10/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
One of the problems with machine learning involving text parsing, I recently learned, is that it's trained on extremely male-dominated content like movie reviews and (god help us) Reddit. Once you start thinking about it, you realize that women's domain on the internet is broadly speaking what we'd call advice: advice about makeup, childcare, astrology, gardening, sex, leaning in to your career, and all the other crazy shit that goes into being a woman in the world today.

At the utmost pinnacle of advice written on the internet stands the column from which this book derives, _Dear Sugar_, hosted on the literary community called TheRumpus.net. Strayed only wrote the column for about a year while revising what became her massive bestseller _Wild_, after which (among other things) her pseudonymity would have been impossible to maintain, but she covered a lot of ground in that time.

Most of the questions Strayed answers -- unsurprisingly given the nature of the hosting website -- come from timid and vaguely artsy members of the upper-middle class. Strayed very often responds with a story from her own life, along the way proving over and over that it is SPECIFICITY which makes a writer -- and that sort of specific, pungent, sharp life experience is not especially separable from life trouble. As we all know by now Strayed's life took a wild turn when her mother suddenly died, and her response to a father whose son died is an all-time classic. But for my money the best story in the book is the extremely specific tale of a ritual called "rain" that Strayed learned while working as an out-of-her-depth "youth advocate" for angry young boys -- one of a series of sucky, ill-paid and sometimes perilous jobs that provided a bank of experience upon which Strayed drew for her writing, and which she tells us made her life "big". These columns make you realize that a lot of the problem with literature today is that it's both written and read mostly by those who have a very specific and quite deracinated kind of life experience -- for which the shortest shorthand is "MFA" -- that is just not big or specific enough to support any true art.

Many of these questions have to do with that eternal concern of advice columns everywhere these days: establishing boundaries with friends, lovers, and family members while still keeping alive the possibility of redemption. One thing I appreciated is that Strayed's advice in almost all cases is to not rush or let yourself be rushed by others to an emotional resolution that you don't truly feel. When I was going through my divorce, I was astonished at how quickly and universally I was advised to "move on" -- not that I wouldn't have taken that advice in a heartbeat if I could have, but in the long run I'm just as glad I couldn't.

After reading the book a couple of times, I couldn't help but wonder what the world would be like if I trained an advice-bot on only the most radically empathetic pearls of wisdom produced by (the women of) the internet. Maybe then our vision of AI in the future would be less like the Terminator and more like the Oracle.
]]> <![CDATA[Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)]]> 23437156 Alternate cover of ISBN 9781627792127

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone...

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager

A runaway with a privileged past

A spy known as the Wraith

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.]]> 480 Leigh Bardugo 1627792120 Joyce 0 librarybook
I very much like the setting, which is built on 17th century Holland and Scandinavia with some new-fangled twists courtesy of magic -- a new corner of the author's "Grishaverse" which is originally of Russian inspiration. The young characters struggle with self-doubt and their own plentiful character flaws, as well as the undertow of their generally horrific past lives, but the tone never gets TOO emo because there's always some cinematic action just about to go down.

What I didn't like was the complete absence of any adult character who was not a complete comic-book monster. The young people are meant to be at least partially redeemed by childhoods which would put Dickens to shame, but you never get a corresponding gloss on the utter villainy of the adults. And not to quibble but the dialog was very often a bit high-school for the setting -- every time one of the characters used the term "OK" I winced inside a little.

This is not a standalone novel, as it ends in a cliffhanger that neatly leads into the second half of the story.]]> 4.47 2015 Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2016/09/18
date added: 2016/10/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
Who among us doesn't love a good heist story with many plot twists, a dash of (exceptionally chaste) romance, a sprinkle of betrayal, and of course there must be a LARGE helping of the dish best served cold. There's a reason movies like _The Italian Job_ and _Ocean's Eleven_ are perennial favorites.

I very much like the setting, which is built on 17th century Holland and Scandinavia with some new-fangled twists courtesy of magic -- a new corner of the author's "Grishaverse" which is originally of Russian inspiration. The young characters struggle with self-doubt and their own plentiful character flaws, as well as the undertow of their generally horrific past lives, but the tone never gets TOO emo because there's always some cinematic action just about to go down.

