rabbitprincess travels through time and space in 2018 - part 3

Welcome to Part 3 of my travels in time and space in 2018. My categories are named after the titles of the episodes that make up Series 10 (Peter Capaldi's last season) of Doctor Who.



The Pilot - general fiction
Smile - graphic novels etc.
Thin Ice - history non-fiction
Knock Knock - audiobooks and mysteries
Oxygen - plays
Extremis - français
The Pyramid at the End of the World - history fiction
The Lie of the Land - non-fiction
Empress of Mars - SFF
The Eaters of Light - Scotland, Ireland, Wales (Celtic cultures)
World Enough and Time - rereads
The Doctor Falls - group reads

ROOT ticker:




The 2018 Pool:



The BingoDOG:

The Pilot - General fiction

The Pilot is a soft reboot of the series, and as such is a good episode for newcomers to Who. Bill is curious about time travel but at the same time is genre-savvy, so she's not coming into this adventure cold.

This episode contains the Doctor running "like a penguin with his arse on fire" (as described by Bill).

1. Occupied City, by David Peace
2. Those Who Walk Away, by Patricia Highsmith
3. The Power, by Naomi Alderman
4. Campbell's Kingdom, by Hammond Innes
5. The Birds and Other Stories, by Daphne du Maurier
6. Rabbit Cake, by Annie Hartnett
7. Marazan, by Nevil Shute
8. Return of the Sphinx, by Hugh MacLennan
9. The Breaking Point: Short Stories, by Daphne du Maurier
10. The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky (translated by Constance Garnett)
11. The Human Factor, by Graham Greene
12. Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling
13. The Man in the Yellow Raft, by C.S. Forester
14. The Commitments, by Roddy Doyle
15. The Prisoner of Zenda, by Anthony Hope
16. The Book of Dragons, by E. Nesbit
17. Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy

Smile - Graphic novels, short story collections, essays... all the little weird books

This episode features the Emojibots, which are more menacing than they sound. It also features a prize-winning skeptical emoji that I would like to just wear over my face all the time.

1. Heart and Brain: Body Language, by The Awkward Yeti
2. Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman
3. Women & Power: A Manifesto, by Mary Beard
4. Kipling: A Selection of His Stories and Poems Volume 1, by Rudyard Kipling
5. You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack, by Tom Gauld
6. The Hare Book, by Jane Russ
7. Baking with Kafka, by Tom Gauld
8. Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich, by Stephen Leacock
9. In the Shadow of Agatha Christie, ed. Leslie S. Klinger
10. Heart and Brain: Gut Instincts, by The Awkward Yeti
11. The Thick of It: The Missing DoSAC Files, by Armando Iannucci et al.
12. Mythos, by Stephen Fry
13. The Death of Stalin, by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin
14. Crimson Snow: Winter Mysteries, by Martin Edwards
15. Postcards from the Boys, by Ringo Starr
16. Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World, by Pénélope Bagieu
17. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, by David Hume
18. Dumb: Living Without a Voice, by Georgia Webber
19. How Do We Look: The Body, The Divine, and the Question of Civilization, by Mary Beard
20. The Little Book of Feminist Saints, by Julia Pierpont and Manjit Thapp
21. Does it Fart?: The Definitive Field Guide to Animal Flatulence, by Nick Caruso and Dani Rabiotti

Thin Ice - historical non-fiction

The Doctor and Bill visit the Frost Fair of 1814. Love this one!

1. Curse of the Narrows: The Halifax Explosion 1917, by Laura M. MacDonald
2. Why Spencer Perceval Had to Die: The Assassination of a British Prime Minister, by Andro Linklater
3. The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the World of Grisly Victorian Medicine, by Lindsey Fitzharris
4. The World of Poldark, by Emma Marriott
5. The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship that Shaped Modern Thought, by Dennis C. Rasmussen
6. Collecting the World: Hans Sloane and the Origins of the British Museum, by James Delbourgo
7. Bedlam: London and Its Mad, by Catharine Arnold
8. I Was a Spy!: the classic account of behind-the-lines espionage in the First World War, by Marthe McKenna
9. John Knox, by Jane Dawson
10. Elizabeth I and Her Circle, by Susan Doran
11. Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World's Most Famous Detective Writer, by Margalit Fox
12. Fly Girls: How Five Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History, by Keith O'Brien
13. The Dam Busters, by Paul Brickhill
14. A Bridge Too Far, by Cornelius Ryan
15. 1599: A Year in the Life of Shakespeare, by James Shapiro

Knock Knock - Audiobooks and mysteries not being read for the MysteryCAT

This episode features David Suchet (POIROT!) as a mysterious figure called the Landlord. The BBC produced a special binaural soundtrack for this episode to maximize the creepiness factor of the creaky old house that plays a key role in the episode.

Audiobooks
1. The Diary of River Song, Series 1 (Big Finish audio drama)
2. At Home: A Short History of Private Life, by Bill Bryson (read by Bill Bryson)
3. The Diary of River Song, Series 2 (Big Finish audio drama)
4. The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene (read by Colin Firth)
5. Doctor Who: Classic Doctors, New Monsters Vol. 1 (Big Finish audio drama)
6. Doctor Who: The First Doctor Adventures, Volume 1 (Big Finish audio drama)
7. Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, by Alan Alda (read by Alan Alda)
8. Cyberman 1.1: Scorpius, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
9. Cyberman 1.2: Fear, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
10. Cyberman 1.3: Conversion, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
11. Cyberman 1.4: Telos, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
12. Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth, by Frank Cottrell Boyce (read by Peter Capaldi)

Mysteries not being read for the MysteryCAT

1. The Dead House, by Harry Bingham
2. The Shadow District, by Arnaldur Indridason (translated by Victoria Cribb)
3. Beau Death, by Peter Lovesey
4. Blood on the Tongue, by Stephen Booth
5. Someone to Watch Over Me, by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (translated by Philip Roughton)
6. The Incredible Crime, by Lois Austen-Leigh
7. Death on the Riviera, by John Bude
8. Somebody at the Door, by Raymond Postgate
9. Dead Lagoon, by Michael Dibdin
10. Nightblind, by Ragnar Jónasson (translated by Quentin Bates)
11. The Killing Bay, by Chris Ould
12. Devil in a Blue Dress, by Walter Mosley
13. The Silence of the Sea, by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (translated by Victoria Cribb)
14. Into Oblivion, by Arnaldur Indriðason (translated by Victoria Cribb)
15. The Word is Murder, by Anthony Horowitz
16. Bats in the Belfry, by E.C.R. Lorac
17. The Shadow Killer, by Arnaldur Indridason (translated by Victoria Cribb)
18. The Deepest Grave, by Harry Bingham
19. Death-Watch, by John Dickson Carr
20. Glass Houses, by Louise Penny
21. Seventy-Seven Clocks, by Christopher Fowler (Overdrive)

Oxygen - plays

This was the first episode I saw after meeting Peter (it aired that very night)...high stakes, great social commentary, and an emotional depth made even deeper by the fact that I had seen Peter in actual person. So it makes sense as the category where I put my plays (which are often best experienced in a live theatre setting).

1. The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, by Robert Chafe
2. Cause Célèbre, by Terence Rattigan
3. Henry V, by William Shakespeare
4. The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster

Extremis - livres en français; books about language, translation, writing, and books

This episode features the Pope, somehow speaking Italian without the benefit of the Tardis interpreting for him. I chose this for my French category because of the multiple languages used in the episode and the translation problem that crops up.

Livres en français
1. L'Affaire Saint-Fiacre, by Georges Simenon
2. Du bon usage des étoiles, by Dominique Fortier
3. Pilote de guerre, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Books about language, translation, writing, and books
1. Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing, by Matthew G. Kirschenbaum
2. Never Use Futura, by Douglas Thomas
3. The Subversive Copy Editor, by Carol Fisher Saller
4. The Illustrated Dust Jacket, 1920-1970, by Martin Salisbury
5. What Editors Do: The Art, Craft, and Business of Book Editing, ed. Peter Ginna
6. Ghost of the Hardy Boys, by Leslie McFarlane
7. Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, by Mary Norris
8. The Word Detective: Searching for the Meaning of It All at the Oxford English Dictionary, by John Simpson
9. Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her, by Melanie Rehak
10. The Story of English in 100 Words, by David Crystal

The Pyramid at the End of the World - historical fiction

There's a 5000-year-old pyramid in the desert. But it wasn't there yesterday. Who put it there, and why?

Hopefully my historical fiction reads in this category will take fewer liberties ;)

1. Girl Waits with Gun, by Amy Stewart
2. The North Water, by Ian McGuire
3. The Miller's Dance, by Winston Graham
4. The Loving Cup, by Winston Graham
5. Kenilworth, by Sir Walter Scott
6. The Heaven Tree, by Edith Pargeter
7. Lady Cop Makes Trouble, by Amy Stewart
8. The Green Man, by Kate Sedley
9. The Twisted Sword, by Winston Graham
10. Bella Poldark, by Winston Graham
11. Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions, by Amy Stewart
12. 47 Sorrows, by Janet Kellough
13. Miss Kopp Just Won't Quit, by Amy Stewart

The Lie of the Land - general non-fiction

This episode has some excellent commentary on truth and the ability to distinguish fake news from real. Hoping my non-fiction reads will teach me some truths and help me fill gaps in my knowledge that will in turn help me think more critically.

1. Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Music and the Sixties, by Ian MacDonald
2. Have Not Been the Same: The CanRock Renaissance 1985-1995, by Michael Barclay, Ian A.D. Jack, and Jason Schneider (10th anniversary edition)
3. Usque Ad Mare: A History of the Canadian Coast Guard and Marine Services, by Thomas E. Appleton
4. Game Change: The Life and Death of Steve Montador, Brain Injuries, and the Future of the Game, by Ken Dryden
5. The Life of a Scilly Sergeant, by Colin Taylor
6. Timekeepers: How the World Became Obsessed with Time, by Simon Garfield
7. Cringeworthy: A Theory of Awkwardness, by Melissa Dahl
8. The Never-Ending Present: The Story of Gord Downie and The Tragically Hip, by Michael Barclay
9. Islander: A Journey Around Our Archipelago, by Patrick Barkham
10. Oceans: A Very Short Introduction, by Dorrik Stow
11. Original Highways: Travelling the Great Rivers of Canada, by Roy MacGregor
12. The Happy Brain: The Science of Where Happiness Comes From, and Why, by Dean Burnett
13. Meltdown: Why Catastrophic Failure Is All Around Us and What We Can Do about It, by Chris Clearfield and András Tilcsik
14. Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey Through the World's Strangest Brains, by Helen Thomson
15. Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro, by Rachel Slade
16. How to Be Champion, by Sarah Millican
17. Human Errors: Pointless Bones, Runaway Nerves, and Other Human Defects, by Nathan H. Lents
18. The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World, by Simon Winchester

The Empress of Mars - SFF

The perfect SFF title. This episode features the Ice Warriors meeting British soldiers from the age of empire. The soldiers look like the ones in the Michael Caine movie Zulu.

