Starting my list

Discussão100 Books in 2015 Challenge

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Starting my list

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1ritaer
Editado: Mar 15, 2015, 9:05 pm

#1 Read large chunks of The Best American Non-Required Reading 2014. Several interesting essays on a variety of topics.
#2 First few chapters of The End of the Ancient World and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages by Ferdinand Lot. Recommended on The Archdruid Report, a peak resources blog run by John Michael Greer. I found it very tough going. It assumes much previous knowledge of Roman history and inserts frequent Latin words and phrases. Maybe in some more leisured time.

2bryanoz
Jan 10, 2015, 4:44 pm

Welcome and happy reading !

3wookiebender
Jan 10, 2015, 6:42 pm

Welcome to the group!

4ritaer
Editado: Jan 19, 2015, 1:13 pm

#3 Enemies at Home by Lindsey Davis. This historical detective story is set in Rome suring the reign of Domitian. Flavia Albia is following her adopted father Didius Falco in the profession of informer. She is hired to investigate the murders of a newlywed couple strangled in their bedroom. The household slaves have taken refuge in the Temple of Ceres because they will collectively be held responsible if another murderer is not found. Good detail about Roman customs and law.
#4 The Lone Ranger, Vol. 5 by And Parks and Esteve Polls. In this collection of new stories the Lone Ranger and Tonto continue to pursue justice in the old west. Main story arc has Lone Ranger used as tool by a senator whose crazy cousin threatens his political future. Flashbacks to the pasts of John Reid and Tonto are included. Enjoyable graphic novel series.
#5 Novel History: Historians and Novelists Confront America's Past (and Each Other) ed. Mark C. Carnes. Historical novels ranging from Gore Vidal's _Burr_ to _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ are appraised by historians. Living authors were given an opportunity to reply. Quite interesting, and material for yet another reading list.

5ritaer
Editado: Jan 24, 2015, 1:14 pm

#6 Long John Silver, Vol 2, Neptune--a graphic novel in which Long John Silver is hired secretly by Lady Hastings to take over the ship captained by her brother-in-law to forestall vengeance by her husband when he discovers that she is pregnant by another man. The pirates are motivated by the promise of gold in the Amazon.

6ritaer
Jan 24, 2015, 1:19 pm

#7 Long John Silver, Vol 3, The Emerald Maze--continuation of graphic novel adventure. The explores reach the hidden city in the jungle, but the fate of Captain Hastings is a mystery.
#8 The Lost Art of Walking by Geoff Nicholson, a book about the history of walking, famous walkers and famous walks as well as the author's experiences on foot.
#9 The Condor and the Cows by Christopher Isherwood with photographer William Caskey. Travels through South America in 1947. Much on scenery and culture, some on politics and economics. Interesting look at immediate post-war years as intensive oil development and American fear of communism become issues.

7ritaer
Editado: Mar 15, 2015, 9:06 pm

#10 The Sandman Papers edited by Joe Sanders. Like most anthologies the collection is uneven. Worth reading if you are a Gaiman fan or a student of the comic form. I was a little surprised by how many sample pages they were able to print--comics, like song lyrics, are very hard to get permission to cite.
#11People, Places, Things: Essays by Elizabeth Bowen This book just caught my eye at the library. I don't recall having read any of her novels. Once again, an anthology. Liked her essays on Jane Austen, on the 1946 Peace Conference and on Britain during WWII. Others were uneven, so did not read every essay.
#12 Queer Times: Christopher Isherwood's Modernity by Jamie M. Carr. A very theory heavy examination of Isherwood.

8ritaer
Editado: Mar 15, 2015, 9:06 pm

Two last entries for January: #13 Money and Class in America: Notes and Observations on Our Civil Religion by Lewis H. Lapham. Author was born and educated among the financially privileged. Went into journalism and had a close view of many wealthy people, politicians and hangers on. The book was published in 1988.
#14 Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman. A somewhat absent minded father explains to this children the utterly fantastic reason for his slow return from the store with the milk for their cereal. Yes, its a children's book, but I don't let that stop me.

9ritaer
Editado: Mar 15, 2015, 2:59 pm

#15 Mission to Paris by Alan Furst, another thriller set in the period leading up to WWII. An American actor of Viennese birth is drawn into German plots against France while filming in Paris, then turns to help American espionage.
#16 Kill my Mother by Jules Feiffer, a noir story in 30s and 40s US with mysterious tall sisters, a mother hated by her daughter and an ineffective detective. In fine noir tradition one ends still uncertain what exactly happened.