What I didn't like was the complete absence of any adult character who was not a complete comic-book monster. The young people are meant to be at least partially redeemed by childhoods which would put Dickens to shame, but you never get a corresponding gloss on the utter villainy of the adults. And not to quibble but the dialog was very often a bit high-school for the setting -- every time one of the characters used the term "OK" I winced inside a little.

This is not a standalone novel, as it ends in a cliffhanger that neatly leads into the second half of the story.
]]> <![CDATA[Case Histories (Jackson Brodie, #1)]]> 16243 1 A little girl disappears in the night.
2 A beautiful young office worker falls to a maniac's attack.
3 A new mother is overwhelmed by demands from her baby and husband - until a fit of rage creates a grisly, bloody escape.
Result : Startling connections and discoveries emerge. . . .]]> 389 Kate Atkinson 0316010707 Joyce 0 librarybook
The actual mystery element here is minimal, and Jackson Brodie can't for a moment be believed as a detective of any sort -- among other things none of his erstwhile clients seems at all inclined to pay him for his work, and he spends quite a bit of time guiltily wishing they would just disappear. In fact the whole story is about the consequences of disappearances, of what happens to families when one of their members is taken out of the picture. As John Berryman assured us from the depths of 1950s domestic dysfunction: nobody is ever missing -- although it is left to the reader to decide whether that's a promise, a curse, or a prayer.]]> 3.79 2004 Case Histories (Jackson Brodie, #1)
author: Kate Atkinson
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at: 2016/09/24
date added: 2016/10/02
shelves: librarybook
review:
Kate Atkinson uses what people think of as "feminine" literary techniques -- particularly the impressionistic buildup of many layers of tiny domestic details -- to ultimately devastating effect. You get lured in by the neurotic charm of her characters and the drowsy town-gown setting and the affectionately chatty narration... and before you know it you're ankle-deep in old but far from forgotten tragedies.

The actual mystery element here is minimal, and Jackson Brodie can't for a moment be believed as a detective of any sort -- among other things none of his erstwhile clients seems at all inclined to pay him for his work, and he spends quite a bit of time guiltily wishing they would just disappear. In fact the whole story is about the consequences of disappearances, of what happens to families when one of their members is taken out of the picture. As John Berryman assured us from the depths of 1950s domestic dysfunction: nobody is ever missing -- although it is left to the reader to decide whether that's a promise, a curse, or a prayer.
]]> The Story of Edgar Sawtelle 2731276
Grief-stricken and bewildered, Edgar tries to prove Claude played a role in his father's death, but his plan backfires—spectacularly. Forced to flee into the vast wilderness lying beyond the farm, Edgar comes of age in the wild, fighting for his survival and that of the three yearling dogs who follow him. But his need to face his father's murderer and his devotion to the Sawtelle dogs turn Edgar ever homeward.

David Wroblewski is a master storyteller, and his breathtaking scenes—the elemental north woods, the sweep of seasons, an iconic American barn, a fateful vision rendered in the falling rain—create a riveting family saga, a brilliant exploration of the limits of language, and a compulsively readable modern classic.]]> 566 David Wroblewski 0061374229 Joyce 0 librarybook
Not very much happens in 566 pages, action-wise. Puppies are bred and trained, a boy runs away from home for a few weeks after his father's death, then he goes back -- that's the whole story. But you know what? Really not that much happens in Hamlet either if you think about it, because most of the action occurs offstage while the mopey emo Prince of Denmark and his lame buddies stand around chewing the fat. Same as it ever was... same as it ever was...

All that said, this masterwork of Midwestern magical realism is just the thing for middle-aged American readers on their summer vacations (I count myself here). The writing is langorously superb, and it has to do with issues -- time, memory, and personal choices -- that are hard for the old to convey to the young, no matter how crucial they may be. But listen, don't let this novel become a snake torn into long strips between restless but deluded youngs and virtuous but ordinary olds. It is far preferable just to not try it at all until you feel a calling and are willing to open yourself to a long novel, no matter where it ends up.]]> 3.64 2008 The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
author: David Wroblewski
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2016/09/06
date added: 2016/09/07
shelves: librarybook
review:
Let's get this out of the way. This book is in fact 566 pages of Hamlet with dogs. IMHO it is totally unsuitable to assign for any kind of high school or lower-level college class, and anyone who does so is kind of a jerkoff -- and I suspect that accounts for a lot of the bad reviews here. Teachers of young people should be humble yet move gingerly, like dental hygienists... and assigning this book to teenagers is a showoffy crap move. Just don't.

