The Friends and Family
BOOK BLOG
Fourth
page.
List starts with the most
recent at the top.
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2,
3, 4,
5,
6, 7,
8, 9,
10, 11,
12, 13
Kay read: MESSENGER OF TRUTH
by Jacqueline Winspear
Kay read: PARDONABLE LIES by
Jacqueline Winspear
Kay read: THE HIDDEN DIARY OF
MARIE ANTOINETTE by Carolly Erickson
Joy read: HORSE PASSAGES
by Jennifer Macaire
Joy read: THE ENCHANTED
ISLE by D.E. Stevenson
Joy read: THE ROAD
TO A HANGING by Mike Kearby
In
Messenger of Truth, Maisie Dobbs is hired to investigate the death of
an artist on the eve of a very important art show in London in 1931. The
death has been ruled accidental, but one of his family members has serious
doubts so hires Maisie as a private investigator. The more Maisie
researches the case, the more cans of worms she opens up. And when she
finally finds the truth, it is devastating.
**Part of my Favorite
Historical Mystery Series read in 2006
In Pardonable
Lies, Maisie Dobbs, private investigator and psychologist who works in
London in the late 1920's and early 1930's, is hired to find out the true
fates of two English soldiers thought to have died in France in WW1. In
traveling to France, Maisie must face down her own nightmares and dragons
as she was once a battlefield nurse in France during the War.
**Favorite Historical
Mystery read in 2006 **Part of my Favorite Historical Mystery Series read
in 2006
Kay read: THE BOLEYN
INHERITANCE by Philippa Gregory
The
Boleyn Inheritance
by Philippa Gregory goes back to the court of Henry VIII and explores the
lives of three women who lived late in that King's reign - his fourth
wife, Anne of Cleves, his fifth wife, Katherine Howard, and the spiteful
and treacherous madwoman who was in service to them both - Jane Boleyn -
who had already helped send her husband George and his sister, Anne, to
their deaths. The Boleyn family, in helping Henry break with his first
wife and with the Church, taught him that he had absolute power. And then
they paid the price. The Boleyn Inheritence to all of England and its
royal court: false witness, selling your soul for wealth and power, false
accusations against those who stand in your way when you seek power, the
threat of an axe, a mad and paranoid King drunken with power who uses
injustice as a tool. The book shines in its portrait of Anne of Cleves - a
very kind and intelligent young woman thrust into a horrible situation,
without a word of English - and who not only survives but eventually
thrives.
**Honorable Mention for my Favorite Historical Novel read in 2006
The
tumultuous life and times of the last true Queen of France. She was one of
the youngest in her family, the huge royal family of Austria, and not
properly educated or prepared for her eventual great marriage. Her husband
was an unattractive man who was unsuited for the role he was born into.
While she had a good heart, she was often too self absorbed and spoiled -
not to mention ignorant of the poverty and hunger and anger stalking
through France - to fully use her better nature to improve the lives of
her subjects. This is a first person novelization of some of the events of
her life.
Horse herders are also explorers, discovering new planets with the help of
horses who have the special talent of creating passages across space.
Twins Meagan and Carl are the youngest of all the herders. Maegan battles
Raiders, a sentient species who captured their parents; and Carl gets more
lost than any herder has been in a long time. Good reading for teenagers;
Macaire especially brings Maegan to life.
**Most enjoyable Youth Book I read in 2006
I revived myself with one of my Christmas gifts. D.E. Stevenson was
writing lovable, admirable romantic novels when I was born. This one is
about Charlotte Fairlie, a lonely young school headmistress. Her position
requires that she not "play favorites" by making any friends at her
school. But she finds herself loving new student Tessa McRynne, heir to a
Scottish laird. Charlotte's summer vacation at The McRynne's castle opens
up new worlds. THE ENCHANTED ISLE does not leap into bed. It develops so
slowly that we know and love Charlotte well by the time she finally meets
Tessa's father. This is for those who want to read about people rather
than passion.
...But quit a third of the way
through. This is labeled Young Adult. I thought the story was as inappropriate
for youngsters as
its title is. An ex-slave goes West after the Civil War, becomes an expert
cowboy, and suffers many injustices. There was some enjoyable adventure,
including an exciting horse race, but don't
give it to kids. Cheating, lying, backstabbing, and injustice are
commonplaces. They give it an atmosphere unwholesome for youngsters.
Unwholesome for anyone else, too, but at least adults aren't learning how
to live from what they read. I was thrilled when a woman I work with
actually
Kay read: FIRE by Sebastian
Junger
Just
finished reading Fire by Sebastian Junger (probably much better
known as the author of Perfect Storm). It is a collection of
magazine articles he wrote as a wandering reporter - many of them from
spots of high danger such as a firestorm in the Rockies, Afghanistan in
civil war, Sierra Leone in civil war, and Kosovo at the height of the
genocide. Depressing but interesting.