10ritaer
Editado: Mar 15, 2015, 9:07 pm

#16 Complete Works of W. H. Auden: Prose and Travel Books in Prose and Verse 1926-1938 Quite a mixed bag. Some essays and book reviews, magazine articles on politics, education reform and so forth. Includes two books co-authored. Letters from Iceland, with Louis MacNeice and Journey to a War with Christopher Isherwood. Letters from Iceland is an atypical travel book. Auden interlards it with a long poem addressed to the dead Lord Byron, bringing him up to date on current affairs. There are also mock letters home, reprinted sections of ancient Icelandic law codes and descriptions of traditional Icelandic dishes as tasting like toenails when eaten raw and like the bits of skin you peel off your feet when eaten cooked. Eeew, how did he come up with that? Surely even an eccentric British poet cannot expect us to believe he chews his toenails. But, describe it as fingernails--too tame--the poet's ear wants to up the ante, so toenails and foot skin instead of fingernails and cuticles.

11ritaer
Editado: Fev 23, 2015, 10:48 pm

#16 Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, read for local public radio reading group. Unusual structure, almost like a volume of poems. Autobiographical novel of young African American girl moved between South Carolina and New York during civil rights era.

12ritaer
Fev 18, 2015, 11:47 pm

#17 The Sandman Companion by Hy Bender, a must read for fans of the Sandman series or other works by Neil Gaiman.

13ritaer
Editado: Mar 15, 2015, 9:08 pm

#18 The Dreaming: Beyond the Shores of Night based on Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. The Serpent tries to undo the Fall with the aid of Abel's gargoyle; Mad Hetty uses a man lost in fairy to safeguard the key to America's destiny; and Seth visits his brothers.
#19 The Mortmere Stories by Edward Upward and Christopher Isherwood. Satiric stories written as undergraduates.
#20 The Left Left Behind by Terry Bisson. The Raptures leaves a happier earth.

14ritaer
Fev 25, 2015, 11:04 pm

#21 Modem Times 2.0 by Michael Moorcock. A rather confusing time travel story set largely in London. Probably makes more sense to those familiar with the city.

15ritaer
Editado: Mar 4, 2015, 11:24 pm

#20 Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford--tale of racial conflict and lost love set in Seattle Chinese and Japanese communities during WWII.
#21 The Candle and the Crossroads: A Book of Appalachian Conjure and Southern Root Work by Orion Foxwood - more philosophy than actual spells. Some history and background.
#22 A Slip of the Keyboard: Collected Nonfiction by Terry Pratchett--bits of life history, writing how-to, speeches, essays and speeches about his Alzheimer's diagnosis and views on assisted dying. Excellent.
#23 The Hedgehog's Dilemma: a Tale of Obsession, Nostalgia and the World's Most Charming Mammal by Hugh Warwick--tales of hedgehog rescue, census, culling, natural history and lore.

16ritaer
Editado: Mar 15, 2015, 9:09 pm

#24 Iamblichus' "De Mysteriis": a Manifesto of the Miraculous by Emma C. Clarke. This is an examination of the work of Iamblichus, a Neoplatonist who practiced and described theurgy--ritual practices to obtain knowledge of the gods. Suffers from large patches of untranslated or transliterated Greek.
#25 Wanderlust: a History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit. Interesting examination of our natural mode of transportation and its transformation into a leisure activity. Also politics of access to land and a chapter on the special condition of women in the public areas.


17ritaer
Editado: Mar 11, 2015, 10:56 pm

#26 A World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunstler. A small town in upstate New York begins to rally after war, oil shortages and disease have caused the US to collapse.

18ritaer
Mar 11, 2015, 10:56 pm

#27 Kept in the Dark by Anthony Trollope. A young woman fails to mention a previous engagement to a new lover. When he learns of it after their marriage he is suspicious and feels betrayed. Intervention by his sister eventually brings the couple back together.

#28 Dreaming Spies by Laurie R. King. Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes meet a mysterious Japanese woman on a trip from Bombay to Japan. They become involved in preventing blackmail of a high ranked Japanese. Fascinating scenes of Japan in the 1920s.

19ritaer
Editado: Mar 20, 2015, 11:31 am

#29 Gore Vidal, Sexually Speaking, Collected Sex Writing by Gore Vidal. Essays, interviews and book reviews on subjects relating to sex.
#30 The Dreaming: Through Gates of Horn and Ivory by Caitlin Kiernan and others. More tales of inhabitants of the dreaming, including a temporary return to human form on the part of Matthew the Raven and the new Corinthian tracking down a serial killer inspired by his old form.
#31 A Matter of Breeding by Michael Brandow. A book on the damage done to dogs by efforts to impose artificial breed standards inspired more by social climbing than function.

20ritaer
Editado: Mar 20, 2015, 11:41 am

#32 Homemade Magick: the Musings and Mischief of a Do-it-Yourself Magus by Lon Milo Duquette, third in Duquette's tale of mundane and magical lifestyle. Instructions of basic magical tools included.
#33 New York Streetscapes: Tales of Manhattan's Significant Buildings and Landmarks Christopher Grey, a collection of newspaper columns on the architecture of New York.