Not very much happens in 566 pages, action-wise. Puppies are bred and trained, a boy runs away from home for a few weeks after his father's death, then he goes back -- that's the whole story. But you know what? Really not that much happens in Hamlet either if you think about it, because most of the action occurs offstage while the mopey emo Prince of Denmark and his lame buddies stand around chewing the fat. Same as it ever was... same as it ever was...

All that said, this masterwork of Midwestern magical realism is just the thing for middle-aged American readers on their summer vacations (I count myself here). The writing is langorously superb, and it has to do with issues -- time, memory, and personal choices -- that are hard for the old to convey to the young, no matter how crucial they may be. But listen, don't let this novel become a snake torn into long strips between restless but deluded youngs and virtuous but ordinary olds. It is far preferable just to not try it at all until you feel a calling and are willing to open yourself to a long novel, no matter where it ends up.
]]> <![CDATA[The Last Policeman (The Last Policeman, #1)]]> 13330370
Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. There’s no chance left. No hope. Just six precious months until impact.

The Last Policeman presents a fascinating portrait of a pre-apocalyptic United States. The economy spirals downward while crops rot in the fields. Churches and synagogues are packed. People all over the world are walking off the job—but not Hank Palace. He’s investigating a death by hanging in a city that sees a dozen suicides every week—except this one feels suspicious, and Palace is the only cop who cares.

The first in a trilogy, The Last Policeman offers a mystery set on the brink of an apocalypse. As Palace’s investigation plays out under the shadow of 2011GV1, we’re confronted by hard questions way beyond “whodunit.� What basis does civilization rest upon? What is life worth? What would any of us do, what would we really do, if our days were numbered?]]> 316 Ben H. Winters 1594745765 Joyce 0 librarybook
Speaking of which... six months to an assured D-day for the planet, and North America is going to be only slightly more discommoded than it was during the Federal government shutdown of 2013? The cops are spending their time busting people for illegally converting their diesel pickup trucks to burning vegetable oil, and the most aggressive people in the streets are evangelical Christians who thrust their pamphlets upon you with too much fervor? Perhaps I lack the author's faith in our fellow humans, but I picture something much more in the Mad Max line of business, with a hearty helping of Doomsday Preppers on the side.

While you're actually reading, the urgency of the setup keeps the pages turning, but this was one of the those books that melt away the more you think about them later.]]> 3.75 2012 The Last Policeman (The Last Policeman, #1)
author: Ben H. Winters
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2016/09/03
date added: 2016/09/05
shelves: librarybook
review:
The kind of book that gets a lot of plaudits for its high-concept genre-mixing (it won a bunch of top awards in both SF and mystery) but in the end comes down to whether you believe in the protagonist at all. The plot requires Henry to be a certain type of person -- rule-loving yet not rigidly rule-bound, naively credulous yet optimistic enough to be energized again and again by plot twists that upend his previous theories, eccentric but only lightly so (like he eats all his meals in a diner and dreams about his high-school girlfriend) -- and unfortunately that pretty much means he has to be young, humorless, afflicted by more concussion-grade head traumas than anyone since the Scooby Gang, and basically kind of a sucker. Or let me put it this way: he appears to be the only adult on the entire planet who is not in possession of a single real or fantasy vice to indulge in while he is waiting for the end of the world.

Speaking of which... six months to an assured D-day for the planet, and North America is going to be only slightly more discommoded than it was during the Federal government shutdown of 2013? The cops are spending their time busting people for illegally converting their diesel pickup trucks to burning vegetable oil, and the most aggressive people in the streets are evangelical Christians who thrust their pamphlets upon you with too much fervor? Perhaps I lack the author's faith in our fellow humans, but I picture something much more in the Mad Max line of business, with a hearty helping of Doomsday Preppers on the side.