Kay read: IF I'D KILLED HIM
WHEN I MET HIM by Sharyn McCrumb
Sharyn
McCrumb wrote a mystery book called If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him.
It tells the stories of some clients of a tiny law firm in rural Virginia.
Some fifty year old men are having midlife crises and are behaving badly.
They are then turning up dead. Their ex-wives or wives are suspects and
the law firm must defend them, or prove them innocent if applicable. While
it was morbid, it was also pretty funny in places (though I am not sure
many middle aged men might find it to be very funny).
Joy read: THE GRAND
SOPHY by
Georgette Heyer
When Sophy moves in with her cousins, the family of Lord Ombersley, it
doesn't take her long to realize they need her help. Sophy breathes life
into the household with her good nature and her ingenious plots to make
everyone around her as happy as she is. The climax makes it one of the
funniest romances I have read. One of Heyer's best, and that's saying
some. **Most enjoyable Romance I reread in 2006
Kay read: SECRETS OF A SUMMER
NIGHT by Lisa Kleypas
Secrets
of a Summer Night
by Lisa Kleypas is a romance set in the early Victorian era. Annabelle
Peyton is on one of the lowest rungs of the Ton. She must marry wealth to
keep her impoverished family afloat. Simon Hunt is a wealthy industrialist
and financier who straddles the worlds of the working class and the upper
class. The people in Annabelle's class look down on Simon, even as they
use him to build their wealth. The people of Simon's class look down on
Annabelle, as a worthless woman who does not know how to make an honest
living. In order to become a couple these two people must learn how to
deal with class prejudice.
Kay read: BARELY A BRIDE by
Rebecca Hagan Lee
Barely a
Bride
by Rebecca Hagan Lee is a Regency romance which tells the story of two
people who married each other so as to each be as independent as possible.
Viscount Abernethy is ordered by his father to marry before taking up his
commission and going off to Spain to fight against Napoleon's armies. Lady
Alyssa only wants to be left alone to design beautiful gardens. They make
a marriage of convenience - but everything changes when Abernathy is
terribly wounded in a battle.
Kay read: THE
UNRULY CHAPERON by Elizabeth Rolls
The
Unruly Chaperon
by Elizabeth Rolls is a Regency romance which tells the story of Mathilda,
Lady Winter. She was an abused teenager living with her aunt and uncle
until they forced her to marry a very elderly Lord looking for a young
wife to have children. Now a very wealthy young widow at age 25, she is
asked by those odious relatives to chaperon her young cousin at the house
party of the cousin's suitor. Upon arriving at the party, it soon becomes
clear that the suitor greatly prefers the beautiful widow to her younger
cousin.
Kay read: DIANA TREGARDE
INVESTIGATES by Mercedes Lackey
Diana
Tregarde Investigates
by Mercedes Lackey is an omnibus with three books featuring character
Diana Tregarde - professional romance writer, practicing white witch, and
supernatural Guardian of the innocent. Over the course of the omnibus, she
faces off against legendary Japanese monsters, vampires of emotion, the
avatars of Aztec gods, and a body stealing sorceress with centuries of
experience and power to pull on.
Kay read: TOUCH NOT THE CAT by
Tracy Fobes
I was in the mood
for relaxing mind candy, and this book fit the bill. More than a bit
silly, and perfect for the sort of book I wished to read. It is a Regency
romance featuring a studly English Duke and the daughter of a Scottish
Earl. And oh yeah - she is under a curse where she periodically turns into
a leopard-sized were-cat. And only true love with a member of the clan her
clan has been carrying on a blood feud for centuries will break the spell.
And do I even have to mention that the Duke carries blood from that clan
in his veins?
Joy read: VENETIA by
Georgette Heyer
A beautiful orphan grew up in an isolated community of Yorkshire because
her father Lord Lanyon was a recluse. The wicked Lord Damerel takes up
residence on the next estate, and forms an instant friendship with Venetia
and her eccentric brother Aubrey. Venetia discovers how unimportant social
conventions can be, but has trouble convincing others that she doesn't
need to be conventional. I couldn't count the number of times I have read
my favorite Heyers, including this one.
Kay read: JANE AND THE BARQUE
OF FRAILTY by Stephanie Barron
The ninth
book in her mystery series featuring authoress Jane Austen as the sleuth.
In this installment, Jane is staying with her brother Henry and his wife
Eliza, in London, as the publisher prepares Sense and Sensibility
for the presses. At a nearby home belonging to a Lord active in politics,
a Russian princess is found with her throat slit. While most of Polite
Society thinks that the unfortunate woman harmed herself, Jane is not so
sure...
Joy read: THE RIVER OF ADVENTURE by Enid Blyton
The children go on vacation boating in some invented country in the Middle
East, though it has several resemblances to Egypt. Bill is tracking an
international criminal who is expert with disguises. The children, of
course, find themselves separated from Bill. In some very tight spots they
get help from a starving native boy, a poisonous snake, and Kiki the
parrot. This is the last of the series, and not so well tied up as the
rest.
