Finished I , CLAUDIUS and started the seventh book in THE OUTLANDER series

Long and boring to me because it sounded like someone's family gossip from beginning to end. At the same time, I do think I learned a lot about the first three emperorers after Julius Caesar died.

I have now started An Echo In the Bone, the 7th book in The Outlander Series.  It picks up after Jamie's and Claire's house burns down with an accidental tragedy which is probably incidental to the story but is disturbing to Jaime, Claire and Ian.  Jaime is thinking of going to Scotland to return Ian and get his printing press.  I'm thinking something may interfere with his plans (the American Revolution.)

And Still More Books Since I Got Out of the Hospital

The Route that Takes You Home, by Melanie Lageschult is a new mystery series (Mailbox Mysteries) by the same author whose Seasons series about life on a small farm has me so enrapt in my old age.  This new series features a mail carrier who realizes that a house is empty that probably shouldn't be.  The elderly man is missing.  We meet some of the same characters that populate the Seasons series, and a whole lot of new ones.  I enjoyed revisiting this 'verse.

I then read Night of the White Buffalo, another book in the Wind River Mysteries series by Margaret Coel.  The white buffalo is sacred to the Indians of the reservation and the exploitation of this for money made more than my blood boil.  Father O'Malley and Vicky to the rescue!

The next book I read is Dying Breath, the 21st book in Heather Graham's Krewe of Hunters series.  

A new serial killer has shown up who seems to be copying the murders of a person who is definitely in jail.  Vicky Preston is called in to consult since she was an intended victim of the original murderer.  And also, she as well as the members of the Krewe can see ghosts who can be quite helpful in their own way to solving murders.

I am now reading I, Claudius, a fictional autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, destined to become Emperor of Rome despite himself.  The book starts with biographies of the people who surround him as he is growing up as well as what he knows of his father.  Claudius is derided by his Uncle Augustus (current emperor) and his Aunt Livia who believe that, since he stutters and is sickly that he is also stupid.  There are people who see the truth and befriend him, though.  Much of the first part of the book reads like a gossip column about the ruling class.

I must add that I am reading very slowly because I am also trying to catch up on all the summer cook shows I missed while ill as well as the goings on as we close in on the election.

Finished Quite a Few Books, but Much More Slowly than Usual

 

Wow.  It is taking me awhile to even remember how to use this site?  Brain is still working slowly.  But working...

Traditional sci fi leads us to believe that time travel could be a good thing.  Even a means to do good in the world.  Most books dealing with the subject (that I have read) have found bad things about it or problems, but they haven't put the time traveler in the position of always have problems and bad things happen to him.  In this book, we see what life could be like for a time traveler especially when he has no control of the travel and he comes through naked every time....  Fascinating, though not usually uplifting.

OK.  When I left Florida, I was up to date on this blog but I was also ill with a yeast infection that would not quit.  After the trip, I was worse and started on a journey through emergency rooms (you haven't lived until all people working in an emergency room are crowded around to see your bottom).  None of the emergency rooms had a dermatologist on staff, not did they have the ability to process cultures.  Finally found a dermatologist whose culture told us I had staph.  She prescribed Amoxicillin which worked for three or four days and then just quit.  Like the staph got it's number.  So I suggested Bactrim, which had worked well for me 20 years ago when I had staph following a knee operation.  She had me taking 800 mg. three times a day.  I think it did kill the staph, but it also sent me into kidney failure.  Many thanks to my step daughter for knowing to call 911 immediately and get me to the hospital.  I really don't remember much of the whole thing.  I was pretty out of it.  I remember the ambulance vaguely and I remember getting morphene.