1. The Diary of River Song, Series 1 (Big Finish audio drama)
2. Doctor Who: Sting of the Zygons, by Stephen Cole
3. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
4. Doctor Who: The Resurrection Casket, by Justin Richards
5. The Diary of River Song, Series 2 (Big Finish audio drama)
6. Doctor Who: The Slitheen Excursion, by Simon Guerrier
7. Doctor Who: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe, by George Mann et al.
8. Doctor Who: Classic Doctors, New Monsters, Vol. 1 (Big Finish audio drama)
9. Doctor Who: Death to the Daleks, by Terrance Dicks
10. Doctor Who: The Krillitane Storm, by Christopher Cooper
11. The Hanging Tree, by Ben Aaronovitch
12. Doctor Who: The First Doctor Adventures, Volume 1 (Big Finish audio drama)
13. Doctor Who and the Giant Robot, by Terrance Dicks
14. Who's There: The Life and Career of William Hartnell, by Jessica Carney
15. The Eyeless, by Lance Parkin
16. Castrovalva, by Christopher H. Bidmead
17. Logopolis, by Christopher H. Bidmead
18. Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie
19. Cyberman 1.1 Scorpius, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
20. Cyberman 1.2 Fear, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
21. Cyberman 1.3: Conversion, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
22. Cyberman 1.4: Telos, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
23. The Silent Stars Go By, by Dan Abnett
24. The Rose and the Ring, by William Makepeace Thackeray

The Eaters of Light - Scotland, Wales, Ireland, other Celtic cultures

This episode is set in Scotland at the time of the Ninth Legion and features a Pictish people (either Picts or precursors), making it a good excuse to dig out books related to Scotland...and other areas of Celtic culture.

1. The Last Highlander: Scotland's Most Notorious Clan-Chief, Rebel, and Double Agent, by Sarah Fraser
2. Arthurian Romances, by Chrétien de Troyes (reread)
3. Mortal Causes, by Ian Rankin
4. His Bloody Project, by Graeme Macrae Burnet
5. A History of Ancient Britain, by Neil Oliver
6. Keep the Midnight Out, by Alex Gray
7. Irish Fairy and Folk Tales, ed. W.B. Yeats
8. Bitter Water, by Gordon Ferris
9. Truth Dare Kill, by Gordon Ferris
10. The Diary of a Bookseller, by Shaun Bythell
11. The Prince Who Would be King: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart, by Sarah Fraser
12. The Debatable Land: The Lost World Between Scotland and England, by Graham Robb
13. Witness the Dead, by Craig Robertson
14. White Nights, by Ann Cleeves
15. The Quaker: A Duncan McCormack Novel, by Liam McIlvanney
16. Mary Queen of Scots, by Antonia Fraser
17. Insurrection, by Robyn Young
18. Portrait of the Clyde, by Jack House
19. The Disorderly Knights, by Dorothy Dunnett
20. Red Bones, by Ann Cleeves

Ideas:
✔ The Disorderly Knights, by Dorothy Dunnett
Nigel Tranter - MacGregor's Gathering
✔ A History of Ancient Britain, by Neil Oliver
✔ Ian Rankin
Denise Mina
Christopher Brookmyre
Val McDermid
Alistair MacLean
Walter Scott - Kenilworth - will put this title in general hist-fic because it's more about England than Scotland...
✔ Craig Robertson - Witness the Dead

World Enough and Time - rereads

This is an amazing episode, bringing back a whole bunch of things. And the title works really well for a rereads category. Had I but world enough and time, I'd do a hell of a lot more rereading.

1. Arthurian Romances, by Chrétien de Troyes
2. Emma, by Jane Austen
3. The Complete Father Brown, by G.K. Chesterton
4. The Honourable Schoolboy, by John le Carré
5. Speak Ill of the Dead, by Mary Jane Maffini
6. Mrs. Pollifax Pursued, by Dorothy Gilman
7. McNally's Chance, by Vincent Lardo
8. The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, by John le Carré

The Doctor Falls - Group reads

A group of humans and aliens (including Nardole and the Doctor) band together to fight the Mondasian Cybermen. Also, the Master and Missy band together to mess up the Doctor's plans.

This episode killed me, even more so because I was watching with my parents and couldn't cry in front of them :P

RandomCAT
January (Ack! I've been hit!) Quick Curtain, by Alan Melville (from christina_reads and LittleTaiko)
February (Laissez les bons temps rouler) Ten Days in Summer, by Susan Calder (the Calgary Stampede)
March (Ripped from the Headlines) Spyworld: Inside the Canadian and American Intelligence Establishments, by Mike Frost
April (April Loves Books!) Child's Play, by Reginald Hill (added to my LT library April 2016)
May (Spring is all around) The Heaven Tree, by Edith Pargeter
June (Unusual narrators) Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie
July (Getting to know you) A Bridge Too Far, by Cornelius Ryan (understanding the formative years of the Greatest Generation)
August (Let's go to the mountains) Beneath the Mountain, by Luca D'Andrea, translated by Howard Curtis
September (Happy birthday) Tales from Watership Down, by Richard Adams
October (Playing cards) McNally's Chance, by Vincent Lardo / Lawrence Sanders
November (It's all about money) Black Money, by Ross Macdonald
December

MysteryCAT
January (Nordic mysteries) Into Oblivion, by Arnaldur Indriðason
February (Female cops/sleuths/detectives) Speak Ill of the Dead, by Mary Jane Maffini
March (Global mysteries) L'Affaire Saint-Fiacre, by Georges Simenon
April (Classic and Golden Age mysteries) Malice Aforethought, by Francis Iles
May (Mysteries involving transit) Mystery in the Channel, by Freeman Wills Crofts
June (True crime) The Massey Murder, by Charlotte Gray
July (Police procedurals) Murder at the Savoy, by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
August (Historical mysteries) Bertie and the Seven Bodies, by Peter Lovesey
September (Noir and hardboiled) The Getaway, by Jim Thompson
October (Espionage) The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, by John le Carré
November (Cozy mysteries) Mrs. Pollifax Pursued, by Dorothy Gilman
December (Futuristic and fantastical mysteries) The Hanging Tree, by Ben Aaronovitch

ColourCAT
January/Black: The Black Arrow, by Robert Louis Stevenson
February/Brown: The Complete Father Brown, by G.K. Chesterton
March/Green: 1921, by Morgan Llywelyn
April/Yellow: Nemesis, by Agatha Christie
May/Blue: The Disorderly Knights, by Dorothy Dunnett
June/Purple: Murder at the Savoy, by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
July/Pink: The Hanging Tree, by Ben Aaronovitch
August/Grey: Grey Seas Under, by Farley Mowat
September/Metallic: Doctor Who and the Giant Robot, by Terrance Dicks
October/Orange: Designs on Life, by Elizabeth Ferrars
November/Red: Bloody Scotland (ed. Lin Anderson)
December/White: Cause Célèbre, by Terence Rattigan

Group/Shared Reads
February: The Grave's a Fine and Private Place, by Alan Bradley (shared with christina_reads)
April: The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer
September: The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster
November: WW1
December: The Murder Mystery Xmas thread

Starting off this third thread with my June recap.

Yes, I’m taking it easy these days. Slightly fewer books than May: 17 books.

Mythos, by Stephen Fry
Henry V, by William Shakespeare
Doctor Who and the Giant Robot, by Terrance Dicks
John Knox, by Jane Dawson
Daughters of the Winter Queen: Four Remarkable Sisters, the Crown of Bohemia, and the Enduring Legacy of Mary, Queen of Scots, by Nancy Goldstone
The Diary of a Bookseller, by Shaun Bythell
Original Highways: Travelling the Great Rivers of Canada, by Roy MacGregor
Lady Cop Makes Trouble, by Amy Stewart
Du bon usage des étoiles, by Dominique Fortier
Emma, by Jane Austen (reread, Serial Reader)
The Prince Who Would Be King: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart, by Sarah Fraser
The Happy Brain: The Science of Where Happiness Comes From, and Why, by Dean Burnett
Ask a Manager: How to Navigate Clueless Colleagues, Lunch-Stealing Bosses, and the Rest of Your Life at Work, by Alison Green
Bloody Scotland, ed. Lin Anderson
The Human Factor, by Graham Greene
Meltdown: Why Catastrophic Failure Is All Around Us and What We Can Do about It, by Chris Clearfield and András Tilcsik
The Death of Stalin, by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin

My favourite book of the month was Daughters of the Winter Queen. It put so many little bits of history into context for me, like puzzle pieces slotting into the jigsaw with a satisfying *click*.

For my least favourite book, surprisingly I had nothing below 3 stars. Mythos might have been the biggest disappointment for me because I love Stephen Fry and Greek mythology, but the book just didn’t click with me for some reason.

I managed to get some good reading in on my Pool and met my French AND plays goals for the year, so a pretty productive month!

Currently reading

The Complete Father Brown, by G.K. Chesterton — Still reading this… forever…
Mary Queen of Scots, by Antonia Fraser — I’ve made some progress on it and hope to get a bit more reading in this long weekend. I’m piling up big history books again though!!
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy (translated by Constance Garnett) — Serial Reader book. It’s surprisingly good. I must get on with Tolstoy better than Dostoevsky.
A Bridge Too Far, by Cornelius Ryan — I started reading this for some obscure reason and decided to make it my July RandomCAT pick; as a WW2 book it provides an understanding of the formative years of the Greatest Generation.
Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, by Alan Alda — audio, read by the author. Always a treat to hear Alan. It’s my chores book though, and I haven’t done a lot of chores lately :P
Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling — Serial Reader. I’m really enjoying this. It’s reminding me of Grey Seas Under, by Farley Mowat, although the Mowat is about salvage tugs and the Kipling is about fishing vessels.
Who’s There?: The Life and Career of William Hartnell, by Jessica Carney — a biography of First Doctor William Hartnell, by his granddaughter Jessica (real name Judith; Jessica is her stage name because of Equity reasons). I was reading this on the bus yesterday and a guy actually asked me where I got it! Muahaha it is fun to flush out Whovians like that.
Elizabeth I and Her Circle, by Susan Doran — just started this yesterday. It’s due back on Tuesday, so that’s my plan for the long weekend.