While you're actually reading, the urgency of the setup keeps the pages turning, but this was one of the those books that melt away the more you think about them later.
]]> <![CDATA[The Baker Street Letters (Baker Street Letters, #1)]]> 6390076

First in a spectacular new series about two brother lawyers who lease offices on London's Baker Street--and begin receiving mail addressed to Sherlock Holmes

In Los Angeles, a geological surveyor maps out a proposed subway route--and then goes missing. His eight-year-old daughter, in her desperation, turns to the one person she thinks might help--she writes a letter to Sherlock Holmes.

That letter creates an uproar at 221b Baker Street, which now houses the law offices of attorney and man about town Reggie Heath and his hapless brother, Nigel. Instead of filing the letter like he's supposed to, Nigel decides to investigate. Soon he's flying off to Los Angeles, inconsiderately leaving a very dead body on the floor in his office. Big brother Reggie follows Nigel to California, as does Reggie's sometime lover, Laura---a quick-witted stage actress who's captured the hearts of both brothers.

When Nigel is arrested, Reggie must use all his wits to solve a case that Sherlock Holmes would have savored and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fans will adore.

]]> 277 Michael Robertson 031253812X Joyce 0 librarybook 3.17 2009 The Baker Street Letters (Baker Street Letters, #1)
author: Michael Robertson
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.17
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at: 2016/08/24
date added: 2016/09/05
shelves: librarybook
review:
Oddly unbalanced but not unpromising series. Problem seems to be that the one brother was chasing the other brother basically the whole time, so you got no sense of their personalities or much of their relationship; and although they were Londoners the whole gig was set in a Los Angeles strangely populated with muchos muchos taxicabs.
]]> <![CDATA[Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail]]> 12262741 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State � and she would do it alone.

Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.]]> 336 Cheryl Strayed 0307592731 Joyce 0 librarybook
Cheryl Strayed's memoir seemed to have every checkmark against it in my book. It was an Oprah-certified bestseller about a "strong woman" who so happened to be an attractive blonde co-ed played by Reese Witherspoon in the movie. I knew from ubiquitous media coverage that the author had lost her mother, her marriage, and her mental stability in rapid succession and went to the woods to heal. I'd even read that _Wild_ was directly responsible for the overcrowding and large number of rescues seen on the Pacific Crest Trail in the last few years.

But all of this just serves to reinforce the fact that a great book can transcend any number of haters, doubters, and deniers with the sheer force of its truth. Strayed meets her narcissism head-on and bulls straight through it to whatever is on the other side. For a book that is purportedly about hiking through the wilderness, she doesn't give all that many fucks about mountains or rivers or trees. Even the way she eventually processes her mother's death (spoiler alert?) has to do with how much our view of our parents when they are alive is all about WHAT WE WANT FROM THEM rather than who they were as people apart from us.

Strayed is enormously helped in all of this by two factors. One, she is not nearly as privileged or self-pitying as you'd think from seeing photos of her -- she doesn't hesitate to describe literally every penny she spends and how she feels about each one -- and two, she has a crazy sharp talent for describing physical effort in a way that you think is just scrolling by until it hooks you hard before the memory is gone. A lot of reviewers describe this as "earthy" or "sensuous" but those words are so often used to describe things opposite to what I feel are her actual strengths. She's not talking about nibbling on vegetarian food while lighting incense and getting a massage with essential oils (although there is a little of that in one chapter towards the end). She is talking about her skin and especially her feet being put through a meat-grinder while she yells at animals and craves junk food and convinces herself she doesn't need to fear predatory men. Seriously if you can't deal with the female body being TORE UP from head to foot you don't want to try this book at all because Strayed walked every single mile of that trail with feet that were totally wrecked. For a narrative that starts with her mother's death from cancer, a brief flirtation with heroin addiction, and a bald announcement of how many toenails she'd lost... I was still startled by some of the blood, sweat and gore by the end.