I found out later that while dealing with the kidney failure, I went into A-fib (which sent all hospital personal to my room in the middle of the night), followed by my lungs filling with fluid and giving me breathing problems.)  I don't know what all Flower Mound Presbetyrian did, but I remember only 2 breathing treatments before I needed no more.  They installed a port for dialysis, but just as I was about to go down for the treatment, my blood showed I no longer needed it.  As far as the A-Fib, I was put on three new drugs, two of which I HATE: Elequis and Turosemide.  Leaving the hospital I went to a rehab center, which I guess helped, but both facilities ignored my bottom.  I think the Bactrim did kill the staph (while also nearly killing me), but the yeast remains and now I have another bacteria and my doctor is reluctant to prescribe any oral antibiotic (though the only one I have ever had trouble with is Bactrim.)  So I have a wound nurse coming to my house three times a week and I go to a wound clinic once a week and the dermatologist about every two weeks.  (At my age we call that an active social life.)  I have a collection of ring pillows, salves and ointments that threaten to squeeze us out of the house.  TMI?  Sorry.  Back to books.  

I finished the above book while still in the hospital (June 25 or so) then the next 2 in the rehab center.

The next two books were brought to me while I was a the rehab center by my step-daughter.  I don't think I'd have selected this one having given up on Julia Child's biography which I found boring.  But this might have been perfect for the rehab center since I was unable to sleep well there (except during the day): sufficiently interesting without putting me on the edge of my seat. Set in England during WWII during very strict war rationing, it recounts a local contest between professional chefs to find a cohost for a cooking radio show.  The show host and contestents were interesting and well drawn.  Liked it very much.

My step-daughter also brought me this book while I was in rehab and was closer to something I might well have selected for myself.  Set in New Orleans during the lead up to the Civil War, a group of women, some free, some slave came together to undermine the Confederacy as much as possible.  A very dangerous undertaking.  The main character is a slave, but one left to take care of the New Orleans house for long stretches of time while he was tending to business at his out of town plantations.  The lead-up to this assignment for her was harrowing causing her great shyness at first with the new-found freedom in N.O.  Well drawn characters and naturally fascinating subject matter.

I then returned home on my birthday and returned to War and Peace which I never would have taken to the hospital with me...too heavy.  During this next 50 pages, we see our soldiers return to Moscow after a disastrous several battles with the French.  But the Russians chose to see the defeat as the fault of a few of their Generals, and instead to celebrate the actions of the normal enlisted men...one in particular.  So, resumption of the normal parties, feasts, and balls could go on being given in honor of this one man.

Set on the terriformed and colonized moon, a number of separate villages are growing and, humans being humans, are jealous and resentful of each other with skirmishes occuring often.  Our hero, Charles, lived on an island where, unlike the rest of the moon, learning and reading flourished.  But the island, Alp, has blown up and he and his brother might be the only survivors.  The book chronicles his attempt to find someplace to survive, fit in, and even make peace if possible.  I always enjoy Henry Melton's books which make me think.

At this point, my reading slowed immeasurably due to Olympics (I am a huge fan), the presidential conventions (which I watch one of very faithfully), recovering---still slow and sleeping erratically to this day) and catching up on my tv programs (summer cook shows mostly but also the last few ice skating competitions continuing after we got home from Florida.)

I'll end this post since I have dinner to cook, but there are more books to add...

Finished DEATHSTALKER WAR

 

These books just keep getting better.  This book shows us some success, but, as we know from real world experience, the most difficult is yet to come.  And I am looking forward to it.  The book is "edge of my seat" reading with great characters and very inventive new environments.  But, I am looking forward to a break from all this testosterone.  Loved the book.

I have also completed MANHATTAN MAYHEM.  This is the last book I could find of Mary Higgins Clark.  I think I have read all of them...at least all I can get my hands on.  This is a collection of short stories from various people in Mary's writing group (mystery/thriller) who each contributed a story set in a different part of Manhattan, complete with photos of scenes from each neighborhood.  I had a Mary Higgins Clark pile of books that I read one off it in turn with my other piles,  That pile is just an empty space now, which needs to be filled with more mystery/thrillers.  So I earmarked several stories in this book that I really like.   I will now order the first book in several of those authors series to find me more authors I love.  And this book had lots of great stories in it.  Work to do...