Kay read: FRANKENSTEIN
by Mary Shelley
I must have
seen too many cheesy and bad movies based upon this novel, as I did not
have high expectations. This turned out to be a very intelligent,
literate, and stunningly good book.
**Favorite Horror Book read in
2006
Joy read: THE CIRCUS OF ADVENTURE by Enid Blyton
The children go on vacation with a spoiled boy that Bill brings home, and
wind up being whisked off to a foreign country by evil men (and
an evil woman this time). Jack joins a circus there with his talking
parrot Kiki, who has a great time entertaining. The circus setting is fun,
especially the bears.
Joy read: THE
VALLEY OF ADVENTURE by Enid Blyton
The children get on the wrong
airplane, and end up stranded in a valley that is being used by evil men
in search of treasure. I loved the cave they found to live in, so much
that I used to make up stories about it when I was a kid.
Joy read: THE SEA OF ADVENTURE
by Enid Blyton
The children and their policeman friend Bill go
up to the British northwest isles to watch birds. Bill needs to get out of
reach of some evil men for a while, because he has been too hot on their
trail. Naturally, they are all walking into the evil men's nest. This has
enticing images of boating through the sea full of islands, and huge bird
colonies. The children are helped by a delightful pair of puffins.
Joy read: THE CASTLE OF ADVENTURE
by Enid Blyton
More sheer escapism. All the children wanted to
do is watch eagles in a supposedly-abandoned castle, but evil men are
messing about with maps in a hidden room under it. The children are helped
by a wild mountain girl and a fox cub.
Kay read: THE GHOST BRIGADES by
John Scalzi
It is set in
the same universe as his novel Old Man's War, but it is a stand
alone story. When a leading human scientist defects to a coalition of
three alien races who hate humans, the Colonial Defense Corps decides to
grow a clone body with his DNA and implant a copy of his electronically
stored memories into that body in order to try to figure out why he became
a traitor and what he is doing to sabotage mankind. The clone body is one
with many special features usually reserved only for special forces
soldiers. When the memories do not take, the clone is assigned to the
special forces. After some stressful combat situations, the implanted
memories begin to surface. As he begins to understand the reasons behind
the treason, and begins to feel his progenitor's emotions, Jared (the
clone) will have to face some huge decisions.
**Honorable Mention for my
Favorite Adventure read in 2006 **Honorable Mention for my Favorite
Science Fiction read in 2006
Joy read: WHEN RABBIT
HOWLS by The Troops for Truddi Chase
An immensely thought-provoking account of
dealing with multiple personality, written by the patient. Her therapist
seems stuck on the idea that child incest is the cause of multiple
personality, but even in the mainstream published accounts, in this rare
but popular sub-genre, it can be seen that the key is being intimately
trapped with a person or persons who habitually torture the child. It
seems to take talent to become a multiple personality. Only the creative
ones can create other personalities who preserve the forbidden character
traits and don't remember the unendurable memories, and only the very
smart ones can find ways to survive without memory.
Joy read: THE MOUNTAIN OF ADVENTURE
by Enid Blyton
Four children find danger on vacation in Wales.
They are helped by Kiki, a voluble parrot, and Snowy, an affectionate
young goat. They are hindered by evil men experimenting with dangerous science
inside a mountain. Sheer escape into a classic kids' adventure series.
Political correctness begins to look like Puritanism these days, and a
good example is when it rejects this 1949 adventure perfectly gauged to
delight children without lecturing them.
Kay read: THE PERSIAN
EXPEDITION by Xenophon
I read
Xenophon's The Persian Expedition; a great adventure story from
ancient Greece. 10,000 Greek mercenaries take part in a Persian civil war.
When the person who hired them is defeated and killed, they must march
back to Greece from what today is called Iraq - crossing high mountains in
the winter and fighting hostile tribes all the way back.
**Favorite Adventure read in
2006
Joy read: VANISH by Tess
Gerritsen
Detective Jane Rizzoli, very pregnant, is
taken hostage in a hospital by a Jane Doe who had been declared dead. Her
husband Gabriel and their friend Dr. Maura Isles feel that something is
wrong with this picture.
Review.
Joy read: BEYOND THESE
WALLS by Rachel Gunner & Hanna Gabriele
A woman with multiple personalities collaborated with her therapist to write this book about her
life and therapy.
Review.
Kay read: THE SHARING KNIFE:
BEGUILEMENT by Lois McMaster Bujold
Lois
McMaster Bujold's The Sharing Knife: Beguilement is the first half
of a new fantasy duology. It tells the story of a young girl named Fawn
Bluefield and a warrior/sorcerer from another race on the same world named
Dag. The two meet on the road, and come to share a terrifying adventure.