July plans

Haha I didn’t complete either of my plans for June. Well, I read one book I’d borrowed from my parents. Other than that, nada. Will have to put Ancillary Sword in the on-deck pile.

My sister-in-law is getting married later this month, so I may be running around helping her with stuff rather than reading, so we’ll see how I do.

On the library shelves:

A Lab of One’s Own: Science and Suffrage in the First World War, by Patricia Fara — with a subject like that, how could I pass it up?
The Green Man, by Kate Sedley — a historical mystery featuring a character called Roger the Chapman (whom I refer to as “Roger the Shrubber”, because Monty Python references always win). It involves Scottish history, which is why I requested it.
Kintu, by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi — I had to re-request it but should have more time for it now.
The Dying Light, by Henry Porter — this one’s been on my to-read list for almost 10 years. Now’s the time to decide whether I really want to read it!
The Debatable Land: The Lost World Between Scotland and England, by Graham Robb — an ooh! shiny! library request.
The Word is Murder, by Anthony Horowitz — very excited to read this one!

****

Also time for the Q2 update of my 2018 pool:



Not bad! We're halfway through the year and I'm about 2/3 of the way through my pool. Really need to get those historical novels in (she said at Q1).

Happy new thread! And congrats to your sister-in-law; I can imagine that July will be a hectic month for you both! Hopefully once the wedding is over, you will be able to relax with a few well-deserved books.

Happy new thread.
And best wishes for your sister in law on her forthcoming wedding. Love a good wedding, they make me go *squeee* inside.

>15 leslie.98: >16 Helenliz: Thank you both for the good wishes, both on the new thread and my sister-in-law's wedding! It's been in the works for about a year, and both halves of the couple are very practical and chill, so it will be a busy but hopefully not too dramatic few weeks as the preparations kick into high gear.

I've been having a little readathon over the past couple of days that will continue into tomorrow. I've read about 8.5 hours over 2 days so far. Not much else to do when it's so hot.

Good news is that I've finished a book that's been on my bedside table since February!

The Complete Father Brown, by G.K. Chesterton
Category: World Enough and Time; The Doctor Falls (February ColourCAT: Brown)
Source: Xmas gift many years ago
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/work/87702/reviews/70475166

I last read this book (or portions of it) almost 15 years ago, so the ColourCAT made this a good time to revisit it. This didn't end up making a good bedside book, because for these stories I really needed to get into a groove and read a few at a time, rather than singly.

Happy new thread RP! Love revisiting the Peter Capaldi images. :-) Wishing you a manageable July and congratulations to your sister-in-law on her up coming nuptials. Will try to send some cooler weather your way... just no guarantees it will make it all the way across the country.

>19 lkernagh: Thanks! I enjoy revisiting those images too :D Thanks for the good wishes for the wedding and for cooler weather. I will probably be a rabbit of negative euphoria most of this week :-/

Happy New Thread! I like a chance to glance through what's been read on a new thread. You've had some interesting books so far.

>21 dudes22: Thanks! Yes, it's been a good assortment this year.

Happy new thread, Princess!

Happy new thread! I love reviewing past reading lists.

>23 mstrust: >24 VivienneR: Thank you both! I enjoyed revisiting these lists too :)

Weather update: right now it's "only" 26 degrees, humidex 35 at the airport. We did have a thunderstorm roll through a couple of hours ago, but it was very brief and I'm not sure it did very much in terms of breaking up the humidity.

Still hot. Still crabby. And then I froze to death at work because the AC was making it feel like Antarctica. No happy medium, I guess.

Yesterday I wrapped up the readathon at 10-something hours over 3 days. I like the idea of readathons more than the execution. By the end I was getting restless, hence the declaring two books finished:

Elizabeth I and Her Circle, by Susan Doran
Category: Thin Ice
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/155610337

I found this book interesting, but in this heat my brain turns to mush and I can't focus for long. Recommended for cooler weather (or for people who can stand the heat better than I can).

The Green Man, by Kate Sedley
Category: The Pyramid at the End of the World
Source: library
Rating: 1.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/156697714

I liked the time period of this book, which is part of the "Roger the Chapman" series, but found the mystery itself slow in execution. Six chapters in and very little had happened in a lot of words. Oh well.

I saw a weather map for yesterday and Quebec was one of the hottest places on earth! Also reported was 33 heat-related deaths in Quebec. Weather has gone crazy.

>27 VivienneR: Crikey! I did hear about the heat-related deaths but not that Quebec was one of the hottest places on earth. I'd believe it though.

Toronto's getting thunderstorms, so I'm hoping they will head across Ontario and break the humidity here. After the first night of Bluesfest of course.

****

I'm remarkably prompt about reading this one, which I got for Christmas in 2017.

Who’s There: The Life and Career of William Hartnell, by Jessica Carney
Category: The Empress of Mars
Source: Xmas gift
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/149406355

This is a biography of the actor who played the First Doctor, by his granddaughter. It contains a photo section (always a plus) and covers his entire career. A must-read for fans of Doctor Who; Hartnell brought his entire career to bear on the role of the Doctor and it's useful to see what else he's done.

>28 rabbitprincess: I'm remarkably prompt about reading this one, which I got for Christmas in 2017.

I had to laugh at that -- so relatable to everyone on LT, I suspect!

>29 christina_reads: - I had to laugh at that as well! There are some Christmas gifts from 4-5 years ago still waiting to be read.

>28 rabbitprincess: Other hotspots on that map were in Russia and Armenia but I was a little suspicious because it didn't show mstrust's city that I'm sure was as hot as Quebec.

Reading a 2017 Christmas gift? One of my elderly Christmas gifts is the only one I own that fits the December MysteryCAT. I just knew there was a good reason to leave it on the shelf.

Did I hear my name?
So far this month, our temps have ranged from a low of 104 to yesterday's 115, the hottest of the year so far. And yep, some idiot had to be rescued from a hike on Camelback Mountain yesterday :-/

>26 rabbitprincess: - Poor you! Nothing worse than suffering through heat only to discover you do not have enough extra clothing at hand to survive the AC in a building. I always find it odd to take off a sweater as I exit a building to take in the sunshine. ;-)

>29 christina_reads: My personal best is the book about the Lusitania that my coworkers gave me as a parting gift a couple of years ago -- I read it a mere three weeks after receiving it!

>30 LittleTaiko: Save them up for the December Murder Mystery and Xmas Gifts* thread! I'll be starting it the day after American Thanksgiving.
*they don't have to be murder mysteries!

>31 VivienneR: Hmm, maybe the map people thought it was just a given that that location is so hot! "These are the hottest places OTHER than Phoenix."

>32 mstrust: Ewwwww 115 degrees! Even in a dry heat that is awful. Who has the energy to MOVE in that kind of weather, let alone go for a hike in it?!

>33 lkernagh: I have a blanket, an oversize sweatshirt (with the company logo on it, so it's work-appropriate), wrist warmers, and a shawlette in my office. I haven't had to use them all at once...yet.

****

Good news: the heat has broken! High of 22 today, and there's a breeze! We have the windows open for the first time all week.

It's back to being hot. Sigh. This means that I don't have the energy to continue this book.

The Debatable Land: The Lost World Between Scotland and England, by Graham Robb
Category: The Eaters of Light
Source: library
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/157388168

I love the concept of this book, and especially the fact that the author and his wife don't drive despite living in a rural area. But the writing style didn't really click with me for some reason. I'd still recommend the book, though; my reading experience is probably not typical.

Good luck staying cool, rp. That's no fun at all. I hope you're using this opportunity to eat more ice cream.

And as a resident of a place with hot summers and over ACed buildings, I carry a cardigan in my car just in case. Restaurants are the worst offenders.

>32 mstrust: I worked 35 years for a Trane (air conditioning) plant. I planned production for 3 plants and oh, we so loved to hear that Phoenix was having a heat wave, it was our biggest market! Sometimes though when inventory was low it was hard to get it all through the plants fast enough to keep people from suffering.

>36 RidgewayGirl: Weird, I thought I'd replied to this comment earlier. I must have closed the tab without hitting Post. Yes, I am eating ice cream and drinking lots of iced tea!

>37 clue: Wow, 35 years! I've seen commercials for those ACs. The slogan seemed to play on the Trane/train homophone, which I approved of ;) And yes I imagine the products are flying off the shelves this summer!

Sunday was pretty productive on the finishing-books front.

Doctor Who: The Eyeless, by Lance Parkin
Category: The Empress of Mars
Source: borrowed from a friend
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158118873

I bought this Tenth Doctor novel for a friend many Christmases ago and am only just now getting around to borrowing it for myself! I obviously didn't read it first ;) Not a bad story.

Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling
Category: The Pilot
Source: Serial Reader
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/157383700

Loved this! It reminded me of Grey Seas Under, by Farley Mowat, in a way (although the Mowat is about salvage tugs and the Kipling is about fishing vessels). Same area of the ocean I guess. Easily my favourite Kipling.

The Word is Murder, by Anthony Horowitz
Category: Knock Knock
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/157621395

This was gloriously bananas and I loved it. Anthony Horowitz is a character in his own novel, drafted as an unwilling Watson for ex-CID man Daniel Hawthorne (the Holmes of the piece) after a woman is found murdered mere hours after she planned her own funeral. If you liked Magpie Murders, you might like this too.

>39 rabbitprincess: Ever since I finished watching the Foyle's War TV series, which Anthony Horowitz created, I've been wanting to read a novel by him.

Here in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, we had a short break from the heat and humidity, but now it looks like we're in for another hot and dry stretch. I hope you're managing to stay comfortable.

>40 mathgirl40: He mentions Foyle a lot in this book, because it's set around the time he had finished writing The House of Silk and was wrapping up Foyle's War.

The weather is better this week than it was last week, but the apartment retains heat and the breeze doesn't get in very easily. I saw that the township of Tiny has an extreme fire risk -- hope it's a better story for you guys! This hot, dry weather is no good for the crops.

>39 rabbitprincess: You've got me interested in The Word Is Murder -- "gloriously bananas" sounds right up my alley!

Hi RP. I'm in the beginning stages of catching up with everyone after being away for a couple of weeks. You are finishing up so many books - I am jealous, my time away has me realizing that I will probably fail miserably at my July reading plans. Hope the weather has cooled down for you, I remember that muggy heat that drained all the energy from you.

>37 clue: I'm not surprised that Phoenix is the biggest market, our heat waves last five months! Our a/c are super high, then we sort of make up for it by not having to turn the heat on til January.

>42 christina_reads: I really liked it! It was the sort of book you devour because the pages turn themselves (at least for me).