I have now started The Time Traveler's Wife which I found browsing in out daughter's collection in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep.  I had seen the tv series? but it was not complete and, besides, books are nearly always better.  I am thoroughly enjoying it.  It has that predictable/unpredictable  feeling--you know what is coming but you don't know when or what will happen.  And this is over and over.....  I am presently at the point after they have met in Claire's real time but before they get married.

Finished HELL ON THE BORDER

 

I am really enjoying this series.  This one ended in a cliffhanger, but luckily, I have streamed the tv series, so I am not panicking.  It starts about 10 years after the first book ended, so we gradually learn through flashbacks what Bass has been doing in those 10 years.  Looking forward to reading the last of the series.

I have now begun the third book in the Deathstalker series by Simon Green.  Love the quirky characters, the weird worlds in this 'verse and the action.  A very small group of wonderful folk plan to overturn a huge  and powerful empress who governs a universe of planets.  Impossible odds.  I am enjoying this series.

Finished DEATHSTALKER REBELLION

 

Once again great characters, lots of action, and an epic quality make this book quite readable.  I enjoyed this book much more than the first in the series, but I enjoyed that one enough to buy more of the books.

I have now barely started Hell on the Border (Bass Reeves Trilogy, Book 2).  It picks up with Bass hunting a pair of outlaw brothers.  In disguise as a very hungry bum, he convinces their mother to invite him in a give him something to eat.  When the brothers come home, he drinks with them, waits for them to go to sleep, then handcuffs them.  Sneaky and effective.  I'm hoping for a flashback to explain how he got from his escape from slavery to here.

Finished MURDER IN THE VILLAGE

 

I do not particularly like Belinda.  She is too bossy.  (She says she is aggressive...OK)  But she is working with a retired police detective to solve a murder.  Wouldn't you think she would listen to him...at least a little?  He seems pretty passive (probably because he finds her attractive, but I can't see why.)

I have now started Deathstalker #2...Deathstalker Rebellion.  If you want action in a totally foreign universe with diverse and interesting (even when not likable) characters, this is fun.  Second book I have read in the series.

Finished FOLLOW THE ANGELS, FOLLOW THE DOVES

 

The first book of the Bass Reeves Trilogy (an early black lawman and marshall in the west) begins with his birth in slavery and takes him through his freedom.  It is set in Arkansas and Texas and includes some of the Civil War with Bass as personal servant to his master, a general among the Texas contingent.  I enjoyed the book, as I had enjoyed the tv series.

I have now begun Murder in the Village, by Lisa Cutts.  I think I am drawn to these murder mysteries set in English villages by way of loving the PBS series, Midsomer Murders.  I am enjoying getting to know Belinda Penhurst, a 41 year old woman who has lived in a castle in this small village most of her life. Of course it is set in present day and the castle does not support itself, so Belinda has organized tours and books events to help pay the overhead.  Her unpredictable brother often skirts the edge of the law requiring her to rectify his messes.

Finished MURDER IN AN ENGLISH VILLAGE

 

I must say most of what I like about this book is the variety of characters (I love that also about the tv show Midsomer Murders.)  This one also, set just after the end of WWI, brings up classism pretty strongly.  Enjoyable, liesurely read.  

I have now begun Follow the Angels Follow the Doves, a fictionalized biography of Bass Reeves (black US Marshal born into slavery in Oklahoma.)  This is a trilogy of books.  This first book deals with the raising of this young slave, favored by his master, but carefully taught to be wary by his mother.

After finishing 50 more pages of JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL, I started a new mystery.

 

These pages were mostly dealing with Jonathan and Mr. Norrell's relationship, which is kind of love/hate.  The book continues to amuse.

I have now started Murder in an English Village (A Beryl and Edwina Mystery).  One of my Goodreads friends was reading it and I thought it sounded interesting, so I bought it.  Our two heroines couldn't be more different, but they are great friends and work very well together, though a bit shocked by each other.  So far the book has been fun.