They manage to barely survive it, and at great personal cost. The
adventure binds them together both emotionally and through the
miss-spelling of a powerful magical knife. For the two to be together,
they must face down both of their peoples, who frown on alliances between
individuals of the two races. Also - what happened to the knife is
unprecedented, and a great mystery which needs to be explained. Part
fantasy, part romance, and part mystery, this was an enjoyable first half
of a story.
**Honorable Mention for my Favorite Fantasy read in 2006
Kay read: OLD MAN'S WAR by
John Scalzi
John
Scalzi's Old Man's War was a finalist for the 2005 Hugo for best
novel, and I found it to be the most enjoyable book of the five finalists.
In fact, it was one of the funnest and sheerly enjoyable science fiction
reads I have encountered in quite some time. On his 75'th birthday, Ohioan
John Perry does two things. He visits the grave of his beloved wife and he
joins the military. The galaxy is a violent place filled with intelligent
aliens who like to add humans to their menu. So the Colonial Defense Corps
recruits people who have long lives filled with learning and experience.
And all of that learning and experience will be needed as they will be
spending the next several years visiting one hot spot after another
throughout the galaxy, defending mankind's hard won colonies and waging
war after war. When you enlist you leave Earth and are never allowed to
return. The few who survive will be given a generous homestead on a colony
at the end of their enlistment. But when going in, the recruits know
little of what will happen to them and what they will become! This book
made me think (but was never preachy), made me laugh, made me cry, and was
incredibly heart warming at times. It was just wonderful.
**Favorite Science Fiction
read in 2006 **Favorite Debut Novel read in 2006
Kay read: SPIN by Robert
Charles Wilson
Robert Charles
Wilson's Spin is the 2005 Hugo winner for best novel. It tells of
how one night, the stars vanish from the skies of Earth. It soon becomes
clear that the Earth has been enclosed in a bubble which distorts time.
While billions of years pass by in the universe outside of the bubble, one
human lifetime will pass by on the Earth. The story follows the lives of
three people who were children when the Spin started, and follows their
lives well into adulthood. Jason is filled with awe by Spin. Filled with
amazement, he becomes a leading scientist to find out what the Spin is,
and who (or what) has produced it. His twin sister, Diane, is terrified by
the Spin. She ends up becoming involved in a series of bizarre
fundamentalist cults looking for some sort of hope. Their best friend,
Tyler, wants to help people have the best lives they can, Spin or no Spin.
He becomes a doctor. As Jason finally begins to understand Spin, life on
Earth becomes odder and odder, with stranger and ever stronger changes.
**Honorable Mention for my
Favorite Science Fiction read in 2006
Kay read: BLOOD AND IVORY by
P.C. Hodgell
P. C.
Hodgell's Blood and Ivory is a short story collection set primarily
on the world and with some of the characters from her classic fantasy
novel Godstalk. There are three peoples forged together into one in
service of a Three Faced god. They fight Perimal Darkling, the forces of
evil and chaos on world to world, eventually losing each world one by one
through the millennia. Finally one of their leaders betrays the peoples
and their god and makes a pact with the forces of chaos to become
immortal. In one night he slays a huge number of the three fold peoples,
and the few remnants flee to the final world in the chain - Rathiliien.
There is born twins - blood binders with a strong ability for magic. One
of the twins, Torisen, will become the leader of the peoples. The other -
Jame - looks like she will become much more than that as she investigates
the world, slays gods, resurrects gods, becomes a master thief, and begins
to come into her power.
Kay read: THE ICE DRAGON by
George R.R. Martin
George R. R.
Martin's The Ice Dragon is a novella for older children, but I
loved it. Adara, a winter child, befriends an ice dragon, a rare and
magical creature that brings winter with it wherever it goes. When their
homeland is invaded by fiery dragons in the service of a neighboring
land's king, Adara and her beloved friend might be the only hope that
Adara's family and nation have to survive. But at what price?
Kay read: A BITE TO REMEMBER
by Lynsay Sands
Lynsay
Sands's A Bite to Remember is a part of her Argeneau vampire
series; supernatural romance stories. In this installment, vampire Vincent
Argeneau's company, which produces original Broadway plays throughout the
US and Canada, is being shut down through acts of vandalism and violence.
He asks his New York cousin for advice, and he sends some top private
investigators out to Vincent in California to both keep Vincent safe and
to discover who is vandalizing the company and why. Vincent (centuries old
and a bit old fashioned in a lot of ways) is shocked when the chief
detective turns out to be both a mortal and a beautiful (and very tough
and intelligent) woman. Sparks soon fly, while the violence towards the
company and Vincent quickly escalates.
Kay read: STRANGE CANDY by
Laurell K. Hamilton
Laurell K.
Hamilton's Strange Candy is a wonderful short story collection.