I think perhaps in the end Strayed's most amazing accomplishment is to be blunt without being vulgar, realistic without being materialistic, lightly prepared enough to want to help without being faux-naive enough to loathe. The reader also needs to remember that her trip was only 2 years after the PCT was officially finished, when fewer than 300 people walked the trail every year -- now it's more like 4000, allegedly due to this book -- and before the internet was there to overwhelm every walker with information on the fly. And finally, although I consider this a feature rather than a bug, there is a possibly distracting doubling effect in the narration: you SEE the young Cheryl, in all her impulsive twenty-something glory, gobbling down life in the form of cheap wine, flirtations with cute guys, and overpriced cheeseburgers... but a lot of the emotional conclusions are clearly delivered from a much older Cheryl, in fact one who was rapidly approaching the age her mother died when she wrote this book.]]> 4.06 2012 Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
author: Cheryl Strayed
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2016/08/28
date added: 2016/08/29
shelves: librarybook
review:
Like many outdoorsy readers, books about communing with nature never appeal to me. The wilderness resists attempts to capture it in non-nauseating literary prose, particularly those essays by outdoorsy people trying to explicate their helpless addiction to wilderness adventure (and its inevitable bookend, wilderness tedium) for the benefit of non-outdoorsy people. After many years of friends who think camping means sharing a site in Big Sur or Yosemite with 6 couples who bring hundreds of dollars of gourmet cheese with gluten-free crackers and whole legs of lamb to be spit cooked over oak flames while the twelve of you sip top-shelf margaritas... it's just easier to mumble something about how outdoorsiness is like malaria -- you get infected as a child and it periodically comes back when your defenses are low -- and call it a day.

Cheryl Strayed's memoir seemed to have every checkmark against it in my book. It was an Oprah-certified bestseller about a "strong woman" who so happened to be an attractive blonde co-ed played by Reese Witherspoon in the movie. I knew from ubiquitous media coverage that the author had lost her mother, her marriage, and her mental stability in rapid succession and went to the woods to heal. I'd even read that _Wild_ was directly responsible for the overcrowding and large number of rescues seen on the Pacific Crest Trail in the last few years.

But all of this just serves to reinforce the fact that a great book can transcend any number of haters, doubters, and deniers with the sheer force of its truth. Strayed meets her narcissism head-on and bulls straight through it to whatever is on the other side. For a book that is purportedly about hiking through the wilderness, she doesn't give all that many fucks about mountains or rivers or trees. Even the way she eventually processes her mother's death (spoiler alert?) has to do with how much our view of our parents when they are alive is all about WHAT WE WANT FROM THEM rather than who they were as people apart from us.

Strayed is enormously helped in all of this by two factors. One, she is not nearly as privileged or self-pitying as you'd think from seeing photos of her -- she doesn't hesitate to describe literally every penny she spends and how she feels about each one -- and two, she has a crazy sharp talent for describing physical effort in a way that you think is just scrolling by until it hooks you hard before the memory is gone. A lot of reviewers describe this as "earthy" or "sensuous" but those words are so often used to describe things opposite to what I feel are her actual strengths. She's not talking about nibbling on vegetarian food while lighting incense and getting a massage with essential oils (although there is a little of that in one chapter towards the end). She is talking about her skin and especially her feet being put through a meat-grinder while she yells at animals and craves junk food and convinces herself she doesn't need to fear predatory men. Seriously if you can't deal with the female body being TORE UP from head to foot you don't want to try this book at all because Strayed walked every single mile of that trail with feet that were totally wrecked. For a narrative that starts with her mother's death from cancer, a brief flirtation with heroin addiction, and a bald announcement of how many toenails she'd lost... I was still startled by some of the blood, sweat and gore by the end.

I think perhaps in the end Strayed's most amazing accomplishment is to be blunt without being vulgar, realistic without being materialistic, lightly prepared enough to want to help without being faux-naive enough to loathe. The reader also needs to remember that her trip was only 2 years after the PCT was officially finished, when fewer than 300 people walked the trail every year -- now it's more like 4000, allegedly due to this book -- and before the internet was there to overwhelm every walker with information on the fly. And finally, although I consider this a feature rather than a bug, there is a possibly distracting doubling effect in the narration: you SEE the young Cheryl, in all her impulsive twenty-something glory, gobbling down life in the form of cheap wine, flirtations with cute guys, and overpriced cheeseburgers... but a lot of the emotional conclusions are clearly delivered from a much older Cheryl, in fact one who was rapidly approaching the age her mother died when she wrote this book.
]]> Orphan X (Orphan X, #1) 25663888 Who is Orphan X?

The Nowhere Man is a legendary figure spoken about only in whispers. It’s said that when he’s reached by the truly desperate and deserving, the Nowhere Man can and will do anything to protect and save them. But he’s not merely a legend.