FINALLY Finished WOLF HALL

 

Several times, I asked myself, "Why am I finishing this."  It wasn't boring...it was at times incomprehensible, however.  The author's way of punctuating dialogue is, shall we say, creative.  Which can be confusing.  She often uses "he" with no anticedent.  It took me the longest time to realize that was when she referred to Thomas Cromwell.  Since he was in every scene and was the obviously main character, I was just supposed to realize that "he" was Cromwell.  Imagery was beautiful.  This is a novelized explanation of what may have happened during England's transition, with Henry VIII, from Catholicism to Anglican, caused by the king's need for an heir (a male heir...he already had a female one.)  So the plot was fascinating.

I will now be returning to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.

Finished BREAKING ANCHOR

 

A seventeen year old boy must keep his family's sailboat away from very diligent pursuit.  It was only about his trip, but was exciting and enough science to make it sci-fi.  Loved it as I have every Henry Melton book I have read.

I have now started Wolf Hall, the first book in a trilogy about Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII.  Of course, all I have read is his mistreatment as a boy by his father and his excaping his home at age 14 (started with a bang.)

Finished BUFFALO BILL'S DEAD NOW

 

I like these narratives of two stories, one in the present and one in the past.  Why did it take over 100 years to discover Chief Black Heart's headress, beaded vest, and other paraphenalia in a safe under a house in Germany?  And where are these same items now after being brought back to Wind River.  Father John and Vicky Holden are on the case.  

I am now about to start another Henry Melton YA Science Fiction story.  I love his stories because they make me think and I believe they most likely make young people think as well.

Finished KITCHEN PRIVILEGES, A MEMOIR.

 

Very readable, she starts with earliest memories, and we learn that she and her family, through no fault of love, had a really hard time with illnesses and deaths.  She takes us through her first two books sold when her life went from a struggle to comfortable and more.  She raised 5 children, much of their childhoods she was raising them alone.  Fascinating story.

I have now begun Buffalo Bill's Dead Now (A Wind River Mystery).  This appears to be the 16th book in the series and it looks like I have read all 15 leading to it.  A generous benefactor (or perhaps a contrite benefactor) bought a collection of artifacts belonging to a Chief Black Heart who toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show to donate to the mission's museum.  But, all that arrives is empty boxes. 

Finished DEATHSTALKER

 

I really enjoyed the action of this book, the really quirky characters (if made into a movie this would be a riot to costume!), and the environment....pick a world, any kind of world.  This series will have absolutely no limitations.  Now, what is it?  Science fiction...no, not enough science.  How about scientish action fantasy?  Just ordered more books in this series.

I have now started Kitchen Privileges, A Memoir by Mary Higgins Clark.  Not surprisingly, it is very readable optimistic poinance.  She does not take her world too seriously...at least not from the age she writes this book.

Finished DEAD MAN'S CHEST

 

Unlike most others in this series, it was not a murder mystery.  There were a number of mysteries, though, some of them quite serious.  And Phryne has added another person to her household,  a teen-age boy I quite liked and was hoping he would become an ongoing character.  All mysteries intriguing and characters enjoyable.

Taking a number of used books to Half Price Books for a little money, I also browsed a bit and found a series by an author new to me.  I thought he was an author whose books I'd been reading, but nope.  Whole new author...similar name.  That gives me a bit of a pause, jumping into a new series, but I was hooked on this one with the first sentence...dropping me into a very new environment and intoducing me to a new and intriguing character.  I was up late last night...reading.

Finished THE FIERY CROSS

 

I think for me it is best to read the book first, then see the tv series or movie.  This way, having seen the series first, I am always saying to myself, "Oh, that's why that happened," or, "oh, that made what happened less shocking."  But I am also enjoying everything that wasn't in the series.  Probably 2/3 of this book was not in the series and other parts were only hinted at.  If I read the book first, then I can enjoy the production while criticizing acting, casting, production values, but mostly screenplay.  However, I am enjoying these books very much because they are explaining and broadening my appreciation of the characters I met on the screen.  Absolutely worth the read.

I am about to start reading Dead Man's Chest, another Miss Fisher's Murder Mystery.  These are always fun and compact.