Particularly enjoyable were the haunting story The Edge of the Sea,
which tells of a merman who is a serial rapist and murderer, and the woman
who manages to stop him - and hilarious and very cute Lust of Cupids
which tells about how flocks of cupids (who can be bribed!!) fly about
hunting down single people above a certain age to force them to fall in
love! **Best
Short Story Collection read in 2006 **To
A Lust of Cupids,
Best Short Story read in 2006
Kay read: SNOW FLOWER AND THE
SECRET FAN by Lisa See
Lisa
See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan has a title that sounds like a
children's book, but it is an adult novel about the precious value of
friendship in the lives of Chinese women in the late 1800's. Two girls of
the Yao people of China are bound together in their childhoods as
laotong, the most emotionally intimate lifelong relationship possible
for their people. It is a formal and contractually bound relationship,
more important to a woman than her marriage, as her husband can bring home
concubines, but she will always be the most important person in her
friend's life, and her friend will always be the most important person in
hers. When your laotong comes for a visit, your husband vacates the
marriage bed for the length of her visit, so you can have that time
together! The women send messages back and forth in nu shu, a
secret written language known only to women. As the years go by, Lily and
Snow Flower pass these secret messages back and forth on a fan, sharing
and commemorating all of the important events of their lives. The greatest
crisis of their lives comes from a misunderstanding that threatens their
relationship.
Kay read: FRANKLIN AND WINSTON
by Jon Meacham
Jon Meacham
explores the inner workings of a friendship that helped save the world in
Franklin and Winston. Churchill and FDR were not only great leaders
for their countries in a time of crisis, but they shared a friendship and
a deep affection for each other, forged during the war years.
Kay read: THE MEMORY KEEPER'S
DAUGHTER by Kim Edwards
Kim
Edwards's novel The Memory Keeper's Daughter tells the story of
what horrendous secrets and lies can do to both an individual and to the
relationships with everyone he loves. In a freak snow storm in 1964, in
Lexington, Kentucky, a doctor ends up delivering his wife's twins in his
medical office when they cannot get to the hospital on the bad roads. He
is helped only by a nurse, who has long been secretly in love with him.
The first twin, the boy, is perfectly healthy. The second twin, the girl,
has Down's Syndrome. Dr. Henry gives the baby girl to the nurse and tells
her to take the baby to an institution near Louisville. When his wife
comes out from under the anesthesia, he tells her the second baby died at
birth. The nurse, Caroline, does take the baby to Louisville, but the
institution is a terrible place. She decides to keep Phoebe and raise her
as her own. the story tells of the twins growing to adulthood - and how
very different their family situations are and how that affects them as
they grow to adulthood.
Kay read: SMOKE AND MIRRORS by
Neil Gaiman
Neil
Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors is a collection of some of that highly
regarded fantasy writer's short stories and poems. I particularly enjoyed
a pair of fractured fairy tales in Troll Bridge and especially the
wonderful Snow, Glass, Apples.
**Honorable Mention for my
Best Short Story Collection read in 2006
Kay read: LORD JOHN AND THE
PRIVATE MATTER by Diana Gabaldon
Diana
Gabaldon's Lord John and the Private Matter is a mystery book set
in London in 1757. While it features a character from her Outlander
series, it is a stand alone book. On a lovely early summer day, Lord John
Grey is relieving himself at his gentleman's club in London. He glances
over at the gentleman using the chamber pot next to his, and sees
unmistakable and shocking proof that the man has a venereal disease.
Unfortunately, the man is set to wed Lord John's innocent young cousin in
a few short weeks. Lord John must find a way for the engagement to be
broken without any scandal sullying his cousin's reputation. Grey is a
high ranking officer in His Majesty's army; when a comrade-in-arms is
murdered in London in circumstances that indicate he might have been a
traitor, Lord John is charged by the Crown to head the investigation.
Strangely, the two quests seem to be coming together - and both trails
seem to lead into some of the strangest brothels in England.
Todd read: PRIDE AND
PREJUDICE by Jane Austen
Some psychologists
think Jane Austen had Asperger's Syndrome.
It's amazing how many AS traits Mr Darcy
exhibits. He's quiet, emotionally distant, can be rude, shows little care
or understanding of the emotions of others, is brutally honest, has an
extreme view of right and wrong, thinks in absolutes, if he does speak he
has a tendency to monologue, communicates better in writing, is disturbed
by his own emotions, will eavesdrop openly, will stare at Elizabeth
without caring how it affects her, has no understanding of the rules of
social interaction. And he's the hero.
I also think Charlotte is Jane
Austen in disguise, her view of herself. That's an intuitive response. I
have no clear evidence for it.
Joy read: KIPLING: A
READER edited by Edward Parone
Short stories chosen to be the best of Rudyard
Kipling's known and unknown shorts. The first half was stories set in
Colonial India. I wasn't able to identify with the British Colonial India
mentality, but I did enjoy
The
Mark of the Beast, in which a newby to India desecrates an Indian temple
and suffers an exotic curse as punishment.
