Finished AFLICTION

A strange rotting disease has been contracted by Micah's father.  This book introduces us to a number of new and interesting characters, me more, I suspect, than most readers of this book.  I normally try very hard to read books in the chronological order of the story, but somehow I messed up with this one and have missed three books.  This is not tragic--I have the other three and are in the correct order in my Hamilton/Rice pile.  How I messed up on this I don't know.  Interestingly the other book I am reading (in the bathroom), Night Creatures, brought up a theme touched on by this series and also the Harry Dresden series I read...that of succubus and incubus.  So, with even Night Creatures not answering my question of "what is the difference?" I looked them up on Google.  It turns out that they are the same thing--a creature that draws power by having sex with their victim as they sleep.  A succubus is female and an incubus is male.  The haunting by the creature night after night can drain energy from the victim and eventually kill them.  In "Night Creatures" I learned that they originally came about as explanations in the past of various weakening diseases.

The ending of this book disappointed me somewhat since I think she set us up so well with what would happen that it was anticlimactic.  However, the mental/moral crisis she had about acceptance of her power was quite interesting and sufficed for me.

Because I get books for the children in my life from Amazon, I can't read all of them.  I preview them on Amazon and decide from there.  This sweet book, Dragon Love Tacos is an exception because I ordered one for our house elves' daughter.  It is silly and has a touching end.  I hope the children I gave it to enjoy it.



I am now about to take a break from this frightening world and read The Handsome Man's De Luxe Cafe, the fifteenth book in  Alexander McCall Smith's The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.  Ah, a trip to peaceful and intelligent Botswana.

Finished THE FOUR SWANS

I had been hoping that this book would catch me up to where PBS is in the saga.  Nope.  But I did figure out that the PBS rendition is uncomplicating things, especially in order to not hire more actors.  It is making the actors they be the brunts of everything that happens..and also making the action more dire, if that is possible, than in the books.  The book explains things that were confusing and gives us a far better look at life was like near the turn of the 19th century in Cornwall.

I have now started another Anita Blake novel by Laurell K Hamilton, Afliction.  Within the first chapter, Anita gets a call at work from Micah's mom informing her that his Dad is dying of a rare and dread disease--he is rotting from the outside in and has an estimated five days to live.  As Anita starts to arrange transportation for herself, Micah, and Nathaniel, she learns that much more must be done before they will be welcome in that territory...

Finished WHOSE BOAT IS THIS BOAT?

Bought this because I thought it would be funny.  But after reading through it a couple of times, I realize it is sad and even alarming.  Not only does our president have no experiences that might help him understand what people are going through, he can't even see the destruction and misery in front of his eyes!

Finished ELIZABETH

This is a fairly comprehensive and understanding biography by a fan.  It covers her work, both acting and charity.  We follow her through eight marriages (seven husbands) and health problems--physical and addictions.  We meet her parents, brother, husbands, children and good friends.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I am now about to start two books.  The first will take me a few minutes today, Whose Boat is This Boat, by Donald Trump (by Accident).



The second is the 6th in the Poldark series, The Four Swans.  The PBS series is ahead of me in the story, not the way I prefer to read books.  I'd rather read the book before I see it on film, but I find reading after does help to explain things that made little sense when I saw it--usually motivation,though I am left mystified by George Warleggan's by both.

Finished GIANTS AND OGRES

Most of the stories in this beautiful book come from northern Europe where the legends of giants populating the Earth before we did seemed to grow from the mountains and rugged land.  These early giants possessed great wisdom and magic, but as humans began to share the planet with them they deteriorated and became easier for humans to trick and kill.  Familiar stories (Jack and the Beanstalk) mingle with less familiar, but most explain why there are no giants today...

I have now started Night Creatures from the same Enchanted World series.  This starts with the story of Grindel from Denmark, a large man-shaped creature covered hair that ate all sorts of animals, but, when he discovered man, that became his favorite food...