Finished A WRINKLE IN TIME

I think calling this Science Fiction is not specific enough.  It is highly acclaimed and has been for a very long time, but this classification may have been part of what kept me from reading it.  I've had a love/hate relationship with SciFi in my lifetime, but have always enjoyed Fantasy.  I believe this is a Space Fantasy.  Of course it is childish--it is for children--but it is also mind expanding, and therefore, excellent for children (and maybe me.)  Probably my quibbling with genre is picky, because,  since it was classified, a huge body of knowledge about space has been accrued...

I have now begun Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.  Themes of class exploitation, friendship, and gentle enjoyment of ones culture, as well as growing up make up this book.  I am already into the characters of the two fathers and their backgrounds.

Finished PEOPLE OF THE RAVEN

I swear each of these books is better than the last.  Since writing People of the Wolf new people have been discovered living in the area that is now Seattle--Caucasoid people.  Where they came from is a mystery, but the bones were definitely dated to about 9000 BC, meaning both Mongoloid and Caucasoid people existed at that place and time.  Using that discovery, the Gears come up with a whole new story focusing on suspicions these people might have of the other while able to see and understand the obvious similarities.  Add serious climate change at the same time, and the story just gets better.

I have now started A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine l'Engle.  How I have missed this book, I have no idea, but I have indeed never read it.  I have read the first two chapters and have met several most delightful characters.

Finished FLEECED

I think I actually enjoyed this more than any other book I have read (so far) by Carol Higgins Clark.  Now we have two murders, people whose lives are in danger, multiple villains, flawed heroes, and a budding romance in the background of the action.  It was mystery, thriller, and really fun character study.  Loved it.

I have just started reading People of the Raven by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear.  It appears to be set at about the same time as People of the Wolf  (about 7000 BC) and is correcting/ adding to the information in that novel after the discovery of a Caucasoid skeleton from about the same time as the appearance of the first Mongoloid skeletons found on our continent.  I can't wait to get into it.

Finished COLD DAYS

Dresden, recovered from a really bad case of death, is now the Winter Knight and is charged with killing the Winter Lady, Maeve, an immortal.  He is not sure he even can kill an immortal, and he sure doesn't want to...not without a really good reason.  But, boy, is there a good reason!

Not only is the book exciting reading from cover to cover, but there are also a lot of good belly laughs along the way.

I have now started Fleeced by Carol Higgins Clarke.  Two likable old men are dead, one of an apparent heart attack and the other of accidental drowning.  However, one of them appears to have been robbed as well, and the robbery is looking to have been committed by the manager of his building.  Regan Reilly must attempt to discover the truth in just one week-end.

Finished MURDER ON THE BALLARAT TRAIN

Once again Kerry Greenwood has done it.  Complicated triple plot, red herrings, character development, violence and danger, and satisfying solutions all in 151 pages.  Lots of fun.

I have now started Cold Days, a Harry Dresden novel by Jim Butcher.  Having been murdered with several bullets, Harry now finds himself recovering in the home of Queen Mab for whom he is now to serve as Winter Knight...and office he is not enamoured with, to say the very least.  Like the others in the series, this starts with Harry in danger and contending with supernatural violence from page one.

Finished THE WOLF GIFT by Ann Rice

It starts with a long, atmospheric, gentle and loving description of a house, a house which was to be not only setting but almost character in this novel.  As Ruben falls in love with the house as well as the woman who is showing it to him, the Ann Rice enthusiast does also.  The book enfolds slowly, leisurely, lovingly, gently, yet mysteriously, as the author's novels often do.  There is story and violence, but this author takes time to admire the world and the people surrounding and engaged in those.  As always, she explores questions of good and evil (or innocence and evil) and of longevity.  Ann Rice has never let me down.



I have now started Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood.  What always strikes me about these books is that the mystery seems much too complicated to be solved in the 151 pages of the book.  On the first night of her train trip to Ballarat, the first class coach is swept with chloroform which renders everyone on board unconscious, but Phryne.  She, however, is feeling the effects of the drug as she stumbles throughout the car, opening windows and pulling the emergency cord.  An old woman in the first cabin is missing (later to be found dead) and her adult daughter has a chloroform-soaked rag over her face.  Add to that, a young girl (13) is found with no memory.  Already on page 45, I have no idea how this double mystery can be solved in only 106 pages.

Finished TRIPLE

I do not think of myself as a spy novel enthusiast, but, given a great author, I find myself at the edge of my seat in "have to finish" mode.  Stayed up an hour beyond bedtime to finish this one last night.  Great yarn!



Am now starting The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice.  Read some of the reviews on Goodreads, Wow.  Lots of people really hate this book!  But I have loved everything I've read by Anne Rice, including Christ the Lord, which has started me off reading The Lost Scriptures, and other collections of Apocrypha.  So I will go boldly ahead, expecting to love this.  The problem lots of people have with her is that her monsters can be likable while traditional.   Lots of people have trouble "suspending belief" (that is, stepping into a fantasy world), but I can't even imagine them trying to read an Anne Rice novel.