21ritaer
Mar 23, 2015, 11:58 pm

Hitting the e-book collection.#34 First Chosen: Tears of Rage by M. Todd Gallowglas, a fantasy based on a complex created religion and the conflicts it causes in a quasi-medieval world.
#35 After Oil 2: the Years of Crisis edited by John Michael Greer. This is a collection of short stories set in a future in which oil depletion has led to war, riots, food shortages and a general decline of civilization. Stories are set in various areas and a variety of post-collapse cultures.

22ritaer
Mar 26, 2015, 11:32 pm

A couple of books I will note, but not claim as read as I just couldn't finish them. Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear. I liked the first books in this series, but I just couldn't get into this one. When it is on my bedside table and I don't look forward to a few pages each night, I give up. Mysteries are my pleasure reading and not a duty to plow through. Partly didn't like the scenes from killer's POV. This is tricky to carry off and I just wasn't feeling it. My next try was Bewtiched, Bothered, and Biscotti by Bailey Cates. Only got a few pages in and the combination of clichés started with a hostile police officer and I just didn't feel like going any further.

#36 The Witch of Hebron by James Howard Kunstler is the second in the World Made by Hand series. The mistrust between the townspeople of Union Grove and the religious cult that has set up headquarters in the old high school continues. The doctor's son runs away from home after his dog is killed by the cult's stallion. He encounters kindness, cruelty and danger on the journey. Good read.

23ritaer
Editado: Mar 28, 2015, 11:11 pm

#37 The New Adventures of Jesus: the Second Coming by Frank Stack, cartoons from the 60s republished by Fantagraphics.

24ritaer
Abr 2, 2015, 11:17 pm

#37 The Days of Anna Madrigal Armistead Maupin, more adventures of the former Barbary Lane inhabitants with flashbacks to Mrs. Madigal's past as Andy Ramsey, son of the madam of Blue Moon brothel.
#38 My Friends from Cairnton Jane Duncan, Janet and Twice restore their relationship after his heart attack and are visited by a former inhabitant of Cairnton, taking Janet back to her memories of crossing boundaries between classes and communities.
#39 The Globe: the Science of Discworld II Terry Prachett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen. The wizards find elves have invaded Roundworld and set about eliminating them as the reader learns more of science.

25ritaer
Abr 4, 2015, 8:13 pm

#40 Red Gold Alan Furst, a former film director becomes involved in the resistance, establishing contacts between Gaullist resistance and communists.

26ritaer
Abr 5, 2015, 5:43 pm

#41 Beulah Hill William Hefferman, Vermont constable must investigate killing of white man on "Nigger Hill" despite his own prejudices, fears and struggles with racial identity.

27ritaer
Abr 6, 2015, 10:49 pm

#42 American Notes by Charles Dickens. Dickens visited America shortly before the Civil War. He gives his opinion on matters of travel and transport, slavery and the disgusting practice of tobacco chewing.

28ritaer
Abr 15, 2015, 11:31 pm

#43 Lunatics by Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel, comic novel with two ordinary men mistaken for terrorists and flung from one unlikely adventure to another.
#44 China Dolls by Lisa See, three young women enter show business in Chinatown pre WW II and maintain an unlikely and much tested friendship for years.

29ritaer
Editado: Abr 20, 2015, 11:22 pm

#45 A History of the Future James Howard Kunstler--more of the World Made by Hand series with problems of criminal justice threatening the community and the return of Daniel from exploration of the other states.
#46 Good Behavior Donald Westlake --one of the few Dortmunder capers that works out, perhaps because Dortmunder is rescuing a nun from her abusive, irreligious father
#47 Cousin Bette Honere de Balzac --only got about a third into this, couldn't get interested.
#48 Pagans: the End of Traditional Religion and the Rise of Christianity James J. O'Donnell. The author's premise seems to be that Christianity created our current concept of paganism in the process of altering and destroying it.

30ritaer
Editado: Abr 23, 2015, 10:03 pm

#48 Resistance: Book 1 by Carla Jablonski and Leland Purvis--graphic novel about children helping French resistance.
#49 The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Cristopher Moore--comic fantasy about over Prozaxed town, a lonely sea monster and a drug ring.
#50 The Statesman Plato--rambling and not very coherent dialogue about role of civic leader. Very anti-democracy.

31ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:50 pm

#51The Odyssey--graphic novel by Tim Mucci, writer and Ben Caldwell and Rick Lacy, illustrators. Interesting adaptation, eliminates some plot elements and changes some scenes, but accessible.

32ritaer
Abr 25, 2015, 9:41 pm

#52 After Progress John Michael Greer. An examination of Western culture's civic religion, the belief in the inevitability and desirability of progress 9however defined) with speculations on what will replace it once resource depletion and collapse of the empire make it impossible to believe any longer.