>43 DeltaQueen50: Welcome back! I find that vacations mess up my reading plans too. The heat is much better now. It's still hot, but it's not as humid, and the breezes have been lovely. But yes, last week I was hardly leaving the house.

>44 mstrust: Ugh, five-month heat wave?! I can hardly stand five days :(

My bus reading has been doing fairly well: two books read!

The Twisted Sword, by Winston Graham
Category: The Pyramid at the End of the World
Source: borrowed from parents
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/155958188

Only one more book left in the Poldark series :( This was a good one; I liked the links to major historical events.

Castrovalva, by Christopher H. Bidmead
Category: The Empress of Mars
Source: By the Lake Books, Burlington, ON
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/149484135

I read this after watching the TV episodes on BritBox. This order worked well for me. Now I'm going to be timey-wimey and make Logopolis, this story's predecessor, my next Doctor Who novel ;)

Because it's hot again, now is the perfect time to read winter mysteries.

Crimson Snow: Winter Mysteries, by Martin Edwards
Category: Smile
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158065623

This was an OK collection, although I found some of the stories longer than necessary (especially the Ironside one). My favourite was the Josephine Bell story.

Whew, it's been a busy week so far, and it's not done yet! I was working at a different office for two days, had an orthodontist appointment, went out for dinner with colleagues, and today is the wedding rehearsal for my sister-in-law. I took the day off so that I wouldn't be rushing there from work, and it is a very good thing I did, because the timing would have been tight.

Having the day off gives me the time to *finally* write a review of a book I finished on Monday.

The Man in the Yellow Raft, by C.S. Forester
Category: The Pilot
Source: By the Lake Books, Burlington, ON
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/149484052

I read this collection of stories for the Go Review that Book! group, and it was great. Forester's attention to nautical detail is excellent.

You are busy! Hopefully you'll get a rest after the wedding.

>49 mstrust: Hope so! I did get to sleep in this morning, so that was good :)

>39 rabbitprincess:
I thought I had all of the Tenth stories, but I've missed this one - on the list it goes!

>51 -Eva-: Great! Hope you like it. And welcome back! :)

My SIL got married yesterday and the wedding went well. We had excellent food and a well-rounded set of music for dancing. I dance only to songs I like, and there was enough to keep me entertained -- and to give me a creaky back today. I'm so tired that I can feel the bags hanging under my eyes. Haven't done much reading in the past couple of days as a result. But I do have a review for you:

Witness the Dead, by Craig Robertson
Category: The Eaters of Light
Source: Little Free Library at work
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/150021877

I found this at my office "take a book, leave a book" shelf, and it ended up being a good find. Easier to gamble on a new series when you get a free copy ;) I'll lend it to my mum, too, because we both like books set in Glasgow.

>53 rabbitprincess: glad the wedding went well.

Glad you had fun at the wedding - the creaks and bags were worth it!

Congratulations on your find at the free library at work. Sounds like a series that needs to be checked out.

>54 Helenliz: It was meticulously planned by the bride, who is well organized but not a perfectionist. Her main goal was for everyone to be together and have fun, and I think she achieved that well.

>55 VivienneR: Definitely! And yes, that was a good find. I wonder who left it behind. Would love to chat with them about it.

Continuing a trend, I finished this on Monday and am only just now getting around to reviewing it.

White Nights, by Ann Cleeves
Category: The Eaters of Light
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158161504

This book worked especially well for my circumstances at the time; being distracted with no attention span because of my SIL's wedding, I needed a book that could be picked up and put down again with little trouble, and this did the job nicely. I'll probably keep reading the series.

This book is another one that I'd recommend for distracted circumstances.

The Story of English in 100 Words, by David Crystal
Category: Extremis
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158065660

The book is well organized, and I like Crystal's writing as always, but I didn't quite click with it as expected. Possibly the chapters were *too* short, or I got my attention span back and wanted something a bit meatier. Still, I wouldn't discourage anyone from picking it up.

Well, now that my SIL is married and we aren't running around doing stuff, I can really get back into reading ;) Yesterday I went like gangbusters and finished three books.

Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World's Most Famous Detective Writer, by Margalit Fox
Category: Thin Ice
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158156289

The title pretty much sums it up. If you liked Arthur & George, you might like this too (in fact, that case is given a chapter in this book as well).

Postcards from the Boys, by Ringo Starr
Category: Smile
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158465951

I liked this, but I think I liked his Photograph better.

Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey Through the World's Strangest Brains, by Helen Thomson
Category: The Lie of the Land
Source: library
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158224176

I devoured this in a couple of hours. Excellent stuff.

Another book I devoured in relatively short order!

The Commitments, by Roddy Doyle
Category: The Pilot
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158278698

This book will probably make you go on a YouTube binge of soul and Motown. I haven't had the opportunity to do so yet, but it would probably be a lot of fun ;)

I've made it through a very busy July and here is my July recap.

In a month in which my sister-in-law got married (and we had a ton of activities in the days immediately surrounding the wedding), I didn’t do too badly with 19 books. Granted, two of them were unfinished…

The Complete Father Brown, by G.K. Chesterton (reread)
Elizabeth I and Her Circle, by Susan Doran
The Green Man, by Kate Sedley (abandoned)
Who’s There: The Life and Career of William Hartnell, by Jessica Carney
The Debatable Land: The Lost World Between Scotland and England, by Graham Robb (unfinished)
The Eyeless, by Lance Parkin
Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling
The Word is Murder, by Anthony Horowitz
The Twisted Sword, by Winston Graham
Castrovalva, by Christopher H. Bidmead
Crimson Snow: Winter Mysteries, ed. Martin Edwards
The Man in the Yellow Raft, by C.S. Forester
Witness the Dead, by Craig Robertson
White Nights, by Ann Cleeves
The Story of English in 100 Words, by David Crystal
Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World's Most Famous Detective Writer, by Margalit Fox
Postcards from the Boys, by Ringo Starr
Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey Through the World's Strangest Brains, by Helen Thomson
The Commitments, by Roddy Doyle

My favourite book of the month was Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey Through the World's Strangest Brains. I loved Thomson’s writing and will be looking forward to more from her!

My least favourite book was The Green Man. Six chapters in and no sign of a murder, and a lot of creaky dialogue. Abandoned.

Mainly I was glad to actually get some reading in!

Currently reading

Mary Queen of Scots, by Antonia Fraser — Still. I made some more progress, but I’d really like to get this finished before our trip to Scotland in September.
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy (translated by Constance Garnett) — Serial Reader book. Chipping away at it. It’s getting a bit angsty, but that’s to be expected.
A Bridge Too Far, by Cornelius Ryan — Not the best book to be reading when you’re distracted! It’s sitting on my bedside table now.
Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, by Alan Alda — audio, read by the author. I haven’t been in much of an audio mood, so I haven’t listened to much of this in July.
The Prisoner of Zenda, by Anthony Hope — Serial Reader. A delightfully rip-roaring adventure.
The Honourable Schoolboy, by John le Carré — a re-read that I intended to complete a while ago. Hoping to finish it this month and give it back to my dad.
Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro, by Rachel Slade — I’ve heard a lot about the incident and will be interested to read this book.

August plans

If I can sneak in ONE of the historical fiction books in my Pool, I will be a happy camper. Also have to work on some of the rereads.

On the library shelves:

Perfect Death, by Helen Fields — a DI Callanach novel, set in Edinburgh, nominated for the 2018 McIlvanney Prize.
Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven, by Ross King — torontoc in the ROOTs group was reading this, so I thought it would be a good time to make this request. It’s been on my list for a while.
Bats in the Belfry, by E.C.R. Lorac — a British Library Crime Classic that I am SO PUMPED about.
Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions, by Amy Stewart — Kopp Sisters #3.
The Quaker: A Duncan McCormack Novel, by Liam McIlvanney — oddly enough also up for the McIlvanney Prize (although I’d requested this one before the longlist was announced).
The Riviera Set, by Mary S. Lovell — this one took forever for the library to get in! Glad to finally have it.
How to Be Champion, by Sarah Millican — a re-request. I’d better get to it this time!
Women Crime Writers: Four Suspense Novels of the 1950s — a Library of America omnibus. I’m reading only two of the books: Mischief, by Charlotte Armstrong; and Fools' Gold, by Dolores Hitchens. I’ve already read the Margaret Millar book, and I managed to get a separate copy of the Patricia Highsmith:
The Blunderer, by Patricia Highsmith — funny that this and the omnibus came in at the same time.

>61 rabbitprincess: - Given your very busy July, I see that you still managed to read a fair number of books!

You had a very productive July!

>62 lkernagh: >63 mstrust: Yes, it ended up working out quite well! I guess it was really only the few days surrounding the wedding where I really didn't have the energy to read.

August is ticking along nicely. Work is bound to be busy this month, but I hope to make up for it with lots of reading on the commute.

The Prisoner of Zenda, by Anthony Hope
Category: The Pilot
Source: Serial Reader
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158227139

This was a somewhat bonkers story in the best way. Secret identities, swordfighting, and skulduggery!

The Honourable Schoolboy, by John le Carré
Category: World Enough and Time
Source: borrowed from parents
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/work/101279/reviews/81092934

This was a re-read, and I liked it just as much as last time. Turns out many of my favourite le Carré lines (including "the remains of a ham sandwich that died of old age" and "At Star Heights, pedestrians were in bad taste") are from this book.

>61 rabbitprincess: Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey Through the World's Strangest Brains, by Helen Thomson sounds fascinating. I was just reading about a boy whose brain is re-organizing itself after having a baseball-sized chunk surgically removed.

From CBC's Quirks and Quarks: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/august-4-2018-parker-solar-probe-watching-a-brai...

>66 VivienneR: Wow! It is amazing what the brain can do. Thanks for sharing the article!

>58 rabbitprincess: I'm a sucker for books like that. If I see it, that's on the list.
>65 rabbitprincess: I loved The Prisoner of Zenda for being about as daft as a story could be, yet being such fun with it.

>68 Helenliz: I'd recommend his Making a Point over The Story of English in 100 Words, if only because the chapters in Making a Point are longer and therefore more full of great writing ;) The Story of English isn't bad, though. Some fun facts.

I agree, "daft" is a great adjective for The Prisoner of Zenda.

Catching up on reviews. It's been another busy week at work.

Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro, by Rachel Slade
Category: The Lie of the Land
Source: library
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158466110

This was SO GOOD. I need to get my own copy.

Speak Ill of the Dead, by Mary Jane Maffini
Category: World Enough and Time
Source: Prime Crime Books, Ottawa
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/70475364

I first read this when I was in my 20s, and I remember thinking that the protagonist, Camilla MacPhee, was such a grownup, being in her early 30s! I am now the same age as Camilla and HAHAHA I totally do not feel like a grownup.

