Carpe Jugulum (1998) Terry Pratchett

I’m not quite sure what it is, but I found this book disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, there were places where I laughed out loud–it just seemed like those places were farther apart than usual.

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Jingo (1997) Terry Pratchett

What surprised me most about this book was that it was written in 1997.

A new island has risen between Ankh Morpork and Klatch, and war seems to be the only way to determine who really owns the island.

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The Hounds of the Mórrigan (1985) Pat O’Shea

I really like this book.

I can’t remember precisely when I bought it, or precisely when I read it for the first time, but I do remember that it rekindled my love of folktales and folklore.

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While were on the subject of books, I signed up for the Amazon Associates club, which means that if you click on any of the book images or links (in the book portion of the site), they’ll take you to Amazon, and if you buy that book, I’ll get a few pennies towards an Amazon gift certificate. I don’t yet have links for everything, but I’m getting there.

The King’s Peace (2000) and The King’s Name (2001) by Jo Walton

In actuality, there are really three books in two. The first book, The King’s Peace is actually two books, “The King’s Peace” and “The Kings Law” which are just a little shorter than the second book, The King’s Name.

The tale is a history of a world that is similar to, but not exactly, the British Isles, so there is a sense of familiarity, without actually being something real.

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A Stitch in Time (2000) Andrew J. Robinson

Okay, before you say anything, I admit it, this is a Star Trek book. And I don’t even have the excuse of it being a movie novelization.

All I can say is that Garak is my absolute favorite DS9 character, and I felt that they never did as much with him as they could–everything you learned just left you with more questions. So when I read that Andrew Robinson, the actor who had played Garak, wrote a book telling the backstory he had created for Garak… well, I’m a sucker.

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Good Omens (1990) Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Good Omens is one of my all time favorite books, and one that I’d take with me to be stranded on a desert island, because it’s funny.

Really funny.

With lots of passages that make me giggle, and even laugh out loud, not just when I read them, but even when I go back and think about them later.

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I don’t have any need for this word, but a friend’s older relative used the term, and we wanted to know what it meant.

grass widow

The usual current sense of grass widow is ‘a woman who is separated, divorced, or lives apart from her husband’. The other sense found in current use is ‘a married woman whose husband is frequently apart from her for short periods of time, as on business or to pursue a hobby’.

Historically, there are two senses that are now archaic, obsolete, or dialectal: ‘an abandoned mistress’ and ‘a woman who has borne an illegitimate child’.

More on the etymology at the Mavens’ Word of the Day website.

So, as is probably obvious, I love to read. I come by it honestly, as everyone in my family loves to read, although I don’t think my brother reads as much as everyone else does. (Possibly because he has a life. But that’s neither here nor there.)

But the person who I most take after may be my grandmother, who also loves to read, but due to the circumstances of being 87, doesn’t get to the library much. So whenever I visit I take down books for her to borrow, so that she has something to read when they can’t get to the library.

The problem is that she’s now gone through ALL my mysteries. I have a handful of books I’m taking down next trip, but I’m pretty certain that she’s already read them. (Last year she reread JA Jance’s JP Beaumont series, because she wasn’t certain at first if she’d read them.)

She likes everything from Agatha Christie to Robert Parker to Anne Perry to Peter Tremayne (She really liked Peter Tremayne and she loves Anne Perry).

So… I need some recommendations for good mysteries. You can look at the complete list of my mysteries, to see what she’s gone through in my library. It would be better if I can find the books used, since she gets suspicious if I bring up new books, but I did get her several Laura Lippman books, which she things are great (I’m just waiting for another occasion to get her more. I can’t just send her the books for no reason, because then she gets mad I’m spending money on her.)

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

The only word better than sashay is saunter.

sashay sash-AY verb
1 : to make the sliding dance step called chasse
2 a : walk, glide, go *b : to strut or move about in an
ostentatious or conspicuous manner c : to proceed or move in a
diagonal or sideways manner

saunter ‘son-t&r, ‘sän- intransitive verb
Etymology: probably from Middle English santren to muse
: to walk about in an idle or leisurely manner : STROLL

From Merriam-Websters on-line

Freedom & Necessity (1997) Steven Brust and Emma Bull

Delving back into Brust section of my bookshelves, I came back with Freedom and Necessity, a book that I remember as complicated, although good. And since I remembered nothing of the plot, I figured it was a good candidate for re-reading.

I have to admit that as much as I like this novel, reading it makes me feel stupid.

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The Phoenix Guards (1991) & Five Hundred Years After (1994) Steven Brust

Sometimes you just need to read a book that you know is going to make you happy. When those times come upon me, I frequently read Steven Brust.

The Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years After are two of the ‘Khaavren Romances’ centered around Khaavren the Tiassa, and written in the style of Alexandre Dumas.

(S)omeone once asked, in all seriousness, which was the best translation of Dumas’ The Three Musketeers into English. The two fastest answers she got were “Learn French, as nobody’s managed to make a translation that’s half as good as the original”, and “The Phoenix Guards.”

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A rather ecclectic collection of books that I’ve finished recently, but hadn’t gotten around to posting.

The Ethics of Star Trek Judith Barad with Ed Robertson

This book was definitely a disappointment. I’ve read The Physics of Star Trek and The Metaphysics of Star Trek both of which I found interesting. Perhaps because of this I had high hopes for this book. I was, unfortunately, disappointed.

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Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis

I realized that I’d actually finished this book several months ago, but managed to forget that I had done so. Take that as you will.

Mere Christianity puts forth some interesting arguments, but I find that although they may have been convincing at the time C.C. Lewis wrote them, I found them less so, in the 21st century.

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An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life The Dalai Lama

Unlike the previous book I read by the Dalai Lama, this book only took me about nine months to read. They’re not long books, I just tend to set them aside for something else, and then have to go back an re-read portions to get caught up again.

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(If I say “in my copious spare time”, can we all agree that it should be read as if someone had actually invented the sarcasm mark as a unit of punctuation, and that “in my copious spare time” can be assumed to be inside sarcasm marks?)

The Initiate Brother (1991) Gatherer of Clouds (1992) Sean Russell

I love to re-read books. There is something about recapturing the joy they gave me the first time, that allows me to pick up some books again and again. But sometimes, time passes, and other books are read, until all that remains is the memory of enjoyment–when I go back to read a book, an occasional passage is familiar, but for the most part it is as if I am reading the book for the first time.

And that is an even bigger joy.

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Magician: Apprentice (1982), Magician: Master (1982)
Raymond E. Feist

I wanted something that I’d read before as my vacation wound down. For some reason, this book wasn’t as I remembered it. Not that it wasn’t good, only that it wasn’t what I wanted at the time.

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Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword And Sorceress XXI edited by Diana L. Paxson

I wasn’t sure that I was going to get the 21st edition of Sword And Sorceress. MZB died, and so I wasn’t certain whether the books were going to be continued because they were a quality anthology, or because they were looking to sell on her name.

I’m pleased to say it was the former. Diana L. Paxson, who was chosen as the as the editor, is not only an author I like, but has also edited several anthologies that I have read and enjoyed.

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