and another push (after getting a snack and a drink)

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith is the eighth book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency mystery series. How I love this series of books, with their warmth and gentle humor. The recurring characters all have their little flaws, but they are all people you would like to have as friends. Precious Ramotswe owns and operates a detective agency in the capital city of Botswana. While she is not a college educated woman, she has great wisdom, and has become a detective to help people with their problems. And there is a huge problem this time - a series of mysterious deaths in the hospital in Mochudi.

Variations on the Fantasy Tradition - Stephen R. Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by W. A. Senior is an in-depth look at the fantasy classic. I am a long time fan of the writings of Donaldson, and this book gave me a lot of food for thought. In fact, I might reread certain sections soon, as Donaldson's next book is due out next month...

Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann, translated by Anthea Bell, is a very different mystery story. When their shepherd is apparently murdered, his flock of sheep decide to solve the mystery and bring the criminal to justice. (The sheep can talk to each other, but not to humans). Swann does a good job of giving distinct characters to the various sheep. She also does a great job in showing the world through the other senses other than vision - particularly taste. The sheep - led by the intelligent Miss Maple, the huge young ram Mopple the Whale, who remembers things for the flock, and the badass black ram Othello - go on sleuthing missions in the town, and do their best to bring about justice over the death of their shepherd. Very different, and very enjoyable!

Troy Shield of Thunder by David Gemmell is the second book in his Troy trilogy, a masterpiece of historical fiction and historical fantasy.Tragically, the author died before completing the third books, which has been finished by his widow in the time since he passed. Gemmell did his research - he places Troy in its proper place, as revealed by the Imperial Hittite archives and the latest archaeological research, as its place as the capital of an important Hittite allied state. He also places it in its place as an important trading hub in the greater Mediterranean world - a world dominated by two super powers (the Hittites and Egypt) with some new-comer barbarian pirates trying to grab some wealth and power  - who would someday be called Greeks. In this, the second book of the trilogy, tensions are heating up between the Trojans and the Mykenes (Greeks). Agamemnon is looking for any excuse to go to war. All of the main players in the war to be travel to Troy for the wedding of Andromache and Hector. It will only take one match to explode the powder keg...

Baltimore or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden is a blood chilling horror story that begins on a frozen battle field in the hell known as World War 1. Lord Baltimore, a British captain, leads his men into an ambush, and he is the only survivor. Then the vampires some to feed on the human carrion. Baltimore manages to awaken the wrath of their leader. He not only gains a hellish enemy, this meeting will unleash a plague that will decimate Europe. In the end, only Baltimore will stand between the ultimate evil and mankind. It is almost refreshing running into vampies that are evil rather than sexy in this day and age. This book made my run blood cold, and is even illustrated by creepy wood prints.

Tags: Alexander McCall Smith, the Good Husband of Zebra Drive, No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, W. A. Senior, Variations of the Fantasy Tradition: Stephen R. Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Leonie Swann, Three Bags Full, David Gemmell, Troy Shield of Thunder, Troy Trilogy, Baltimore or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire, Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden

another push to get to the bottom of the "read" stack

A Crazy Little Thing Called Death by Nancy Martin is the sixth novel in the Blackbird Sisters Mysteries. The Blackbird family is an old one, and fairly high up in Philadelphia High Society. But the family has been cursed since colonial times - each of the family's daughters will love bad boys and become young widows. The three daughters of this generation of the Blackbird family have all fallen under the curse - they are all attracted to bad boys, and are all young and beautiful widows. They are also impoverished, as their parents spent off the family fortune and fled overseas, leaving he girls with multimillion dollar tax bills and nothing to pay them with. The sensible and sensitive red headed sister, Nora has agreed to marry her Mafia prince. Eldest sister, the blonde earth mother Libby, wants to plan the wedding of Nora's dreams, but is only being a pain. And dark haired sister, the horse crazy and athletic Emma, has started taking strange phone calls from men at all hours, leading her sisters to wonder if she has turned to the world's oldest profession to make ends meet. In the midst of all of this family madness, a movie star from a famous Philly society family vanishes and is declared dead. She leaves Nora a very interesting bequest. And her family makes the Blackbirds look normal. Did they kill her? Where might she possibly be - either dead OR alive?

Undead and Uneasy by Mary Janice Davidson is the seventh novel in her Queen Betsy series about vampires in the Twin Cities. Betsy Taylor, beautiful blonde former model, and lover of designer shoes, is the Queen of the vampires. She is all set to marry Eric Sinclair, even though Eric believes them to already be married. But as the wedding evening comes ever closer, one by one, Betsy's entourage of friends and family members seems to vanish. And all of a sudden, for the first time, since becoming a vampire, Betsy is alone and having to take care of matters with her own two undead hands.