Logopolis, by Christopher H. Bidmead
Category: The Empress of Mars
Source: Book Bazaar
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/117653055

A nice quick read of the Fourth Doctor's regeneration into Five. "The moment has arrived...but it has been prepared for." *wibble*

Stopping in to say have a good weekend!

>71 mstrust: Thanks, and same to you! I'm going to afternoon tea on Sunday, which should be fun :)

>70 rabbitprincess: - You’re always a good source of an ocean/fishing/etc disaster book for my husband. But you left it a little late this year :) His birthday is next weekend, so I’ll be off to the bookstore this week. (I had no idea of what to get him).

>73 dudes22: I'll see if I can build up a stockpile of recs later in the year ;) This one is SOOOOO good though. Hope he likes it!

>70 rabbitprincess: " I am now the same age as Camilla and HAHAHA I totally do not feel like a grownup."

Good for you! Stay that way.

>75 VivienneR: I'll do my best :)

Getting some reviews squared away while I have a few minutes this morning.

Bats in the Belfry, by E.C.R. Lorac
Category: Knock Knock
Source: library
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158596851

Almost liked it, but not quite. I'd try another book by the author, though, because there were really good lines.

How to be Champion, by Sarah Millican
Category: The Lie of the Land
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158726931

I liked reading about Sarah's story more and could have done without the tips at the end of each chapter that kind of summarized the content. Her stories are great, and I love her frankness and attitude toward life. (Also, she is a stationery geek too!)

Another sci-fi book that isn't Doctor Who!

Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie
Category: The Empress of Mars
Source: Perfect Books, Ottawa
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/140471762

I really enjoyed this and have put Ancillary Mercy on the on-deck pile!

Catching up a bit on reviews this weekend.

The Quaker: A Duncan McCormack Novel, by Liam McIlvanney
Category: The Eaters of Light
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/158726902

It was a strange coincidence to read this after reading Craig Robertson's Witness the Dead, which was released several years before, and compare the writing styles and handling of the plot.

The Getaway, by Jim Thompson
Category: The Doctor Falls
Source: BMV, Toronto
Rating: 2/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/116825039

This one didn't work for me as well as I would have liked. Could have been me, could have been the book.

I went on a road trip last weekend and managed to finally finish my current audiobook. I also coincidentally finished a Serial Reader read.

Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, by Alan Alda (audio, read by Alan Alda)
Category: Knock Knock
Source: ripped from CDs
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/86455843

This is a good road-trip book. Alan Alda is of course the best narrator for his own memoir. I especially liked the story about his trip on the Orient Express with his daughter.

The Book of Dragons, by E. Nesbit
Category: The Pilot
Source: Serial Reader
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158973981

The actual stories were good; the narration, however, was old-fashioned in a bad way. I might have liked this better as a kid.

Books about awesome women in this post.

Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World, by Pénélope Bagieu
Category: Smile
Source: library
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158908418

This graphic narrative with mini-biographies of women from around the world is excellent. I enjoyed Bagieu's wit and her beautiful two-page spreads after each biography. Hope she makes another collection!

Bella Poldark, by Winston Graham
Category: The Pyramid at the End of the World
Source: borrowed from parents
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/155958197

I'm finished the Poldark series :( But it was a good end. Now I can go back to the TV series, with the benefit of knowing everything that's happened!

Cyberman 1.1: Scorpius, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
Category: The Empress of Mars
Source: Big Finish
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/148553908

This drama was produced in 2005 (!), but story-wise it fits in with the rest of Big Finish. The theme music is chilling -- and there's just something about the old-school Cybermen's voices that creeps me out more than the current incarnation. Looking forward to devouring the rest of the episodes.

Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History, by Keith O’Brien
Category: Thin Ice
Source: library
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/159294571

This was so good. If all you know about female aviators is Amelia Earhart, you need this book. She's in it, of course, but so are other female aviators -- it's interesting to see Earhart in context with other pioneers of the period.

>82 rabbitprincess: - I'll take a BB for Fly Girls. I read West With the Night last year about Beryl Markham and liked it a lot so I think I'll find this enjoyable too.

>83 dudes22: I think Beryl gets a mention in this book as well. Hope you like it!

The big excitement in these parts is that I got glasses on Tuesday. I have a lazy eye that is much lazier than my hard-working eye, so I was always told I couldn't get glasses because the prescriptions in each eye would be too different. I had to use a single contact lens in the lazy eye (which at least was cheaper than normal people's contact lenses...) But now they have the technology to make glasses that actually force your brain to use input from both eyes, so I now get to join the cool kids and wear glasses ;) The learning curve has been pretty OK so far. Only knocked over one mug (empty, fortunately), and eventually got over the feeling that my keyboard was further away than usual.

I'm giving my newly bespectacled eyes a workout by reading and reviewing books! Here are my last two books for August. Stay tuned for a recap of the month.

Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions, by Amy Stewart
Category: The Pyramid at the End of the World
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/158065588

The third book in the Kopp Sisters series is great as usual. Really looking forward to the fourth book.

Pilote de guerre, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Category: Extremis
Source: library book sale
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/129465584

I read this mainly for the plane stuff. The more philosophical chapter toward the end was a bit boring and I confess to skimming it. But I'll hang onto this for a while anyway. I'm planning to lend it to a coworker to see what he thinks; because his first language is French, he might get more out of it than me!

August recap

Work was crazy busy this month: lots of long days with especially cognitively demanding work, and being social to boot because I was writing in a group setting. I love the team, but as an introvert I do find extended periods of socializing to be a challenge. But it didn’t affect my reading too much. Ended up reading 18 books:

The Prisoner of Zenda, by Anthony Hope (Serial Reader)
The Honourable Schoolboy, by John le Carré (reread)
Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro, by Rachel Slade
Speak Ill of the Dead, by Mary Jane Maffini (reread)
Logopolis, by Christopher H. Bidmead
Bats in the Belfry, by E.C.R. Lorac
How to Be Champion, by Sarah Millican
Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie
The Quaker, by Liam McIlvanney
The Getaway, by Jim Thompson
Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, by Alan Alda (audio, read by Alan Alda)
The Book of Dragons, by E. Nesbit (Serial Reader)
Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World, by Pénélope Bagieu
Bella Poldark, by Winston Graham
Cyberman 1.1: Scorpius, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History, by Keith O’Brien
Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions, by Amy Stewart
Pilote de guerre, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

My favourite book of the month was Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro. I want to buy my own copy. It’s so well written and talks about accident investigation wonderfully.

My least favourite book was The Getaway. I read this at the busiest point of the month, and I really felt like I was only skimming the surface.

Currently reading

Mary Queen of Scots, by Antonia Fraser — Still. I WILL finish this before going to Scotland, even if it means I bring it as my train book (I’m going to my parents’ the day before we leave and will fly out with them).
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy (translated by Constance Garnett) — Serial Reader book. Yep, this is taking a while. The farming bits were boring. But now there’s a wedding, aww.
A Bridge Too Far, by Cornelius Ryan — Haven’t picked this up in a while.
Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy — Serial Reader book. I’m finding Hardy surprisingly readable! Good choice, random number generator that I use to pick my Serial Reader titles.
Cyberman 1.2: Fear, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama) — I’ve got this cued up to listen to soon. Hoping to listen to the rest of the set over the course of the month.
Longitude, by Dava Sobel — this is the tiniest book! It is adorable. I’m enjoying the writing as well.
Beneath the Mountain, by Luca D’Andrea — my August RandomCAT pick, a free book I received in my swag bag at Bouchercon 2017.

September plans

I’m in Scotland for the last two weeks of September, so I am hoping to make use of my public-domain ebooks on my iPad, audiobooks on my phone, and a few paperbacks that I can read and leave behind. Probably won’t have time to read any more Scotland historical fiction, but if I can get Mary Queen of Scots finished, that will be an achievement.

On the library shelves:

Perfect Death, by Helen Fields — re-requested. Hoping to read this before I go.
A Kiss Before Dying, by Ira Levin — a very old entry on the to-read list from way back when I first joined Goodreads.

Yay for advances in eyeglass technology!

>85 rabbitprincess: Congratulations, Four Eyes! I hope you get used to your glasses quickly and they make life easier for you.
>86 rabbitprincess: Scotland again? Lucky. Is there a place you're returning to, or are you going somewhere new?

>87 lkernagh: Indeed! I'd always been mildly disappointed with having to wear the contact lens. Fortunately my coworker has the same sort of lazy eye I do, and she recommended her optometrist, who specializes in binocular vision therapy and in prescribing corrective lenses for this type of problem.

>88 mstrust: Thanks, I hope so too! I hadn't been wearing the contact lens for a couple of years because my eyes started getting really dry at work and dry eyes + contact lens = ew. The glasses themselves are pretty awesome: purple plaid frames! The optician picked them out; good choice on his part!

We're revisiting Edinburgh and Glasgow, and visiting Stirling for the first time.

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Started September right with a short book.

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, by Dava Sobel
Category: Thin Ice
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/159382113

This book has been on my list for a while and I've only just now got around to reading it. Highly readable and just the right amount of detail. Apparently there's an illustrated edition as well, which would be nice to flip through.

Congratulations on getting new specs! Purple plaid. Wow! Just in time for the visit to Scotland.

I loved Sobel's Longitude too. She made a complicated topic easy to read.

>90 VivienneR: Yes, that was good timing indeed! Need to install little windshield wipers on them though to counteract the inevitable rain ;)

I loved the size of the book, too! Mine was a smaller edition than you'd typically find, and it was super cute.

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Polished off this audio drama yesterday while doing some knitting.

Cyberman 1.2: Fear, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
Category: Knock Knock, The Empress of Mars
Source: Big Finish
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/148553935

The second part of this "Cyberman" series, released in 2005, is just as chilling as the first. It makes effective use of the audio-drama format to deliver its chills and set the right atmosphere. The Cybermen are a bit hard to understand, though, when they speak for long stretches, because of the way their voices are modulated.

>91 rabbitprincess: - My copy of Longitude when I read it was a cute small one too. It was good too!

Love the glasses news, how exciting! I've recently gone for varifocals, so I can sympathise with the odd vision. I spent the first day or so with my head going up and down like a nodding dog! And I remain sure that my feet are further away on stairs than they were before (yes, I know that sounds stupid!).

Scotland's lovely. I had a great couple of days in Stirling, excellent and less well known, so less busy than the main tourist hot spots.

>92 dudes22: I really liked her writing style! It flowed well and didn't talk down to the audience at all (I agree with VivienneR on this point).