33ritaer
Abr 27, 2015, 10:38 pm

#53 An Old Man's Love Anthony Trollope. Middle aged man takes in orphaned young woman, falls in love with her. One day after she accepts his proposal her first love returns from Africa. After much struggle he chooses her happiness over his own.

34ritaer
Abr 29, 2015, 11:05 pm

#54 Christmas at Thompson Hall and Other Christmas Stories by Anthony Trollope. One of the stories is set before and during the American Civil War.
#55 War is Boring David Axe and Matt Bors, a graphic novel presentation of work as war correspondent in many war zones.

35ritaer
Maio 7, 2015, 1:46 pm

#56 After Progress: Reason and Religion at the End of the Industrial Age by John Michael Greer. Greer explains his contention that the belief in unending progress is the true religion of our era and anticipates the difficulty our society will have in facing the end of that dream.
#57 North America Anthony Trollope - travels through US and parts of Canada in 1891. Trollope makes many observations on the causes, progress and likely result of the Civil War as well as comments on the scenery, industry and manners of the parts of the US he was able to visit.

36ritaer
Maio 9, 2015, 9:04 pm

#57 Shots Fired C. J. Box, short stories set in modern West

37ritaer
Maio 10, 2015, 11:00 pm

#58 A Song for Nero Thomas Holt--historical novel in which Nero survives rather than committing suicide and spends ten years on the run with a Greek con man.

38ritaer
Maio 17, 2015, 12:51 am

#59 Collapse Now and Avoid the Rush John Michael Greer, a collection of blog posts from the Archdruid Report. My favorite is the Next Ten Billion Years.
#60 What the Bee Knows P. L. Travers--amazed to discover that the author of Mary Poppins books was a student of folklore and myth and lived among the Navaho for some time.
#61 Another book I should not count for full credit since I really could not complete it Adventures with Iphigenia in Tauris by Edith Hall. A detailed study of the reception and performances and meaning of a lesser know play by Euripedes.

39ritaer
Maio 20, 2015, 10:21 pm

#62 A Natural History of Dragons Marie Brennan-Lady Trent, now a renowned authority on dragons looks back on her girlhood interest, marriage and first expedition.

40ritaer
Editado: Maio 26, 2015, 11:04 pm

#63 Cemetery Girl Charlaine Harris - girl is left for dead, wakes with amnesia and hides in cemetery, afraid her attacker will try again. She witnesses and ultimately reveals a murder in the cemetery but stays in hiding.

41ritaer
Maio 26, 2015, 11:04 pm

#63 The Last Days of George Armstrong Custer by Thom Hatch. Hatch might be categorized as an anti-revisionist historian. He strongly contemns those who judge the actions of the past by the standards of today, including the renaming of Custer Battlefield national Monument as Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument and the inclusion of a memorial to Indian dead. His defense of Custer is strongly argued. He reviews Custer's Civil War experience, successful tactics and demonstrated courage in battle combined with care for his soldiers. According to his theory, based on the last known orders given by Custer, the plan of attack on the Lakota village was one that had worked well in previous encounters. Major Reno was ordered to the south end of the village, Custer's units would attack from the north and east. Benteen, who was in charge of the ammo train and additional soldiers was sent an order to come up quickly, but unaccountably dawdled, even after the sound of firing made it obvious that battle had been joined. According to Hatch, Reno panicked and retreated, first to a knoll and then to a bluff where he and his men were pinned down by the Indian warriors. If he had maintained pressure at the south of the village, the warriors would have been forced to fight there while the women rushed to strike camp. Meanwhile Custer's units would have entered the camp with little opposition. If Benteen had hurried to join the main force, the additional ammunition could have saved the day. As it was, the troopers had 50 rifle rounds on their persons, another 50 in saddlebags and 20 rounds for their revolvers. Since some horses had been driven off by the Indians, the troopers were limited in their ammo while the Indians were armed with rifles, bows, clubs, and knives. Obviously, 'could have beens' can fill many books and can prove nothing. However Hatch convincingly dismisses the theory put forth by some that Custer rushed into danger in an effort to secure the presidential nomination from the Democrats. He points out that Custer had insisted on returning to his command rather than accept a lucrative speaking tour that would have been an excellent preparation for a political career. Only 35, Custer was unlikely to be seeking an office that was seen as an old man's job. Interesting reading for any student of the Indian Wars.

42ritaer
Maio 28, 2015, 10:34 pm

#64 Kraken by China Mieville, rival magicians almost engineer end of the world in plot that revolves around a preserved giant squid, the odd cults and magicians of London and a hapless museum curator.

43ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:50 pm

#65 Sunshine on the Lawn Beverley Nichols, light-hearted account so gardening, neighborly quarrels and cats in an English country house. Originally read this and others by Nichols in the 60s, amazed by how many incidents I recalled.
#66 American Meteor Norman Lick - not really impressed, hard to stay interested in not particularly sympathetic narrator and tired rehash of corruption and brutality of the Civil War and the settlement of the West. Ironically, since Custer figures as symbol of above, I had just read a historical work on Custer that portrayed him in a far less negative light. Just seemed like a lot of historical name dropping-Walt Whitman, U S. Grant, Custer, Crazy Horse- a weird prophecy by Crazy Horse that is not really explained and a frame story of narrator near death that contributes little to the story.

44ritaer
Jun 1, 2015, 11:15 pm

#67 A Month in the Country J. L. Carr, an artist spends a summer restoring a wall painting in a rural church after WW I. Falls in love with rector's wife, but does not act on it.

45ritaer
Jun 6, 2015, 3:49 pm

#68 Anatomy of Restlessness: Selected Writings 1969-1989 Bruce Chatwin. Some fiction, some book reviews and some essays on travel, nomadism, writing retreats.

46ritaer
Jun 10, 2015, 10:51 pm

#69 The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt-a bit hard to get into and very dense, evocative prose style. Protagonist hard to like, but equally hard to dislike, you just want to shake him sometimes.

47ritaer
Jun 12, 2015, 10:39 pm

#70 The Anatomy of Melencholy Robert Burton. This has been on my 'to read' list for a long time. It is a convoluted monster of a book with endless citations of authorities that no one but a scholar of Renaissance literature will have heard of. Burton has a great tendency to argue himself in circles, carefully presenting all sides of every discussion without really coming down firmly. It is interesting to see how much of what we think we know about how people thought in the seventeenth century is not accurate--for instance I did not know that the idea of the stars as suns in themselves was already prevalent. Not for everyone.
#71 Without Conscience: the Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us Dr. Robert D. Hare, a summary of what was known at the time (early 90s) about the diagnosis, cause and treatment of the psychopath. Includes some suggestions about avoiding or dealing with any that one may meet, pointing out that not all killers are psychopaths, nor are all psychopaths killers.

48ritaer
Jun 17, 2015, 11:34 pm

#72 The Discarded Image: an Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature C. S. Lewis. Lewis explains the world model of the Medieval period and its origins in classical and later literature and philosophy.
#73 N or M? Agatha Christie - Tommy and Tuppence search out fifth columnists in the early months of WWII.

49ritaer
Jun 19, 2015, 10:51 pm

#74 Sex, Drugs and the Twinkie Murders by Paul Krassner--I had almost forgotten how crazy this era was.
#75 The Dummy Line by Bobby Cole-- a thriller set near the border of Mississippi and Alabama as a father and his young daughter are confronted by a gang of small-time but vicious criminals and must fight and run for their lives. A couple of teens returning from a session necking in the countryside are also caught up in the situation. Good story, writing a little pedestrian in spots, not bad for a first novel.

50ritaer
Jun 23, 2015, 11:03 pm

#76 American Jesus, Book One: Chosen Mark Miilar and Peter Gross, a graphic novel in which a boy learns he has miraculous powers, concludes that he is the returning Jesus but learns he is the Anti-Christ.
#77 A Blink of the Screen Terry Pratchett--collected short fiction
#78 Field Gray Philip Kerr--Bernie Gunther captured by Americans coming out of Cuba and is forced to tell all he knows about E. German Stassi commander he has long history with.

51ritaer
Jun 28, 2015, 11:32 pm

#79 Paint Your Dragon Tom Holt - a sculptress is inspired to do St. George and the Dragon but it confused when the statures come to life and she learns that the original fight and the scheduled rematch were fixed.

52ritaer
Jun 29, 2015, 11:00 pm

#80 Clash of Eagles Alan Smale--alternate history in which Roman Empire survives into 1200s, Christianity is a minority religion and a legion is sent to New Hesperia (North America) to seek gold. The legion is destroyed by a mound builder culture that has invented gliders and independently invented Greek Fire. The one survivor trains his captors in Roman methods to defend against the Iroquois.

53ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:51 pm

#81Dead Boy Detectives: Vol 2 Toby Litt and Mark Buckingham--Charles tries to discover more about his father and his mother's death.
#82 Reflections Graham Greene--essays, articles, book reviews, etc. from 1923 -1988. His views of Vietnam in 1954 are very interesting in light of what came after. Looks from here like Iraq was a replay with different religions and scenery, but same problem of training up a native army to the point of self sufficiency when they don't really feel that the country is theirs until the occupiers are out.