In the second
half of the book we came back to Europe, and immediately read
The Bull That Thought, a powerful
description of a fighting bull, written with whimsy and glory.
**Most enjoyable Short Story I read in 2006
I
also thoroughly enjoyed
The House Surgeon,
a ghost story that looks more deeply into the ranges of human emotion than ghost
stories of today do.
"They"
delighted me with its gorgeous estate
and elusive children, until it brought me up short at the end without
satisfaction or understanding.
The Gardener
is astonishingly small for a story that
covers so much ground so movingly.
Then there was
Baa Baa, Black Sheep.
Utterly ghastly account of a little boy's childhood. He starts out
innocent and a bit full of himself, falls under the power of a vicious,
self-righteous woman, and comes out sneaky and terrified to the point of
attempting murder. I was appalled when I went back to the editor's
Foreword and read that this story was autobiographical.
Nowadays we almost take this kind of childhood in stride -- as long as it
is someone else's childhood -- but in Kipling's day readers must have
preferred to pretend this story was never written.
Kay read: GOD'S TERRORISTS by
Charles Allen
Charles
Allen's God's Terrorists traces the history of the modern Muslim
jihad movement from its origin in what is now Saudi Arabia in the 1700's.
Two branches of Wahhabism grew from one root - one that stayed in Arabia
and one that grew in the Indian subcontinent and was a near constant thorn
in the side of the British. Both strains thought they were the only true
religion, and thought that even Sunni and Shia branches of Muslims were
wrong, and called for jihad against all other peoples, mainstream Muslim
and other religions alike. Established branches of the Muslim religion
thought, in turn, that the Wahhabis were completely wrong, and heretics.
The two branches of Wahhabism reunited in Afghanistan in recent years to
produce both the Taliban and al-Queda.
Kay read: THE SHAPE SHIFTER by
Tony Hillerman
Tony
Hillerman's The Shape Shifter is the latest in his wonderful series
of mystery books set in the desert Southwest of the US, and feature
members of the Navajo tribal police force as his sleuths. Joe Leaphorn is
now retired from the police force. Someone from the old days contacts him
to tell him that a priceless - and cursed - historical Navajo rug has
turned up in Flagstaff. The rug had been thought destroyed when a craft
gallery had burned to the ground in unusual circumstances in New Mexico
many years before. The fire supposedly took the life of a drifter, who had
turned out to be wanted by the FBI on many counts of murder. Leaphorn's
friend begins to investigate how the rug came to Flagstaff, and then
vanishes. Leaphorn travels to Arizona from his home in New Mexico to
investigate what happened to his old friend, and finds a world of trouble.
Kay read: BIRDS OF A FEATHER
by Jacqueline Winspear
Jacqueline
Winspear's Birds of a Feather is the second of her Maisie Dobbs
mystery series. Maisie is hired by a wealthy man to find his daughter, who
has run away from home. It soon becomes clear that there is a lot more
going on, as some of the woman's friends are being killed. Did the woman
run away because she is afraid or because she is guilty? Who is murdering
these women (at least two of whom are leading exemplary lives), and why?
**Part of my
Favorite Historical Mystery Series read in 2006
Kay read: UNDER THE BANNER OF
HEAVEN by Jon Krakauer
Jon
Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven tackles religious extremism
and how religious extremists (in this case, fundamentalist Mormons who had
been excommunicated from the LDS church for their extreme and unacceptable
beliefs) can sometimes come to commit violence in the name of God (in this
case the cold blooded murder of a fine young woman and her innocent baby
because they thought that God told them to do it). While these two
brothers just happened to be fundamentalist Mormons (and their actions
were abhorred by Mormons who belong to the main church based in Salt Lake
City), even one of the murderers can see the similarities between himself
and the 9/11 terrorists in believing that they are killing for God and
following the instructions of the person they believe to be their prophet.
Chilling look at some pretty frightening people.
Kay read: DOMINION by Fred
Saberhagen
Fred
Saberhagen's Dominion was a very odd book. Dracula controls
Chicago. When some other dangerous immortals move into his territory
(Chicago and the northern Illinois countryside) to fight over a mystical
weapon of great power, Dracula takes exception.
Kay read: THIRTEEN MOONS by
Charles Fraser
Charles
Fraser's Thirteen Moons is set in the nineteenth century in the
Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. A young orphaned white boy is sent off
into the mountains into Cherokee country (then not a part of the US) to
run a trading post. He is eventually adopted by one of the chiefs, and
goes on to live a pretty interesting life as a lawyer, an advocate for the
Cherokee, a chief of the tribe, a Confederate officer, and a man haunted
by a passionate first love.
