This book is so long and the print so fine that I thought it was better for my eyes as well as my focus that I thought it should be consumed in thin slices (like a good fruitcake.) In this slice the young men are off to war. Their women mourn and worry while the men are off on a 1000 mile march to reach Russia.
I am now about to start The Silenced by Heather Graham. I enjoy these novels because they are set in locations I have visited in my travels. This appears to be set in a number of Civil War battlefields and cemeteries in Southern Pennsylvania, Maryland, and perhaps in Virginia. Cool...
This is centered around two people...a 12 year old first born of five living with her parents on a shantyboat in 1939 and their subsequent treatment by a children's home. The other is a young lawyer about to run for the Senate and get married who begins to learn she may be related to the first...somehow. I am left, as I often am by books and life, stymied by the atrocities we humans can commit for money and/or power.
I am now going back to War and Peace.
I find it surprising that I am not reading more quickly now that we are total shut-ins. TR's daughter learned from her doctor that it was nearly impossible right now to go anywhere and not get Covid. So, we are staying home and she is getting our groceries and anything else we need. When we go swimming every day, we sit and read for an hour or so afterward. But now I am pretty much watching television all the time and only reading at night after TR goes to bed. So, I am reading more slowly. But it is Christmas and I have about a million Christmas movies taped (mostly Halmark.)
I swear these books are just getting better. This author takes facts from all kinds of sciences and from history to weave together imaginative and exciting "saving the world" dramas in every book. To me, this is science fiction at it's best and indeed most thrilling. These books take several days for me to read and I believe it to be a miracle that I can sleep at night while reading them.
Then at the end of the book was a neat short story, a caper in which Tucker and his dog Kane (major characters introduced in this book) helped a young woman in Budapest. Though it didn't have a prayer of engendering the tension of Rollins novels, I did very much enjoy relationship between dog and man working together.
I thought this might be the best of the series so far. The tension was higher and the mystery seemed even more puzzling to me. I love these books.
I have now started Blood Line, the eighth book in the Sigma Force series by James Rollins. I love these books: they are science fiction action novels that also explore technology, go to exotic places, and are tense all the way through. This one is especially tense to me because it deals with different kinds of exploitation of women for money than even Robin Cook has conceived of as yet. I very much care about the women whose lives are in danger...
Once again, a good mystery, danger, and great characters.
I have now started Killing Raven, another Wind River Reservation mystery by Margaret Coel. A young girl has seen a hand sticking up out of the ground, reports it to the police and immediately they call Father O'Malley to give last rites. The murder victim is white. Meanwhile, Vicky is enlisted by a fellow lawyer to help out with legal contracts, etc. at the new reservation Casino, which is drawing protests (possibly violent ones) from a group believing the Casino is exploiting Indians.
Phryne has been hired by a cruise line to discover which of several possible habitual passengers is stealing expensive jewelry from other passengers. Reimbursing the passengers for the jewelry that was stolen is mounting up. I loved that the cruise was going to New Zealand and that the passengers were all wonderful and interesting characters. Their interactions were fascinating. I was surprised that the murder happened late in the novel but, in some ways that was good because we knew the suspects by that time. Enjoyable as usual.
I have now started The Faerie War by Rachel Morgan. I still stay somewhat ambivalent about this YA series. It is inventive and certainly has a good plot, but the teenage angst is sometimes really too much for this old woman. "There are IMPORTANT things to think about, girl. Stop thinking about boys!" 😈
I wish I could read this all the way through. The sense of humor is similar to Mark Twain's in Roughing it. Tongue-in-cheek underplaying of really bizarre happenings. In this section, people around London and in the ports of France are seeing very strange things which they are amazed by. Unfortunately, my copy of the book has print so small that my eyes are hurting after a few days of reading it. So, I am taking it in sections.
I know, I need to read ebooks where I can enlarge the print. All you high-tech people leaveLThis old woman alone. I like to turn pages and collect pretty bookmarks.
I have now started Genesis by Robin Cook. No one even knows that the case Laurie worked and the case that Jack worked are murders and are related...
The ski lodge typically gets plenty of snow in season. But this season has started early and threatens to be worse. Will helps his family run the lodge which is already full of skiers and tourists. He is also taking pictures of sunspots with his telescope and cell phone camera for a science fair project. One of his pictures shows a large sunspot mid-eruption aimed directly at Earth. Electricity and technology goes out all over the world, but in this small town near Denver, that cuts off communication with the outside world. In addition, the constant heavy snowfall has caused avalanches-one cutting the town in half and the other cutting them off from Denver and all other nearby towns. Food supplies and power is cut off, so wood for fires and food becomes two of the many problems to be dealt with. How can Will and new-found friend Kelly help...and survive?