54ritaer
Editado: Jul 10, 2015, 11:09 pm

#83 Vermeer's Hat Timothy Brooks--didn't realize I already read it two years ago until I entered it in my reading log.
#84 My Friend my Father Jane Duncan - a reread
#85 Busman's Honeymoon Dorothy L Sayers - reread on long bus trip

55ritaer
Jul 10, 2015, 11:03 pm

#83 Reread My Friend My Father by Jane Duncan
#84 Reread Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers

56ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:52 pm

#85 Overshoot: the Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change William R. Catton--author points out that discovery of new world, followed by discovery of fossil fuels allowed for population growth and greater freedom. However the population has exceeded the long term capacity of the earth.
#86 Anansi Boys Neil Gaiman - Fat Charley Nancy discovers he has a brother after their father dies, but inviting the brother into his life leads to near disaster.
#87 The Sandman Presents: Petrafax: Travels in Malgrise Mike Carey - graphic novel featuring a journeyman undertaker from the Necropolis featured in the Sandman.

57ritaer
Jul 19, 2015, 6:49 pm

#88 Loitering: New and Collected Essays Charles d'Ambrosio--uneven as collections tend to be, but interesting.

58ritaer
Editado: Jul 22, 2015, 11:53 pm

#89 To Dwell in Darkness Deborah Crombie--since I haven't been keeping up with this series I was a bit at sea about the major characters' backstories. Interesting mystery but cliff-hanger at end.

59ritaer
Jul 23, 2015, 10:31 pm

#90 Base Nation David Vine--costs of numerous American military bases

60ritaer
Jul 25, 2015, 10:55 pm

#91 The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age - Simon Schama -- the Dutch threw off Spanish rule and established a trading empire. Books examines how they handled their prosperity.
#92 The Serpent of Venice Christopher Moore --an inventive and fantastic mishmash of Merchant of Venice, Othello, bits of Lear and The Cask of Amontillado.

61ritaer
Jul 28, 2015, 11:55 pm

#92 Chasing Shadows Charles Todd --English detective who suffers from PTSD pursues sniper killer in Fens.

62ritaer
Editado: Ago 3, 2015, 10:36 pm

#92 Preacher: Gone to Texas Garth Ennis--reread of first volume of totally irreverent graphic novel.

63ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:53 pm

#93 Preacher: Until the End of the World--reread second volume
#94 Topper Takes a Trip--Thorne Smith -- ghost humor from the 20a

64ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:53 pm

#95 Preacher: Proud Americans - Garth Ennis, reread third

65ritaer
Ago 2, 2015, 12:35 pm

#96 Pumped for Murder Elaine Viets--reread of a dead end job mystery, good light read, but I didn't even remember I had read it in 2011.

66ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:53 pm

#97 Preacher: Ancient History--Garth Ennis, reread fourth

67ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:54 pm

#98 Preacher: Dixie Fried- Garth Ennis, reread 5th

68ritaer
Ago 6, 2015, 10:37 pm

#99 Darwin's Watch: the Science of Discworld III Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen

69ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:55 pm

Ta Da #100 Native Historians Write Back - ed. Susan A Miller --Native American historians reexamine historical accounts of treaties and other interactions with the Whites using Native tales and accounts as evidence.
#101 Preacher: War in the Sun Garth Ennis

70ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:55 pm

71ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:55 pm

72ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:57 pm

#106 1/2 Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. Honestly only read one half of this book. It is supposed to be one of the classics of the angry young men of post WW II England, but same self indulgent navel (and slightly lower) gazing male drivel that men on this side of the pond were lauding one another for. Have any of these writers actually met human females?

73ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:58 pm


#107 Being Cool: the Work of Elmore Leonard by Charles J. Rzepka--another half read, this time because I haven't really read enough Leonard to really appreciate the arguments being made.

74ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:58 pm

#108 Get What's Yours: the Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security
#109 The Portable Graham Greene - includes novels The Heart of the Matter and The Fifth Man

75ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:58 pm

#110 Malice at the Palace- Rhys Bowen, -another romp through 30s era England with Lady Georgiana as royal ghosts protect skeletons in royal palaces

76ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 10:59 pm

#111Deadman's Walk-Larry McMurtry

77ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:00 pm

78ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:02 pm


#115 The Invention of Wings - Sue Monk Kid, novel based on life of Sarah Grimke, abolitionist and early feminist and her slave, Hetty.
#116 Heat of the Day - Elizabeth Bowen, WWII novel, only read about half. Couldn't get involved with characters
#117 On the Black Hill - Bruce Chatwin, novel about twin brothers who live and die on same farm in Wales
#118 World Made by Hand - James Howard Kunstler, novel set in a post collapse upper New York, the arrival of a new religious group and a local murder set events in motion. Reread
#119 The Witch of Hebron - James Howard Kunstler, 2nd in series, a boy commits a crime and runs away from home to return chastened and matured. Reread
#120 A History of the Future - James Howard Kunstler, 3rd in series. Lost souls try to find their place in new society, some succeed, others fail and wreck destruction as they do. Reread.
#121 The Commitment- Dan Savage, reread of his book on deciding whether to marry his partner, Terry Miller, as his mother and siblings and their 5 yr. old adopted son weigh in. I love the then 6 yr. old D.J.'s explanation of his choice of skulls for their wedding rings. "You're going to promise to stay with Terry until you die. So when you look at your ring, you'll see a skull and you'll remember that you and Dad will be together until you're both dead and you're skeletons and both your skulls are showing."
#122 Emma - Alexander McCall Smith, a modern retelling of Emma. Pretty good.