Kay read: A MIST OF PROPHECIES
by Steven Saylor
Steven
Saylor's A Mist of Prophecies is one of his Roma Sub Rosa
mystery series, set in ancient Rome. A girl called Cassandra and said to
be a prophetess, dies in the arms of Gordianus the Finder, claiming she
had been poisoned. Seven of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Rome
turn up to witness her cremation. One of them is probably the murderer -
but who and why? In a time when the fabric of Roman life was forever
changing, and when Caesar and Pompey the Great were fighting a civil war
in Greece, this was an interesting story about the intrigues of the
powerful women left at home and trying to forward the interests of their
husbands and families.
**Honorable Mention for my
Favorite Historical Mystery Novel read in 2006 **Honorable Mention for
part of my Favorite Historical Mystery Series read in 2006
Kay read: THE DUCHESS DIARIES
by Mia Ryan
The
Duchess Diaries
by Mia Ryan is a Regency romance that I could not resist, since my
nickname is Duchess. A young and spirited girl who would prefer outdoor
sports to dancing must go to London to find a rich husband to rescue her
family from genteel poverty. A diary from her beloved grandmother, who had
been a duchess, and written with her in mind, advises her in her quest.
Joy read: THE HEADMASTER'S
WIFE by Jane Haddam
The 20th
Gregor Demarkian
mystery. Mark's elite private school thinks he is constantly zoned out on
drugs. Mark knows he isn't. When his roommate hangs himself, the only
person Mark can think of to help him with the madness is his mother's
friend Gregor. Haddam's
characterization has
so much momentum I can even read her books when I'm exhausted.
Carla read: THE REIGN OF ARTHUR: FROM HISTORY TO LEGEND by Christopher Gidlow
Joy read: A STILLNESS IN
BETHLEHEM by Jane Haddam
The 7th
Gregor Demarkian
mystery. Gregor, Bennis, and Father Tibor try to vacation in Bethlehem,
Vermont, for the yearly Christmas pageant, but someone there is having too
many hunting accidents. Funny because of its human observation.
Review.
Joy read: BLOOD TRILLIUM by
Julian May
Part of the
Trillium series she wrote with Marion Zimmer Bradley and Andre
Norton. I found it slow and kind of claustrophobic. Most of the action was
inside the minds of the triplet sisters. I never did take to this group of
books.
Todd read: OLIVER TWIST by Charles Dickens
Joy read: SECOND SIGHT by
Amanda Quick
This birthday present was a quick way to a
relaxing afternoon. Quick/Krentz knows just what her readers like.
Joy read: MAJOR OPERATION
by James White
The 3rd novel in the James White
sci fi omnibus
that Kay just read. Dr Conroy's patient is the size of a subcontinent, and
with no concept of surgery -- or of communication! How do they keep the
necessary amputation from turning into a war? We meet fascinating new
beings like the "tools," which are directed by thought, and their planet's
disconcerting version of doctors.
Kay read: MY GREAT BIG FAT
SUPERNATURAL WEDDING
by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Charlaine Harris, L. A.
Banks, and Jim Butcher
An
anthology with stories involving weddings with supernatural elements. The
highlights (to me) were stories by Charlaine Harris and Jim Butcher. The
Jim Butcher story, while lacking a basic knowledge of Chicago geography,
made me laugh my head off.
Kay read: BEGINNING OPERATIONS
by James White
An omnibus of his
first three Sector General science fiction books. A lot of fun,
combining medical drama with mystery and space opera. Sector General is an
unimaginably huge space station which functions as a general hospital for
dozens and dozens of intelligent species, all of which need different
sorts of care and environments. Great stuff!
**Honorable Mention for
Favorite Science Fiction Series read in 2006
Kay read: THE CONSTANT
PRINCESS by Philippa Gregory
The latest of her
historical novels set in the Tudor courts of England. This one tells the
story of Katherine of Aragon, from her girlhood spent on the battlefields
of Spain to her upbringing by Moorish servants in the harem of the
Alhambra Palace, to her marriage to Arthur, the Prince of Wales, her
impoverished widowhood, and her second marriage to Arthur's spoiled and
selfish brother, Henry VIII. While Henry was in France, she personally led
troops against a Scottish invasion army. Katherine begins as arrogant and
ambitious, and has to realize some unpleasant truths about herself, and
her fabled parents (Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain) before she can become
likable.
Kay read: THE LADIES OF GRACE
ADIEU by Susanna Clarke
A short
story collection where most of the stories are set in the same magical
England as her award winning (and wonderful) novel Jonathan Strange and
Mr. Norrell. The stories are very charming, and a lot of fun.
**Honorable Mention for Best
Short Story Collection read in 2006
Kay read: ODD THOMAS by Dean
Koontz
A twenty year old
kid lives in a town in the California desert and works as a diner cook. He
has a wonderful girl friend and soul mate named Stormy. Unfortunately, he
sees ghosts and evil spirits, and that greatly complicates his life as he
tries to bring criminals to justice and to prevent tragedies. Odd is a
gentle and loving soul, and he is a fun character to read about.