Evan Smoak is a man with skills, resources, and a personal mission to help those with nowhere else to turn. He’s also a man with a dangerous past. Chosen as a child, he was raised and trained as an Orphan, an off-the-books black box program designed to create the perfect deniable intelligence asset: An assassin. Evan was Orphan X—until he broke with the program and used everything he learned to disappear. But now someone is on his tail. Someone with similar skills and training who will exploit Evan’s secret new identity as the Nowhere Man to eliminate him.]]> 356 Gregg Hurwitz 1250067847 Joyce 0 librarybook
But hey, sometimes you just need a righteous trained assassin in your life in this post-Bourne world -- and when you do, Evan Smoak is ready to be your man. He might not look like much or have a lot of smooth social skills -- don't look for any witty patter or sick burns from him -- but he is the hardened veteran of a super-secret program to train up throwaway kids (known as "orphans") into stone cold killers. Problem is, that is a line of work that accumulates hidden enemies... and even though Mr Smoak is semi-retired and passing the time with volunteer work (so to speak) the past may have caught up with him.

Hurwitz keeps the pages turning and the gore flowing, and fans of the genre will be glad for the new series. Jury is still out for me but I'd say the difficult second volume will tell.]]> 4.06 2016 Orphan X (Orphan X, #1)
author: Gregg Hurwitz
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2016/08/20
date added: 2016/08/24
shelves: librarybook
review:
I'm going to try to get through this writeup without directly referring to Key and Peele's skit about LIAM NEESONS, THOUGH. It's gonna be tough though because Evan Smoak is basically a younger Liam Neeson without a wife or daughter. At one point the text even mentions his "specialized skills" and I could barely stop myself from shouting out OOOOH LIAM NEESONS!!!

But hey, sometimes you just need a righteous trained assassin in your life in this post-Bourne world -- and when you do, Evan Smoak is ready to be your man. He might not look like much or have a lot of smooth social skills -- don't look for any witty patter or sick burns from him -- but he is the hardened veteran of a super-secret program to train up throwaway kids (known as "orphans") into stone cold killers. Problem is, that is a line of work that accumulates hidden enemies... and even though Mr Smoak is semi-retired and passing the time with volunteer work (so to speak) the past may have caught up with him.

Hurwitz keeps the pages turning and the gore flowing, and fans of the genre will be glad for the new series. Jury is still out for me but I'd say the difficult second volume will tell.
]]> Mystic (Mystic, #1) 23848422 The start of an enchanting new epic fantasy series from the founder of Dragonmount

I called to the Myst, and it sent us you.

For hundreds of years, high-born nobles have competed for the chance to learn of the Myst.

Powerful, revered, and often reclusive, Mystics have the unique ability to summon and manipulate the Myst: the underlying energy that lives at the heart of the universe. Once in a very great while, they take an apprentice, always from the most privileged sects of society.

Such has always been the tradition—until a new High Mystic takes her seat and chooses Pomella AnDone, a restless, low-born teenager, as a candidate.

Commoners have never been welcomed among the select few given the opportunity to rise beyond even the highest nobility. So when Pomella chooses to accept the summons and journey to Kelt Apar, she knows that she will have more to contend with than the competition for the apprenticeship.

Breaking both law and tradition, Pomella undergoes three trials against the other candidates to prove her worthiness. As the trials unfold, Pomella navigates a deadly world of intolerance and betrayal, unaware that ruthless conspirators intend to make her suffer for having the audacity to seek to unravel the secrets of the Myst.]]> 319 Jason Denzel 0765381974 Joyce 0 librarybook, failed-attempts 3.53 2015 Mystic (Mystic, #1)
author: Jason Denzel
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2016/08/18
date added: 2016/08/20
shelves: librarybook, failed-attempts
review:
Not gonna lie, I didn't EXACTLY finish this novel due to a factor that might be specific to Asian-Americans which I will call "Mr Miyagi Syndrome". I have to say the depiction of a fantasy-Gaelic culture was also awkward and stiff, but that ain't my lookout.
]]> <![CDATA[Bitterblue (Graceling Realm, #3)]]> 12680907
But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisers, who have run the country on her behalf since Leck's death, believe in a forward-thinking plan: to pardon all of those who committed terrible acts during Leck's reign; and to forget every dark event that ever happened. Monsea's past has become shrouded in mystery, and it's only when Bitterblue begins sneaking out of her castle - curious, disguised and alone - to walk the streets of her own city, that she begins to realise the truth. Her kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year long spell of a madman, and now their only chance to move forward is to revisit the past.