79swimmergirl1
Set 23, 2015, 9:46 pm

Congratulations! You're rocking it!

80ritaer
Set 25, 2015, 11:13 pm

Thanks

81ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:03 pm

#123 The Outsorcerer's Apprentice--a fairy tale land turns out to have a mysterious origin and a strange taboo against circular food.
#124 The Shepherd's Crown - Terry Pratchett, the last book features Tiffany Aching, Witch of the Chalk and the Feelgles, an attack by elves, a boy who wants to be a witch and other characters old and new. Sad to know it is the last--but as Sir Terry clearly realized, and illustrated in his books, DEATH is not an enemy, and is sometimes a friend.
#125 The Autumnlands: Tooth and Claw--a graphic novel with rather classic talking, clothes wearing, magic using animals who summon a great champion, who turns out to be human.

82ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:04 pm

#126 The Pale Horse, Agatha Christie. Can three women in a country village kill through witchcraft. Victims are dying of apparently natural causes; is there a natural explanation?

83ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:04 pm

#127 Proud Tower: a Portrait of the World Before the War 1890-1914 by Barbara Tuchman. A good read for history buffs and interesting to compare situation with current. The gilded rich are as privileged, worker have not been quite reduced to the conditions of the 1800s, politics are even more convoluted, etc.

84ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:04 pm

#128 Moral Clarity: a Guide for Grown-up Idealists - Susan Neiman

85ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:05 pm

#129 Invisible Romans-Robert Knapp-- Working class, artisans, farmers, slaves, women, army, gladiators, etc. hard to learn about because the elite wrote most of the literature.

86ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:05 pm

#130 The Lady From Zagreb Phillip Kerr, Bernie Gunther, cop turned reluctant SS man is sent into Croatia in search of movie star's father
#131 My Friend the Swallow - Jane Duncan, a young woman brings out Twice's fatherly instincts, he is crushed when she breaks engagement to his protégé
#132 My Friend Sashie - Jane Duncan, Sashie save Janet from her suicidal despair after death of Twice and her conviction that her work as a writer contributed to his death

87ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:06 pm

#133 The Swerve: How the World Became Modern --Stephen Greenblatt argues that the discovery and release into Renaissance Italy of Lucretius' On the Nature of Things (De rerum natura) a poem expressing the beliefs of the Epricurians was a major influence on modern thought.

88ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:06 pm

#134 Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy, a nineteenth century utopia which forsees a world in which all have an equal share in the produce of society.

89ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:07 pm

#135 A Wizard Alone - Diane Duane, six in So you want to be a wizard series, Nita is still shattered by her mother's death and Kit is in too deep when he attempts to help an autistic boy on Ordeal. Darryl, however, turns out to have unique talents in dealing with the Lone One.
#136 The Gospel of Loki - Joanne M. Harris, Loki as misunderstood loner in Asgard, doomed yet trying his best. Interesting but there are always problems in making gods your characters.

90ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:07 pm

#137 Universal Salvation in Late Antiquity: Porphyry of Tyre and the Pagan-Christian Debate by Michael Bland Simmons. The author argues that Neo-Platonist Porphyry constructed a tripartite system of philosophical salvation to counter the claims of Christianity to be the sole route for universal salvation. The first part was for the ordinary citizen and consisted of obedience to laws and observation of traditional religious rites for the benefit of the city and nation. The second part continued ordinary religious duties but included the study of philosophy and other methods designed to release the mind from attachment to the body. The third was the full immersion in the study of philosophy with the aim of achieving release from the cycle of reincarnation. The third century CE was a time of great turmoil within the Empire and Porphyry hoped his system could become a binding force to stabilize the Empire and stave off the growth of Christianity.

91ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:07 pm

#138 Bookmarked: reading my Way From Hollywood to Brooklyn--Wendy Fairey, daughter of Hollywood gossip columnist, and (unknown to her until late in life) British philosopher A . J. Ayer, contemplates the ways in which her preferred reading both reflected and shaped her life and career.

92ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:07 pm

93ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:08 pm

#140 The Buried Giant-Kazuo Ishiguro, allegorical novel about the power of memory to delay or prevent forgiveness in relationships and in nations.

94ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:08 pm

#141 The Secret Place - Tana French, another Dublin Murder squad mystery. A detectives daughter takes a clue to a policeman she has talked with in another case and breaks open the unsolved murder of a private school boy on the grounds of an exclusive girls' school. Hints of supernatural goings on, and in her first, In the Woods.