**Honorable Mention for my
Favorite Horror Book read in 2006
Lois read: HYPERION by Dan
Simmons
First, you need to realize that you can't read
just
Hyperion, you have to read the
second book as well (The Fall of
Hyperion), because the first one
just drops you like a rock at the end, with no questions answered and
many, many mysteries pending. So you're looking at 900 pages of very dense
reading. I got about 2/3 of the way through just the first one in two
weeks, realized it would take another month to finish them both, weighed
my options, and ended up just skimming the rest.
The writing is excellent, the intellectual puzzles and classical
references (which abound) are superb, the action is gripping, the ending
of the second book provides logical answers for all questions, and wraps
up everything neatly and happily for those characters (maybe half) that
survived the horror, terror, and depression of the preceding 900 pages.
This pair of books is also way too long for anyone who works full
time, quite depressing most of the time, and not fun to read. There are
virtually no likeable characters. The only thing that kept me going for as
long as it did was the intellectual challenge. The author is obviously
"clinically" brilliant, but I did not enjoy the book(s).
Kay read: THE GREATEST STORY
EVER TOLD: THE DECLINE AND FALL OF TRUTH FROM 9-11 TO KATRINA by Frank
Rich
By
New York Times columnist Frank Rich. It was pretty damning towards the
Bush administration, and towards members of Congress of both parties to
let Bush get away with the lies he spun to start the Iraq war; and how
everything began to fall apart with the lies and cronyism and incompetence
that Katrina exposed.
Anyway, the author has the especially damning timeline of what the
administration knew as opposed to what the administration said online, if
anyone would like to read it.
http://www.frankrich.com
Kay read: THE JUDGEMENT OF
CAESAR by Steven Saylor
Another of Steven Saylor's Roman Sub Rosa mysteries, set in ancient
Alexandria, when Julius Caesar has to choose whether to support Cleopatra
or her brother Ptolemy in the Egyptian Civil War -while he himself still
wars with Pompey the Great in the Roman Civil War. Gordianus the Finder
ends up right in the middle of the action, as he brings his very sick wife
Bethesda back to Egypt, where she was born.
**Honorable Mention for part
of my Favorite Historical Mystery Series read in 2006
Kay read: ACCELERANDO by
Charles Stross
A book that
was nominated for the 2005 Hugo best novel, but I struggled with it. I
tend to prefer character driven stories, and this was not one. It was well
written, and those who like "cyberpunk" novels would probably like it. It
tells of the future evolution of mankind, brought about through
technology, and seen through the things that happen to three generations
of one very dysfunctional family.
Kay read: LEARNING THE WORLD
by Ken McLeod
An enjoyable
science fiction novel of First Contact, told from the points of view from
both the humans and the aliens. The contact makes both species learn again
the universe and their place in it. For whatever reason I enjoyed the
alien chapters more than the human chapters. This book was nominated for
the 2005 Hugo for best novel, and it was a fun book to read.
**Honorable Mention for my
Favorite Science Fiction read in 2006
Kay read: THIS SCEPTER'D
ISLE by Mercedes Lackey and Roberta Gellis
Mercedes
Lackey and Roberta Gellis co-wrote a very enjoyable story set in the court
of Henry VIII of England. The elves of Britain see a great vision where a
red haired baby sired by Henry will become a great monarch and lead
England to a Golden Age. The alternate vision is centered on a dark haired
pregnant queen who will bring the Inquisition and all of its misery to
Britain. The court of Light Elves, who feed from joy, send a pair of
protectors named Denorial Silverhair and his twin Aleniel Silverhair to
the bastard son of Henry, as Henry Fitzroy will do something of crucial
importance to bring that red haired baby to the throne (though the elves
have not been able to see what that will be). The Dark Elves, who feed off
of misery, send the twins (same father, different mother) Pasgen
Silverhair and Rhoslyn Silverhair to the court of Henry to make sure that
his daughter Mary will come to the throne. Plenty of excitement and court
politics - both human and elven - follow.
**Honorable Mention for
Favorite Fantasy read in 2006
Kay read: THE WIDOW OF THE
SOUTH by Robert Hicks Page
1,
2, 3, 4,
5,
6, 7,
8, 9,
10, 11,
12, 13
All cover art used at Spinoff Reviews is copyrighted by the
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the same. The Friends And Family Book Blog is hosted by Joy Calderwood.
Tells the
fictionalized story of a real life woman named Carrie McGavock, wife of a
plantation and slave owner who lives in Franklin, Tennessee. Following the
deaths of three of her children, Carrie sinks into a deep depression for
years. When the Confederates take over her home to use as a field hospital
during and after the bloody battle of Franklin, Carrie finds something to
live for in caring for the wounded. After the war, a local landowner
decides to plow up the field where thousands who died in the battle
(including some of "her" boys) are shallowly buried, so Carrie decides to
bring the dead home and bury them in her own yard so she can continue to
take care of them. Interesting story that has been largely forgotten in
the time since the Civil War.