Whatever that past holds.

Two thieves, who have sworn only to steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, who possesses an unidentified Grace, may also hold a key to her heart . . .]]> 576 Kristin Cashore 0803734735 Joyce 0 librarybook
The story initially appears to be an example of the classic fantasy trope of the "teen monarch walking his/her own kingdom in disguise". I'm not gonna lie, the author takes her time with it too. All I can say is that nothing turns out to be extraneous, and while you're focusing on young love and episodes of sudden street violence the author is sowing clues rather thickly that will turn out to be relevant to the shatteringly adult revelations and choices in the last hundred pages or so. Potential readers should be aware that the gore and creepiness factors only go up from _Graceling_'s not-particularly-low baseline.

Cashore is subtly amazing at tying each character's physical state to their mental/spiritual issues, so her people spend a lot of time suffering from metaphor-rich ailments including sleep deprivation, peritonitis, concussion, broken bones, black eyes, and acrophobia. You actually start to feel woozy and enervated as you trail young Queen Bitterblue around her exhausting day and night schedules. I especially admired how the orphaned teenage monarch stealthily sought out physical contact from others, especially of the motherly variety that she missed so much.

The slipperiness of memory, both public and private, is not at all a common theme for children's literature and I can only commend Ms Cashore for going there in an ostensibly "teen" novel. This book actually rather shocked me into recalling something I had forgotten a bit, which is the great strength of science fiction and fantasy to "tell all the truth but tell it slant". You don't have to end up admiring the liars, thieves, grumpuses, and abusers in these pages -- although in many cases I did -- but to grasp the novel at all you will have to admit that almost all the characters qualify in at least one of those categories.]]> 3.99 2012 Bitterblue (Graceling Realm, #3)
author: Kristin Cashore
name: Joyce
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2016/08/18
date added: 2016/08/18
shelves: librarybook
review:
The first volume in this series, _Graceling_, flew as clear and straight as an arrow but this one is more of a roller coaster: long hard grind to start, sickening baffles in the middle, breathless ride to the finish. It should be noted that this is not at all a standalone novel, so if you didn't love _Graceling_ don't even try -- but there are arguments that you might want to read the author's second novel, the prequel _Fire_, after this one.

The story initially appears to be an example of the classic fantasy trope of the "teen monarch walking his/her own kingdom in disguise". I'm not gonna lie, the author takes her time with it too. All I can say is that nothing turns out to be extraneous, and while you're focusing on young love and episodes of sudden street violence the author is sowing clues rather thickly that will turn out to be relevant to the shatteringly adult revelations and choices in the last hundred pages or so. Potential readers should be aware that the gore and creepiness factors only go up from _Graceling_'s not-particularly-low baseline.

Cashore is subtly amazing at tying each character's physical state to their mental/spiritual issues, so her people spend a lot of time suffering from metaphor-rich ailments including sleep deprivation, peritonitis, concussion, broken bones, black eyes, and acrophobia. You actually start to feel woozy and enervated as you trail young Queen Bitterblue around her exhausting day and night schedules. I especially admired how the orphaned teenage monarch stealthily sought out physical contact from others, especially of the motherly variety that she missed so much.

The slipperiness of memory, both public and private, is not at all a common theme for children's literature and I can only commend Ms Cashore for going there in an ostensibly "teen" novel. This book actually rather shocked me into recalling something I had forgotten a bit, which is the great strength of science fiction and fantasy to "tell all the truth but tell it slant". You don't have to end up admiring the liars, thieves, grumpuses, and abusers in these pages -- although in many cases I did -- but to grasp the novel at all you will have to admit that almost all the characters qualify in at least one of those categories.
]]> <![CDATA[Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1)]]> 3236307
She never expects to fall in love with beautiful Prince Po.