95ritaer
Editado: Nov 18, 2015, 11:09 pm

#142 Vet in a Spin--James Herriot, intersperses memories of RAF training with more memories as country vet

96ritaer
Nov 18, 2015, 11:13 pm

#143 The Night Life of the Gods Thorne Smith, read about half. This Prohibition era romp of animate statues in New York City does not stand up to my memories of it from 40+ years ago.
#144 Deadly Election Lindsey Davis, Flavia Alvia, daughter of informer Marcus Didius Falco, investigate an unidentified corpse found in a strongbox put up for auction nwith her family company.

97ritaer
Nov 19, 2015, 11:10 pm

#145 The Novel Habits of Happiness Alexander McCall Smith, the 10th in the Isabel Dalhousie series. In this one Isabel works on a mother who wonders whether her young son's apparent past-life memories have any basis in fact. The resolution is inconclusive.

98ritaer
Editado: Dez 1, 2015, 8:25 pm

No Number--Only got about 75 pages into Gustave Fluabert's Sentimental Education. Found myself wondering whether Marx read French--well, the dates are wrong anyhow, but if there is a more convincing exposition of the uselessness and arrogance of the bourgeoisie I have yet to encounter it. A useless young man lounging around in love with a married women, fantasizing about the arts, neglecting his law studies, lying to his provincial mother--oh the pain, oh the sorrow, oh the need to be kicked in the backside and forced into a factory or a coal mine for a living.

99ritaer
Editado: Dez 1, 2015, 8:25 pm

#145 1/2 The Secret History of the World as Laid Down by the Secret Societies--Mark Booth Could only read about half of the book--in my opinion it suffers from a confusion of the planes and tries to explain material history as part of psychic and spiritual development of the world.

100ritaer
Editado: Dez 1, 2015, 8:25 pm

No Number True Story by Bill Maher, just could not get into a book in which the male characters are called Dick, Fat, Chink, Shit and Buick and female characters have names like Pussy.

#146 The Importance of Being Seven - Alexander McCall Smith, More adventures of Bertie and other inhabitants of Scotland Street. a reread

101ritaer
Editado: Dez 5, 2015, 11:24 pm

147 Skeleton Road Val McDermid. A skeleton found on the roof of an abandoned building leads to a long pursuit taking Scottish detectives to Croatia and raising questions of who has been killing suspected war criminals just before they are arrested.

102ritaer
Dez 5, 2015, 11:29 pm

148 Dracula Bram Stoker--the original book that brought vampires into the fictional mainstream. The Count, the female acolytes, the fear of the foreign, the sexual overtones: all there waiting to be redeveloped, filmed in dozens of versions, spin-offs, comics, etc. The florid Victorian style may put off many modern readers, but still worth reading.
149 One Virgin Too Many Lindsey Davis, Roman investigator drawn into convoluted drama of aristocratic family with too many secrets, a murder, the disappearance of a young girl who is the favored candidate for Vestal Virgin.

103ritaer
Dez 30, 2015, 11:04 pm

#151Night and Day Virginia Woolfe--an early realist novel with love triangle
#152The Game of Death in Ancient Rome Paul Plass--gladiators and political suicide as public uses of violent death in Roman culture
#153 Return to the One Brian Hines--the philosophy of Plotinus as reunion with the One
#154 Exquisite Corpse Penelope Bafieu--graphic novel in which famous writer fakes death to increase sale
#155 My Friends the Misses Kindness Jane Duncan -- Janet returns to Scotland on small ship and finds strange people among fellow passengers
#156 My Friends George and Tom Jane Duncan-- Janet returns to Scotland and she and uncles are unexpectedly successful in this writing business
#157 Song of Achilles Madeline Miller --tale of Achilles told by Patroclus as loving and talented young man is forced to his destined role as a warrior and his foretold death and lasting fame
#158 You Suck Christopher Miller --newly turned vampire must cope with many problems
#159 The Witch of Lime Street David Jaher--tediously long account of confrontation between Houdini and a Boston medium under auspices of the Scientific American
#160 Twilight's Last Gleaming John Michael Greer -- an American attempt at regime change in Tanzania takes disastrous turn when China decides to protect its client state.
#161 West Coast Blues Jacques Tardis -- graphic novel in which ordinary businessman helps an injured motorist and is drawn criminal underworld
#162 Groo and Conan Sergio Aragones --graphic novel in which the stupid and clumsy Groo confronts epic hero Conan the Barbarian
#163 Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers Bertie turns seven and is able to have a cub scout campout and a successful birthday party because his mother is detained in Dubai

104ritaer
Dez 30, 2015, 11:07 pm

#164 The Iron Hand of Mars Lindsey Davis--Didius Falco goes to Germany to track lost legate, deliver new standard to a legion and contact a native priestess.