I have always enjoyed the good natured books about Queen Betsy, who is rather silly and vain, but very devoted to her friends, and who always tries to do the right thing. This one was more serious than the others, so there are fewer laughs. But it was good seeing Betsy finally taking some responsibility and acting like a Queen.

The Lark's Lament by Alan Gordon is the sixth book in the wonderful Fool's Guild Mystery series. The premise behind the series - that the fools, jesters, and troubadours of Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages were all part of a Guild that worked behind the scenes to promote peace - is a wonderful one. Gordon continues the story of one Shakespeare play in one of the novels, and tells the "real" story behind another play in a different novel. So the books are wonderfully intelligent, as well as being filled with great banter and huge amounts of interesting history. In this particular novel, our favorite family of fools (Theo, Claudia, their baby Portia, and their apprentice Helga) are traveling around the south of France in the year 1204. They have been sent to find a former troubadour, now abbot, and ask him to intervene on behalf of the Guild with the Pope, who is cracking down on the Guild. The very night they reach the abbot's monastery, a murder occurs. The abbot tells them to find the killer if they want his help. Finding clues in old songs, they compete with the killer/s to find the people who can help them solve the mystery.

Tags: Nancy Martin, A Crazy Little Thing Called Death, Blackbird Sisters Mysteries, Mary Janice Davisdon, Undead and Uneasy, Queen Betsy series, Alan Gordon, The Lark's Lament, Fool's Guild Mysteries

rough weekend, death of fantasy writer Robert Jordan

Well, on last Friday the weather cleared up before game time, and it was a gorgeous autumn afternoon. So Dan came home and we headed to Riverview together.

And we could not find the soccer field.

The directions at our high school's web site took us directly to Riverview High School - but the game was not held there.

We drove around Riverview for over an hour, and could never find the game.

This really sucked, as it is the second time in recent weeks this has happened - the first being St. Mary's Catholic Central in Monroe. The directions posted at our high school's web site in both cases took us to the opposing high school, but the game was not held there, or anywhere near it.

When we asked Steven he said that the Riverview game had been held in a park "deep in a neighborhood", nowhere near the high school.

And it is not like either Monroe or Riverview is a short drive from the Ann Arbor area, either.

Dan and I were both pretty upset both times.

So the weekend was off to a bad start, and could have been better.

And then this morning I am checking the main discussion board I go to, and find out the bad news that fantasy writer Robert Jordan had passed on - and I found out the news from Mr. Grinch. Since that man (Mr. Grinch) has told me innumerable lies (both from commission and omission) I was hoping it was yet another lie from a completely untrustworthy person. But, after checking around the Internet, it turned out to be true. <sigh>

I know that he (Robert Jordan) had been very ill, and getting experimental treatments from the Mayo Clinic. But he had been so upbeat and determined to beat his very serious and painful medical condition, that this was still an ugly shock. And it has to be tragic and horribly painful for his wife and family and personal friends.

When the Wheel turns, may his next life be filled with happiness and love - and may this former war hero have a very long and peaceful life, with plenty of time to create things! May none of his stories be left unfinished...

Tags: Robert Jordan's death

a cold and chilly afternoon

Dan will be coming home in an hour or so - we were planning on going to Riverview to watch Steven play soccer. But man, as the day has been going on, it has been getting cloudier and cloudier and chillier and chillier. It is a little before 3 PM and I have to have the lights on, as it is so dark and cloudy. I just have this feeling that we will drive all the way to Riverview (it is Downriver, on the Detroit River) and have to turn right around and come home because the game will be stormed out. It looks pretty threatening out there!

next batch of books

There will still be a pile left when I get this batch typed up - but it is getting nearly down to manageable proportions now! Maybe I will be done early next week, and can just type up brief descriptions of books as I read them, from that point of time onwards.

Long Time Listener, First Time Werewolf by Carrie Vaughn is an omnibus with her three Kitty novels (Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Kitty Goes to Washington,  and Kitty Takes a Holiday) along with the short story called "Kitty and the Band".

Kitty Norville is a pretty little twenty-something girl, who is a fairly recent college graduate, a midnight shift radio DJ, and a werewolf. She was attacked in recent years, and is still getting used to her new life and all of its implications. Which is cool - because, as she learns about her new life, we, the readers, can learn right along with her. But the main thing about Kitty is that she is a nice girl - whether she is human or wolf. There is a basic decency to Kitty, and that makes the books well worth reading, beyond the funness of the plot.