I have now started Growing Season, a first novel in a series. Melanie lost her beloved cat two weeks ago and now, at the age of 39, has lost her beloved editing job of 14 years.
These two authors have done it to me again. I was up 'til 2:00 reading it night before last and up 'til 1:00 last night until I finished it. I just could not put it down.
I have now started Star Path, which picks up after Sun Born in the People of Cahokia series. Walking Smoke learns by means of a blood sacrifice that his sister, Night Shadow Star is coming to fight him. We see both making preparations at the beginning of the book.
A little tongue in cheek, a little outlandish, and always entertaining. I will get more books in this series.
I have now begun The Sleeping Beauty Killer by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke. Casey has served 15 years for a murder she did not commit. Immediately upon her release, she approaches Laurie Moran, the producer of the TV show, Under Suspicion, in hopes that the show will be able to expose the real killer.
Always interesting and readable, it took Murdoch a maddeningly long time to begin inquiries where they should be. Then the book became even more exciting, but the resolution was about 2 paragraphs. I had questions that were not answered: was the pie poisoned? was Mrs. Foster ok? what happened to Peg? to Jarius?
I am now reading DEADER STILL, #2 in the Simon Canderous series. Simon can see the history behind everything he touches and has been recruited by the Department of Extraordinary Affairs. At the beginning of this book Simon is embroiled in the taking of a harrowing test to promote to full agent. If not successful, he could die.
Yes, I was right. This book was mainly occupied by solving sexual problems for Anita and Jason's girlfriend. It was readable, but did not advance the 'verse.
I have now started what I had thought was #2 in the Murdoch Mysteries series by Maureen Jennings. But now I learn that Poor Tom is Cold is #3. Too Late, I am hooked already. A constable has been found shot to death in what appears to be a suicide. Detective Murdoch is not sure about the cause of death and is exploring further into a tangled family netherworld of secrets.
A very satisfying action packed spy novel set in Cairo during WWII. At first I was ambivalent as to who to root for because it starts from the point of view of the antagonist and everything he did seemed justifiable. But he became more villainous and the protagonist became more likable as the story progressed. That made the novel more masterful IMHO.
I have now started Jason, an Anita Blake novel by Laurell K. Hamilton. When a book is entitled after one of her characters, it is usually not an action novel, but rather a character-driven X-rated study. Though I am too old to enjoy the X stuff, I do enjoy her characters and the problems their interaction causes. The more she tries to uncomplicate her life, the more complicated it becomes.
Yes, I was right. It was too short to have any heart. It was basically just dry facts and was pretty boring. I did like the pictures. However, I found in the Bibliography another biography that looks more like what I wanted and I will order that from Amazon.
I have now started another Ken Follett book, The Key to Rebecca. Set in Cairo, Egypt, in the very early '40's, a German spy has been tasked to learn everything he can about the British force mobilizing against Rommel and radio it to the General. As is also true of The Eye of the Needle, we follow the antagonist and meet the
Yes, I was right. The book is too short to develop location, characters, the actual mystery, and the overall romantic and somewhat spooky atmosphere that I love Heather Graham novels for. However solution method was definitely there--the Krewe's manner of mystery solving worked as well as it does in the longer format, just very quickly.
When I ordered The Life of Doris Day, I did not expect such a short book. I will finish this pretty quickly. Of course, there is no real development of personality or the behind the scenes of favorite movies as there is in a much longer biography, to say nothing of autobiography which is closer to what I love. But this has lots of pictures and facts.
In this section Hamilton attempts to adjust to private life and his legal career. His son is killed in a duel and Aaron Burr challenges him to a duel.
I also finished The Fall of Camelot. Anyone who has kept up with my reading knows my fascination with the Arthurian legend. My favorite book that I have read on the subject is The Mists of Avalon, which tells the legend from the point of view of Morgan le Fay and other followers of the old religion--perhaps older than the Druids--earth and goddess worship. The Fall of Camelot concerns itself with the magic that brought about the ruin of Arthur and Camelot. Some of the stories I'd never heard before, although many were of course familiar. Beautifully illustrated and an interesting point of view.
I have now started Crimson Twilight, one of twelve novellas by as many authors. This one is set in a castle where two of the Krewe are planning to get married. However, their plans are stymied by the death of their pastor. My fear is that this story is so short, it won't have time to create the lovely environment that I love Heather Graham for.
And I am about to start another of The Enchanted World series, The Secret Arts.