She never expects to learn the truth behind her Grace—or the terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

With elegant, evocative prose and a cast of unforgettable characters, debut author Kristin Cashore creates a mesmerizing world, a death-defying adventure, and a heart-racing romance that will consume you, hold you captive, and leave you wanting more.]]> 471 Kristin Cashore 015206396X Joyce 0 librarybook 4.07 2008 Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1)
author: Kristin Cashore
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2016/08/17
date added: 2016/08/17
shelves: librarybook
review:
Honestly I read this mostly to compare it to some other "teenage girl assassin" fantasy novels -- and so far this one in the clear lead. Cashore is just a better writer, both at the thematic level and at the dialog level. Instead of the plot mostly being about the protagonist's love life -- although there is a little bit of that -- it's really about girls' drive to become independent actors, freeing themselves of control by powerful men. I especially appreciated that this independence of action and conscience was, um, independent of the goodness/evilness of the men involved. Whether a woman fights a sociopath or attacks a true love should have no specific relationship to her guilt, remorse, or future plans -- because those are about her mind and her context at the moment.
]]> <![CDATA[The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring]]> 22163
The canopy voyagers are young–just college students when they start their quest–and they share a passion for these trees, persevering in spite of sometimes crushing personal obstacles and failings. They take big risks, they ignore common wisdom (such as the notion that there’s nothing left to discover in North America), and they even make love in hammocks stretched between branches three hundred feet in the air.

The deep redwood canopy is a vertical Eden filled with mosses, lichens, spotted salamanders, hanging gardens of ferns, and thickets of huckleberry bushes, all growing out of massive trunk systems that have fused and formed flying buttresses, sometimes carved into blackened chambers, hollowed out by fire, called “fire caves.� Thick layers of soil sitting on limbs harbor animal and plant life that is unknown to science. Humans move through the deep canopy suspended on ropes, far out of sight of the ground, knowing that the price of a small mistake can be a plunge to one’s death.

Preston’s account of this amazing world, by turns terrifying, moving, and fascinating, is an adventure story told in novelistic detail by a master of nonfiction narrative. The author shares his protagonists� passion for tall trees, and he mastered the techniques of tall-tree climbing to tell the story in The Wild Trees –the story of the fate of the world’s most splendid forests and of the imperiled biosphere itself.]]> 294 Richard Preston 1400064899 Joyce 0 librarybook
It is literally a different world up there among the treetops of the titans. You can eat huckleberries from bushes that grow on the redwoods, spy salamanders that live their entire lives in the moisture provided by fog and rain, sample lichens that provide fertilizer, stroke the fur of flying squirrels, even sleep and make love on special hammocks called Treeboats.

You can also quite easily die, as more than one horrifying story makes clear. Every mistake is very likely to be your last when you're 35 stories in the air. This is especially true on the giant redwoods because apparently they are rarely either wholly living or wholly dead. Large parts can die from rot, drought, or lightning while the rest of the tree still lives; and as anyone who has seen a nurse log knows, life can spring abundantly from the trees for centuries after they fall.

I started this book on a trip to Redwood National and State Parks and thence to Olympic, and that is clearly the perfect background for it.]]> 4.10 2007 The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring
author: Richard Preston
name: Joyce
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at: 2016/08/15
date added: 2016/08/15
shelves: librarybook
review:
The most thrilling, action-packed book about trees you can possibly imagine. Follows a... it's too much to call them a group, more a loose agglomeration of eccentrics who for different reasons enjoy finding gigantic trees -- mostly redwoods although there are some Douglas Fir types in there too -- and climbing around in them. They have done this for decades in Humboldt and Del Norte counties, and in Olympic National Park, and have discovered many candidates for the largest tree in the world.

It is literally a different world up there among the treetops of the titans. You can eat huckleberries from bushes that grow on the redwoods, spy salamanders that live their entire lives in the moisture provided by fog and rain, sample lichens that provide fertilizer, stroke the fur of flying squirrels, even sleep and make love on special hammocks called Treeboats.

You can also quite easily die, as more than one horrifying story makes clear. Every mistake is very likely to be your last when you're 35 stories in the air. This is especially true on the giant redwoods because apparently they are rarely either wholly living or wholly dead. Large parts can die from rot, drought, or lightning while the rest of the tree still lives; and as anyone who has seen a nurse log knows, life can spring abundantly from the trees for centuries after they fall.

I started this book on a trip to Redwood National and State Parks and thence to Olympic, and that is clearly the perfect background for it.
]]>