I have been reading a lot of crappy paranormal fantasy/horror type stuff lately - so thank God for authors like Vaughn, Armstrong, and Briggs - who make the genre fun and worth reading!

False Colours by Georgette Heyer is a Regency romance centered around a man named Christopher (Kit) Fancot. Kit is the younger twin, but the more responsible one. Everyone wishes that he, not his older twin brother, was the heir to the family title and fortune. But the birth order cannot be changed, so Kit becomes a junior diplomat abroad while his brother stays at home and raises trouble. When Kit comes home on leave and discovers that his brother has mysteriously vanished on the eve of announcing his engagement to a serious young lady, Kit feels forced to take his place (with and by the strong encouragement of his very irresponsible beauty of a mother). When the missing twin does not immediately return, Kit's life becomes very messy.

Bite Me If You Can by Lynsay Sands is a chick lit little novel about the Argeneau vampire family. Most of the books in this series are rather alike - lonely vampire meets the boy/girl of her/his dreams, they fall in love, and the lover eventually becomes one of the family. This book is no different. I will give the author a lot of credit, though, in that she usually keeps things light and fun, in a genre that sometimes takes itself much too seriously (coughLaurellKHamiltoncough) (coughAnnRicecough). And she tries to make a logical scientific explanation for vampirism. You have to give her credit for trying to do that!

Mouse Guard Fall 1152 by David Petersen is one of the most beautiful graphic novels I have ever encountered. I am in love with the artwork in this lovely book! Set back in the European Middle Ages, mice go about having the normal careers and lives you would expect humans to have in that time period. But mice are vulnerable little creatures, so they have the Mouse Guard to protect them. The Guard not only protects towns, but also travelers on their journeys, etc. Three of the Mouse Guard's bravest in Lieam, Saxon, and Kenzie discover a traitorous plot and all sorts of excitement follows...

Tags: Carrie Vaughn, Long-Time Listener First Time Werewolf, Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Kitty Goes to Washington, Kitty Takes a Holiday, Kitty and the Band, Kitty novels, werewolf stories, fantasy books, Georgette Heyer, False Colours, Regency romances, historical fiction, Lynsay Sands, Bite Me if You Can, vampire romance, Argeneau vampire series, Mouse Guard Fall 1152, David Peterson, beautiful graphic novels

Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns

I loved The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, but I think that I love this story even more.

It follows the lives of two Afghan women through decades of warfare and turmoil in that country. Each of them suffers horrible abuse and pain. And it shows how, through their unlikely friendship - the love (platonic!) that they learn to feel for each other helps them be prepared to face anything.

Mariam is the bastard daughter of a rich businessman. While still young and virginal, she is married off to a creepy man more than old enough to be her father.

Laila is the orphaned daughter of a middle class household. She has a choice to marry the creepy neighbor old enough to be her grandfather or sell her body on the streets after her family is killed.

The two - with Mariam old enough to be Laila's mother - end up as cowives to a cruel and horribly abusive man. The essential goodness of both women is shown in that they learn to love each other and the children very deeply. These women would die for each other or for the children of the family.

While the plight of Afghan women and children is heart and gut wrenching - the beauty and strength and goodness of those women shines through in this - at times difficult to read - but very moving story.

Tags: Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns

Michael Flynn's Eifelheim

This is another of this year's Hugo nominated novels, and one that I thought was the best of the lot (though it pains me a bit to say that, as I love the Novik book so much)!

It interweaves two storylines - one set in the near future, and the other in Germany in 1348.

The present/near future storyline involves some advanced graduate students. Tom studies history, and finds an anomaly in Germany. A village was never resettled after the Black Death despite its idyllic location. By every standard of history, this town should have been rebuilt - which it has never been through all of the centuries since. What in the blazes is so special about Eifelheim? Tom and others begin an intensive study of any and all records that they can find to solve the mystery.

The other storyline tells of a kind priest named Father Dietrich, and how he takes in a frightened band of pilgrims after their starship crashes on Earth back in 1348. Needless to say, there are all sorts of problems, as the two species are different physically, mentally, emotionally, culturally, technologically, etc.

Two cool stories woven together - and a wonderful underlying message underneath all of the grimness.

No matter how deep the gulfs of distance, space, time, and misunderstanding - the light of trust, faith, friendship, love, and faith will shine forth forever.

Tags: Michael Flynn, Eifelheim, great science fiction novels