>93 Helenliz: My coworker has the same sort of sensation with her feet when she gets a new pair of glasses! I had a similar experience getting on the bus for the first time with my new specs. Did you previously have multiple pairs of glasses before getting varifocals?

We're looking forward to seeing Stirling and using it as the base for a couple of day trips: Doune Castle and Perth are in our sights :)

>94 rabbitprincess: ha! not just me!! I'd needed glasses for distance for a while, and had got to the stage I now needed a reading prescription as well. I had already found stitching in front of the TV annoying, as I needed the glasses on to see the TV clearly, but off to stitch. I felt sure I'd just get more annoyed needed two pairs of glasses, so tried the varifocals. Took a few days to get used to them, but once that was done they've been fine.

Enjoy your travels. >:-)

>95 Helenliz: I'm glad you were able to get used to them quickly! I think my dad is approaching the varifocals stage and would probably go for that over the two pairs of specs. He has a big head so he finds it hard to find frames that fit :P

Looking forward to them! Have to get GBP before I go...that's always my travel anxiety dream, that I've forgotten to get local currency, or I've forgotten my passport. Or both.

Yesterday was a pretty productive reading day. Managed to finish two books.

Beneath the Mountain, by Luca d’Andrea (translated by Howard Curtis)
Category: The Doctor Falls (August RandomCAT)
Source: swag bag at Bouchercon 2017
Rating: 2/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/147042861

I received this as an uncorrected proof, and that in itself was an interesting experience to read a book at an earlier stage of publication than I'm used to. The story itself was just OK though. Probably not something I would have picked up otherwise.

Mary Queen of Scots, by Antonia Fraser
Category: The Eaters of Light
Source: borrowed from parents
Rating: 5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/137205975

Finally finished this mammoth biography, just in time for our trip. There are probably more recent biographies of Mary out there, but I liked Fraser's thoughtful, sensitive portrait of all aspects of Mary's personality. Highly recommended.

>97 rabbitprincess: I have the Mary Queen on Scots on my shelf, and have had for years... I ought to get around to it sometime.

>98 Helenliz: My mum has also had it forever, and I might actually have read it first! But I've been borrowing it for so long that she might already have filled up that part of the history shelf with other books...

Another trip to Scotland! Colour me envious. I LOVE Stirling. I told my other half that if we ever decide to retire in Scotland (his home country), Stirling is where I want to live. Of course, it has been a while since we last visited so fingers crossed it is still has the charm I remember.

>100 lkernagh: Stirling does sound ideal -- halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow, so you get the benefits of both! I was looking at it on Google Street View this morning and it does look pretty charming. Jackie_K has more current experience though ;)

>100 lkernagh: >101 rabbitprincess: Stirling is indeed a lovely place to live. It has its rough parts, as all places do, but plenty of the charm remains. The city centre is experiencing a bit of a slump and is looking a bit worn out, with quite a few shops having closed down or relocated further out of town over the last year or so, but whilst the shopping isn't as good as places like Glasgow and Edinburgh, other parts of city life are seeing investment and regeneration. And of course the surrounding countryside is really lovely.

>102 Jackie_K: We're really looking forward to seeing it! Eeeeee! :D

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Trip preparations are well under way. Gained 200 pounds (the GBP kind, haha) this afternoon, and I've made a packing list. I've also suspended a bunch of library holds and cleaned out most of my library borrows. The borrowed-book shelf is EMPTY D:

I've also planned my trip reading:

47 Sorrows, by Janet Kellough
Death-Watch, by John Dickson Carr
The Dam Busters, by Paul Brickhill
American on Purpose, by Craig Ferguson
The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster
Insurrection, by Robyn Young (Robert the Bruce Trilogy #1)

The first three are paperbacks that I plan to leave behind at rental accommodations (my dad has a copy of The Dam Busters, so no point in our collectively having duplicates). The fourth is audio, read by the author. The fifth is a download from Project Gutenberg for the group read with Cariola. The sixth is an ebook from the library; it is geographically relevant to our trip, and I couldn't bear the thought of not having *any* books out from the library!

In the meantime, I'm still getting through books here. Sunday I went on a Doctor Who audio spree.

Cyberman 1.3: Conversion, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
Category: Knock Knock, The Empress of Mars
Source: Big Finish
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/148553951

Still excellently put together and proper creepy, but too much smooching. I am about eight when it comes to smooching (and more) in my entertainment ("EWWW don't show that"). Also really, when you're listening to an audio drama on earbuds, all that sound is going straight into your ears. Yuck. :P

Cyberman 1.4: Telos, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
Category: Knock Knock, The Empress of Mars
Source: Big Finish
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/148553976

Great conclusion to the set! Very well done.

Hope you have a great trip and great weather. I too take books I can leave behind - thus making room for trinkets or books. I actually found a book on the take it/leave it shelf last year when we were away that has turned out to be my top read for this year (so far).

Have a fun trip!

Have a great trip and I note in particular the Craig Ferguson book which I absolutely loved. :)

>104 dudes22: Thanks! I've been keeping an eye on the weather over there. Highs in the mid-teens Celsius, with lows brushing into the single digits. Very comfortable after our 40-degree summer!
That's great when a chance find like that turns out so well! I intend to buy a lot of books in the UK, especially at Bloody Scotland.

>105 MissWatson: Will do! We leave on Saturday! It doesn't feel quite real...

>106 DeltaQueen50: I loved it too, and am looking forward to revisiting it on audio!

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More Doctor Who books on my plate...

The Silent Stars Go By, by Dan Abnett
Category: The Empress of Mars
Source: BMV
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/129352656

I believe VioletBramble put this on my radar because of Rory's storyline in this one. I love when he has stuff to do on his own! Would also love to have Arthur Darvill narrate this book, particularly for lines such as this one:

"Rory Williams Pond," said the Doctor.
"Not my actual name," said Rory.

>86 rabbitprincess: I too find long periods of socializing to be tiring, but reading is a good antidote. I'm always bemused by those "geek quizzes" that ask questions like, "Do you prefer to go to a party or to the library?" Isn't the answer obvious??

I hope you have a great time in Scotland!

>108 mathgirl40: Unless the party is *at* a library, then I might have a harder time answering that question!

Thanks! We fly out on Saturday. I'm going to my parents' tomorrow. Still have to pack...

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I'm finished reading all of my physical books from the library!

The Shadow Killer, by Arnaldur Indriðason (translated by Victoria Cribb)
Category: Knock Knock
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/160001027

Ehh, this didn't work for me quite as well as some of his other books have. It felt repetitive. And I think the English title is unnecessarily sinister. It was likely chosen to go with the previous book in the series, The Shadow District, but I don't think it works for the story presented here.

>109 rabbitprincess: I hope I'm not too late to wish you a good time! I've been out of town myself and got a bit behind with reading threads (medical appointments can require long travel and hotel accommodation around here). Have fun! I'll look forward to the list of books you bring home.

>110 VivienneR: Not too late! Thank you for the trip wishes! I hope the medical appointments went well.

I'm wishing you a great trip too!

>112 mstrust: Thanks, Jennifer! Everything's packed and ready to go!

Have a safe and fun trip, if those two adjectives aren't mutually exclusive. If they are, then I look forward to hearing which of the two you choose!

>114 leslie.98: Thanks, Leslie! The only peril I expect to encounter is the threat of overweight baggage charges from buying too many books ;)

Managed to finish two books on the train home yesterday:

The Deepest Grave, by Harry Bingham
Category: Knock Knock
Source: borrowed from parents
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/159445270

I love Fiona Griffiths, and I love this latest installment in the series. An excellent series for bingeing; this was the perfect train read.

The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster
Category: Oxygen
Source: Project Gutenberg
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/160436127

I'll be interested to see what the others in the group read think of the rest of the play. It was certainly high on action, if low on chronological markers; time seemed to pass very quickly! I read this on Project Gutenberg and will have to get a print copy to read some of the commentary and background.

Checking in with a little vacation update. I've bought a few books:

Rip it Up: The Story of Scottish Pop, by Vic Galloway
The Division Bell Mystery, by Ellen Wilkinson
Where the Dead Men Go, by Liam McIlvanney
Black Douglas, by Nigel Tranter
The Wisest Fool, by Nigel Tranter
The Hog's Back Mystery, by Freeman Wills Crofts

I particularly enjoyed the Scottish pop exhibit at the National Museum of Scotland and really hope it tours! I would totally see it again.

Yesterday we contended with Storm Ali, which brought bursts of driving rain and gale-force winds to Edinburgh. The wind was howling rather a lot against the windows in the roof of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery :S The Portrait Gallery is beautiful, btw, and well worth a visit!

Now we're in Stirling, and I have time to post a review!

47 Sorrows, by Janet Kellough
Category: The Pyramid at the End of the World
Source: Bearly Used Books, Parry Sound, ON
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/134021655

I wasn't expecting much from this book, and it about met my expectations. It felt more like general fiction with a light mystery, which may be awesome for some people, but not really my jam.

Glad to see you're getting the best of our weather >;-)
Enjoy.

I hope you're able to do lots of sightseeing, despite the weather!

>118 Helenliz: Could be worse; Ottawa was under a tornado watch (again) this afternoon! I will take some blustery rain over the threat of tornadoes. Today was better, except for that one burst of rain while we were out at Scone Palace.

>119 mstrust: Yes, we're getting lots of sightseeing in! We had good weather yesterday for Stirling Castle. It was nippy today, but in the evening the wind had dropped and the cool temperature was quite pleasant.

I once traveled around Scotland in November. It was cold and we got plenty of that misty rain, but we discovered that a bowl of soup and a toastie for lunch, and we'd be warm and ready to head back outside again.

>121 RidgewayGirl: Mmmmm soup and a toastie would be the perfect antidote to a cold day!

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I am especially glad to be in Scotland at the minute because Ottawa-Gatineau got hit by a tornado on Friday :O No damage to my place, but most of the city lost power, so it may take a while to be restored. At least it's the weekend, so maybe people will actually stay off the roads and let hydro, the police, and first responders get to where they need to be.

After reading the news from Ottawa I immediately thought of you. Glad your home has not been affected and everything is safe. I lived in Edmonton when they had the disastrous tornado and most people stayed off the streets because they were littered with debris.

Sounds like you are enjoying some good Scottish weather!

>123 VivienneR: The west end power grid is destroyed, but the east end is OK. It may take up to 4 days for everything to be restored. The news was saying that the damage is almost as bad as the ice storm in 1998. My in-laws and my SIL and her husband are in the west end as well so have no power but are otherwise safe. I think we are going to have to buy a generator and some battery packs when I get home...

This weather is so comfortable after our yucky summer.

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On a happier note, today I met Jackie_K for lunch! We had a tasty meal at Colessio and then watched the Bloody Scotland football match between Scottish and English crime writers. England won (boo :P).

I also had a little spree at Waterstones...

Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards
Verdict of Twelve, by Raymond Postgate
Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time, by Paul Cornell
Cheer Up Love: Adventures in Depression with the Crab of Hate, by Susan Calman
The Way of All Flesh, by Ambrose Parry

Meeting up with someone from LT is always so much fun!

It *was* fun! Great to meet you, rp!

My phone is charging so I'll wait till tomorrow to post the dorky photo (dorky of me at any rate!).

>124 rabbitprincess: I hope there was no damage to your home. A generator is a good idea, lengthy power outages are no fun.

Too bad that Scotland lost the Bloody Scotland football match this year. Glad you were able to meet up with Jackie for that unique event.

>125 RidgewayGirl: It was! And it was Jackie's first LT meetup :)

>126 Jackie_K: Yay! We'll have to have another one in Canada ;)

>127 VivienneR: My BF didn't say there was any damage, so I'm guessing it's ok. And yes the fitba was fun! They dudn't take it seriously, so it was more fun than standard football ;)

Edit: "dudn't"? Am I trying to type in a Scottish accent?

Sounds like you're having a great time. >:-)

>124 rabbitprincess: I'm sure you're probably already aware that Ambrose Parry is a pseudonym for a collaborative effort between Christopher Brookmyre and his wife Marisa Haetzman, a consultant anesthetist with a Master’s degree in the history of medicine. Thought I'd drop that in here though for: a) just in case & b) a note for other CB fans that might have missed out on this news.

>130 Helenliz: Yes, we are! :D

>131 AHS-Wolfy: Yes, and I love that they are working together! It is so cute :)

A bit more vacation reading.

Insurrection, by Robyn Young
Category: The Eaters of Light
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 2/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/160243979

I got further with the e-copy than I did with the print copy, but ultimately I couldn't finish this. Annoying, because I like the subject matter.

Death-Watch, by John Dickson Carr
Category: Knock Knock
Source: pilfered from J, who had 2 copies
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/119794966

My favourite JDC is still The Devil in Velvet. Locked-room mysteries can be hit or miss with me.

The last of my vacation reads was finished in Canada (although I'm still technically on vacation!).

The Dam Busters, by Paul Brickhill
Category: Thin Ice
Source: BMV Books
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/88181969

The writing about the actual raid and the subsequent adventures of the squadron was OK. What was not OK was the patronizing attitude toward women (whenever they did appear, which was not often). The author was born in 1916, and the book was published in 1951, so this attitude was still prevalent at the time. But because the women showed up so infrequently, the attitude felt intentional.

>134 rabbitprincess: Those old attitudes are still showing up unfortunately. That's the worst of reading older books in certain genres. Even more annoying is when they show up in contemporary works.

>135 VivienneR: Yes, these days I think people really should know better.

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On a lighter note, I forgot to report on a couple more wee book hauls from Scotland.

At Stirling Books, whose location I am *not* disclosing to Jackie_K ;), I bought

The Long Glasgow Kiss, by Craig Russell (Lennox #2)
The Queen's Grace, by Nigel Tranter

And at Waterstones Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, I bought

Doctor Who: The Shining Man, by Cavan Scott (Twelfth Doctor)
The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, by Leonard Gribble

So many British Library Crime Classics on this trip! And I was particularly chuffed to find Lennox #2, because my library doesn't have it or #3, and it's not easy to find on this side of the pond.

>136 rabbitprincess: It's no good, I caved and looked them up online! Will pay them a visit next time I'm in town :)

>137 Jackie_K: Hurray! :D

Cramming in a couple more books before the end of the month ;)

Mrs. Pollifax Pursued, by Dorothy Gilman
Category: World Enough and Time, The Doctor Falls
Source: probably a gift (who knows)
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/70476225

This was a re-read and will fill the "cozy mystery" month of the MysteryCAT (which is not till November, but I read my CAT choices whenever the mood strikes). I liked this series a lot as a young'un and am glad that this particular installment, one of my favourites, held up for me.

Glass Houses, by Louise Penny
Category: Knock Knock
Source: Bouchercon 2017 (won in the pub quiz!)
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/147352205

I received a sneak preview of the first couple of chapters of Kingdom of the Blind at Bloody Scotland, but I had to read Glass Houses before I could read them! And I ended up tearing through this in an afternoon. Couldn't put it down.

Good review of Glass Houses. It sounds creepy. I still have to read The Nature of the Beast and A Great Reckoning before I can get to Glass Houses. I like to read this series in the first months of the year. Along with the new Flavia DeLuce mystery if there is one.

I didn't read your review but if you couldn't put it down, it should be good. I have one to read before I get to Glass Houses and I'm dragging my feet because I don't want to run out of her books to read and have to wait.

>140 VioletBramble: It reminded me a little of How the Light Gets In, although I hope that isn't a spoiler!

I hope the library will add the new Flavia to the catalogue soon; I think they delay it as long as possible because it gets hundreds of hold requests, and they have only so much money to buy copies.

>141 dudes22: I hope you like it when you get to it!

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I just got back from my parents' place last night, so there was no time to review my last book of the month or to do my September recap. I'll do both those things now.

An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, by David Hume
Category: Smile
Source: Project Gutenberg
Rating: 3/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/160867527

I grabbed this off Gutenberg after reading Dennis Rasmussen's excellent The Infidel and the Professor, and I have to say this is very readable for a work of philosophy. The part where his friend pretended to be Epicurus or someone like that was less interesting, but Hume's writing was always direct and clear and had just a touch of humour about it.

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September recap coming shortly...

September recap

I spent half the month in Canada and half in Scotland. Having the vacation fall later in the month meant I could build up a little cushion of reading to counteract the slowing down that always happens when I go on vacation. (I get less reading done on vacation than at home…) And yet I managed to read 18 books.

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, by Dava Sobel
Cyberman 1.2: Fear, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
Beneath the Mountain, by Luca D’Andrea (translated by Howard Curtis)
Mary Queen of Scots, by Antonia Fraser
A Kiss Before Dying, by Ira Levin
Cyberman 1.3: Conversion, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
Cyberman 1.4: Telos, by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish audio drama)
The Silent Stars Go By, by Dan Abnett
The Shadow Killer, by Arnaldur Indriðason (translated by Victoria Cribb)
The Deepest Grave, by Harry Bingham
The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster (Project Gutenberg)
47 Sorrows, by Janet Kellough
Insurrection, by Robyn Young (Overdrive, abandoned)
Death-Watch, by John Dickson Carr
The Dam Busters, by Paul Brickhill
Mrs. Pollifax Pursued, by Dorothy Gilman (reread)
Glass Houses, by Louise Penny
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, by David Hume (Project Gutenberg)

My favourite book of the month was Mary Queen of Scots, by Antonia Fraser. An excellent portrait of Mary and the benchmark by which I will judge other treatments of her.

My least favourite book was Insurrection, by Robyn Young. I liked the idea of a new trilogy about Robert the Bruce, but I couldn’t get into it for some reason.

Currently reading

Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy (translated by Constance Garnett) — Serial Reader book. Getting there…
A Bridge Too Far, by Cornelius Ryan — Haven’t picked this up in a while. Wondering if I should just declare it finished at this point :-/
Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy — Serial Reader book. Wow, there is a lot of angst in this.
Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth, by Frank Cottrell Boyce (audio, read by Peter Capaldi) — Guys this is the most adorable audiobook! It will probably be my favourite book of the month.
Portrait of the Clyde, by Jack House — I borrowed this from my grandma, and it is written in this delightfully droll style that I am enjoying immensely.
Tales from Watership Down, by Richard Adams — my September RandomCAT choice (Richard Adams was born in the same month as me).

October plans

I’ll probably have a boatload of library books to read as my holds start being reactivated. I’m also going to make a concerted effort to read the historical fiction books in my Pool, starting with The Disorderly Knights (now that I’ve finally finished the biography of Mary Queen of Scots).

On the library shelves:

Dumb: Living Without a Voice, by Georgia Webber — a spontaneous request from the graphic novel collection. (This is a graphic memoir rather than a novel, but anyway.)
Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading, by Lucy Mangan — this one came in faster than I’d anticipated. Aesthetically it’s reminding me of my edition of Tales from Watership Down, so those two might make a good pairing.
Human Errors: Pointless Bones, Runaway Nerves, and Other Human Defects, by Nathan H. Lents — this title caught my eye in the catalogue. As the owner of two suddenly temperamental knees and an occasionally dodgy back, I will be interested to read about why they are how they are.
How Do We Look: The Body, the Divine, and the Question of Civilization, by Mary Beard — another new request that came in faster than anticipated. It looks like it’s packed with illustrations, which is great!
The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World, by Simon Winchester — a re-request. I’m hoping that now that my to-read-borrowed shelf is actually somewhat manageable, I can get this done in a reasonable amount of time.

Also time for the Q3 update on my Pool:



Only six books to go! CAN I DO IT?!

You have done really well on reading books from your pool and I think you will complete them all by year's end. A few years ago I read a book by Robyn Young about the Crusades, a time period I was excited to read about, but I didn't like her book and never continued on with the trilogy. I think she just isn't an author for me.

Your purchase of a Lennox book reminds me I need to get back to that series!

>144 DeltaQueen50: I just thought I was giving it a hard time because I was comparing it to Nigel Tranter's trilogy. And maybe I was daunted by the length; so many books these days seem long for the sake of being long. But it is a relief to be able to cross a trilogy off one's list!

It is such a good series! Hoping to get my mum hooked on it too.

Yes, you can do it! And probably more besides. Good luck!

>146 mstrust: Thanks for the encouragement! Half of that total is historical novels, so I will have to get really stuck in! Fortunately I am set to have a weekend to myself at the end of the month. Could be a good time for a readathon.

****

I'm getting right back into it with my reading.

Tales from Watership Down, by Richard Adams
Category: The Doctor Falls (September RandomCAT)
Source: Strand Books, NYC
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/114853302

Oh, this was lovely. Beautiful illustrations in my edition, and just a really good size. Many thanks to Robertgreaves for coming up with the challenge that brought this one to the top of the pile.

Dumb: Living Without a Voice: A Graphic Memoir, by Georgia Webber
Category: Smile
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/160997056

This graphic memoir tells the story of Georgia when she develops a vocal injury and is told to not talk for six months to let her voice heal. Speaking is something most of us take for granted; how will Georgia be able to navigate our highly talkative society? The art is very good in this and depicts the frustration and tangled thoughts especially well. The only thing I think this could have used was an afterword saying how she was doing.

It's Thanksgiving weekend! Yay! The plan is to read, watch DVDs, eat food, and maybe even set up my 2019 challenge thread...

I've also had time to put together a couple of book reviews.

Portrait of the Clyde, by Jack House
Category: The Eaters of Light
Source: borrowed from Grandma
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/160905914

If this book is any indicator of the rest of the "Portrait" series, which looks at different areas of the UK, I need to read more of them! I enjoyed the author's continually droll style and how it just ended without any faffing around with a high-blown conclusion. It was published almost 50 years ago -- would be interesting to see a revisited version :)

Human Errors: Pointless Bones, Runaway Nerves, and Other Human Defects, by Nathan H. Lents
Category: The Lie of the Land
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/160997128

This was an amusing overview of how weird and seemingly inefficient our bodies are. I felt the book was on more solid ground when talking about physical oddities and comparing how humans evolved to how other species evolved. The bits about the brain's weird behaviour left me a bit unsure; if you're interested in that sort of thing, I'd suggest reading Dean Burnett's The Idiot Brain instead.

So far I have been successful in all of my goals this weekend. Yesterday I read, finished up a library DVD, ate food, and set up my 2019 thread. Today is Thanksgiving dinner with the BF's family and the season premiere of Doctor Who, which is exciting! I haven't been watching any trailers for the new season because I want to see the whole thing in context; trailers don't always do a good job of that.

Anyway, I've also reviewed a couple more books.

A Bridge Too Far, by Cornelius Ryan
Category: Thin Ice, The Doctor Falls (July RandomCAT)
Source: BMV
Rating: 2/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/116824988

This was several chapters too far for me. I enjoyed the 1977 film, which was adapted from this book (by William "S. Morgenstern" Goldman), but the book was a bit of a slog for me. It is possible that I've burned out on WW2 books, too, so I've tagged this "it's not you, it's me". I think readers who are fully prepared for tackling it as a chunkster will succeed in finishing it.

Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading, by Lucy Mangan
Category: Extremis
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/160997079

I enjoyed this memoir of childhood reading. I've read some of the same books and relate a great deal to young Lucy's mindset, although we started reading adult fiction at different times (I started earlier). This made for a great afternoon of reading.

Thoughts on The Woman Who Fell To Earth?

>150 neverstopreading: I loved it! I liked how the team was put together and the dynamics were established quickly. And it was just good to see Jodie in context, finally...especially how she put that outfit together! Something tells me Four and Six would have liked charity shops too, had they known about them. And seeing how her sonic screwdriver was created helps it make so much more sense than it did when I first saw it in shops.

But really, I'm just always happy to have new Doctor Who. I like all of the Doctors for different reasons, so any episode of Doctor Who is a good episode in my books.

After spending most of this year in relatively fine fettle, I seem to finally have come down with a cold. Annoying, especially because I spent a good chunk of my Thanksgiving Monday trying to sleep it away, but I couldn't sleep for very long.

Fortunately, there were books to finish.

Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth, by Frank Cottrell Boyce (audio, read by Peter Capaldi)
Category: Knock Knock
Source: iTunes
Rating: 5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/148266264

Why yes I DID purchase a book intended for 10-year-olds simply because of the audiobook narrator. And he is excellent. I had so much fun with this on my trip and was glad to finish it today when I wanted a story read to me in a familiar voice :)

Seventy-Seven Clocks, by Christopher Fowler
Category: Knock Knock
Source: library, via Overdrive
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/160770307

I hadn't read a Bryant and May book in quite some time and borrowed this one off Overdrive while I was in Scotland (just to be able to say I had books out from the library). It was all right, but I think I peaked in my reading of that series back when I was reading it more obsessively. It's still a good series; I'm just not sure it was *exactly* the right time to read the book. A good fit rather than a perfect fit.

This cold is still kicking my butt. I've been off sick for two days and have graduated to teleworking for the rest of the week. Stupid cold. But thank goodness for telework!

When I've been able, I've been reading.

How Do We Look: The Body, the Divine, and the Question of Civilization, by Mary Beard
Category: Smile
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/160997093

This book is an accompaniment to Mary Beard's Civilisations programme and contains plenty of full-colour photographs of the art being discussed. Beard talks about how the human body has been portrayed in art over the centuries, how it would have been viewed at the time, and how we view it now. Very interesting stuff.

1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, by James Shapiro
Category: Thin Ice
Source: Richard Booth’s Bookshop, Hay-on-Wye, Wales
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/145799896

This book has finally persuaded me to read As You Like It. I really enjoyed reading about this and the three other plays Shakespeare wrote in 1599 (Henry V, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet) in the context of then-current events and the theatrical world the players and the audiences would have known. I'll have to hunt down a copy of Shapiro's The Year of Lear as well.

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I also finally ended up deciding that Ten Days in Summer, my RandomCAT pick for February, was really never going to be read, for various reasons, so the "send to the book sale" bag just got a bit fuller.

I'm just catching up with your thread and enjoyed hearing about your vacation, and especially about all the great books you acquired!

I'm glad to see you liked Glass Houses. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book.

>154 mathgirl40: Oh man so many books! AND I bought the Doctor Who comics bundle from Humble Bundle.

The next book should be good! I received a sneak preview of the first couple of chapters but forgot to read it :-/

Doing better than I was earlier in the week. Hoping to go to work tomorrow; we have an all-day conference, so that should be a low-key way to get back into the swing of things.

I've been watching a lot of movies... yesterday I watched the animated children's movie "Ferdinand", solely because David Tennant had a voice role. And then I found that Kate McKinnon had a voice role too! I enjoyed the movie, although I had very low expectations, so your mileage may vary.
My BF and I also watched "Thor: Ragnarok", which helped him make sense of some plot points in Avengers: Infinity War. I was frequently laughing to the point of coughing fits; Taika Waititi makes the kind of superhero movie I like, one that doesn't take itself too seriously.

And on Friday I finished a Serial Reader book:

Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy
Category: The Pilot
Source: Serial Reader
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/159602432

I found this one surprisingly readable, if really angsty in places. A good one to read in installments.

Glad you are feeling better! Enjoy an easy day tomorrow and hope the rest of the week is the same.

>157 VivienneR: Thanks, Vivienne! I hope you have a good week as well.

Managed to get through the week. We had an all-day conference on Monday but I ended up going for only the afternoon. Even just the half day totally fried my brain, but the not talking much definitely helped me continue to recover from my cold. Went out for dinner on Wednesday with some colleagues, which was a lot of fun. Had a couple of appointments as well, so I am not surprised that I didn't get up until almost 10 a.m. today!

I've also been reading, of course... and accumulating library books...

McNally’s Chance, by Vincent Lardo
Category: World Enough and Time, The Doctor Falls (October RandomCAT)
Source: bought secondhand
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/70443810

This was a re-read for the RandomCAT, where the theme was playing cards -- my copy of this book has playing cards on the cover. It's not my favourite book in the series, and the plot is kind of awkward to read about in 2018, but I still enjoy hanging out with Archy.

The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World, by Simon Winchester
Category: The Lie of the Land
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/160997112

This is a really interesting book. It covers a variety of topics within the domain of "precision" but feels less overwhelming than Pacific, which took me three renewals to finish. I particularly enjoyed Chapter 6, which is about jet engines (and mentions an accident investigation). I'd recommend The Perfectionists if you're interested in the history of science and technology.

Glad you're finally shaking off that cold!

>160 RidgewayGirl: Thanks! I am too, especially that I was well enough to attend the dinner with my colleagues. I'm still coughing a bit (especially if I laugh too hard, which happened a few times at dinner), but I'm basically running at, say, 98% capacity.

>159 rabbitprincess: I'm currently in the middle of the audio (read by Winchester--he is a GREAT reader, by the way) of The Perfectionists, and finding it fascinating, even though I am clueless about science and technology. One fact that, of course, should have been obvious to me but wasn't until I listened to this book, was that machines to make things (tools, other machines, parts, etc.) had to be perfectly level in order for everything that follows to be precise. That was an Aha! moment for un-technological me.

>162 kac522: Glad to hear that the audiobook is good too! I was amazed by how many of his own life experiences he could tie to the subject matter.

>159 rabbitprincess: - I'm taking a BB for The Perfectionists and also telling a friend who is an engineer about it. So far I've only read his book about the Oxford dictionary, but I've got a few of his other ones on my radar.

>164 dudes22: It was a really neat book! My FIL (also an engineer) thought it sounded interesting too and decided to add it to his Christmas list :)

Winchester's book on Krakatoa was good too, from what I remember, although I really think I need to re-read it. So much of what I read before Goodreads and LT feels rather hazy.

Keeping up the pace. Not much else to report otherwise!

Miss Kopp Just Won’t Quit, by Amy Stewart
Category: The Pyramid at the End of the World
Source: library
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/161101678

I've really enjoyed bingeing on this series this year. Now I'm caught up...

The Rose and the Ring, by William Makepeace Thackeray
Category: The Empress of Mars
Source: Serial Reader
Rating: 3/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/161395654

A very silly short book on Serial Reader. I found it entertaining and refreshing as a contrast to Anna Karenina ;)

I'm having a little readathon this weekend. The goal is to finish The Disorderly Knights, by Dorothy Dunnett, so that I can start a new bus book on Monday. But because my brain needs breaks, I have some short books to get through. Here's one I borrowed from the library.

The Little Book of Feminist Saints, by Julia Pierpont and Manjit Thapp
Category: Smile
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/161261974

This would make a good companion to Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World, by Pénélope Bagieu. There is some overlap of content, but the presentation differs enough that I think they would work well together.

Good luck with your readathon. I am looking at my challenge and figuring out how many books I still need to finish. Usually I am done by this time of year, but I think I will be working on this one until well into December.

>168 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy! I finished The Disorderly Knights, which was the main purpose of the readathon. Good luck with the rest of your challenge!

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Scotland is getting a fair bit of attention in this batch of reading.

The Disorderly Knights, by Dorothy Dunnett
Category: The Eaters of Light
Source: Book Bazaar
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/138119834

The first 2/3 of this book are set in Malta, and my attention wandered a fair bit, although that could also have been partly due to my ill-advised decision to make this a bus book. I hope the next book stays more in Scotland.

Red Bones, by Ann Cleeves
Category: The Eaters of Light
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: https://www.librarything.com/review/161262003

Pretty good -- it kept my attention and I ended up requesting the next book right away.

Do join me on my highly classy 4th thread to round out the year.