TBR@54

Starting a new thread and new count (previous thread). Borrowed from a friend of my father's is Stephen Johnson's Later Roman Britain.

My review of Bad Science:

How between them nutritionists, alternative practitioners, big pharma, and the media have bamboozled and confused the public with a distorted view of science through a combination of ignorance, carelessness, and malice.

Excellent book. Half the time i didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or be chilled as the author discusses case after case.

Hi Robert, I am just checking into your new thread and leaving a star to mark it. Looking forward to seeing what you read off your shelves over this year.

Happy Birthday! I had a little trouble with your link on the old thread. But I still found you. :)

Starting my no. 2, Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, not off the TBR pile.

My review of Later Roman Britain:

History of Britain from roughly 300 to 500 mainly based on archaeology.

Not an easy read, and not helped by convoluted sentences and badly captioned illustrations. Sometimes the captions contradicted the text, sometimes I just couldn't see the features mentioned in the captions in the illustrations.

Starting my no. 3, Anthony Trollope's The Macdermots of Ballycloran, one of my dad's books.

My review of Childhood's End:

The Overlords take over Earth, ushering in a golden age. But what is their purpose?

Classic SF novel. Obviously dated in some respects, but still a great story.

Couldn't get on with The Macdermots of Ballycloran, so have moved onto a new no. 3, Arthur C. Clarke's Collected Short Stories (doesn't appear to have a touchstone), which is an ebook and not from the TBR pile.

Back at home now, so I can report that there are now 60 books in the TBR pile.

Looking forward to hearing about these new additions as you clear them from your shelves.

Thanks for dropping by, DeltaQueen50. I'm starting the year with 6 fewer books on the TBR shelves than last year. So I should clear the shelves in 10 years. Ha!

Yes, there's no sense in fooling ourselves, as fast as I create space on my shelves, I'm filling them back up again. So this challenge is really a never ending quest.

Would you wish it to be otherwise? Think about running out of things to read! :-o

I was in that dreadful situation once. I was living in Banjarmasin, quite a small place despite being a provincial capital. Very few English books available. My Indonesian reading ability went up by leaps and bounds. ;-)

Moving on to my No. 4 Ellis Peters's A Morbid Taste for Bones. I last read this about 3 years ago, and am now going to re-read it because I've now got the whole series, with three of them in the TBR pile.

I've also added William Beckford's Vathek to the TBR pile as a re-read after having recently read an article about Beckford.

My review of Arthur C. Clarke's "Collected Short Stories":

All the short stories Clarke ever wrote from 1937 to 1999.

Some of the stories were very familiar from having been anthologised many, many times, while others were new to me. The imagined futures say as much about the times they were written as about the future. Some changes have been for the better, some for the worse. In particular I wonder what happened to the optimism about scientific and technological progress and in particularly about space exploration. It's sad that we've lost that.

Having finished Ellis Peters's A Morbid Taste for Bones and One Corpse Too Many, I am now reading my No. 6, Monk's Hood.

I have been wondering about those books, so I look forward to your thoughts.

Now reading Cadfael 4, my no. 7 Saint Peter's Fair. My reviews of the earlier books in the series (from last time I read them):

A Morbid Taste for Bones:
Cadfael's first outing. He is sent with a party of monks into Wales to get hold of the bones of a neglected saint for the abbey. But the locals don't want to let the saint go, and then the body of the spokesman for the locals' opposition is found murdered. Cadfield sorts it all out and makes sure love wins out as well.

One Corpse Too Many:
Tasked with preparing executed POWs for burial, Cadfael finds an extra corpse has been smuggled in amongst them. He investigates while smoothing the way for young lovers trapped in enemy territory.

On one level I enjoy these books very much -- Ms. Peters is a gifted story-teller -- but on another I can't help but wonder whether life was like that at the beginning of the Anarchy.

Would there really have been this air of courteous chivalry? Would interaction between Norman and Saxon have been quite so smooth? What language are all these people speaking anyway? The Norman Conquest was in the lifetime of the parents and grandparents of the characters, and the Abbey itself was built in the lifetime of the older characters. It's the idealisation of life under Good King Richard pushed back 50-odd years and it does jar occasionally.

Monk's Hood:
The lord of a manor has promised to leave the manor to Shrewsbury Abbey in exchange for retirement benefits. He is poisoned before the deal is completed and the most likely suspect is his stepson, whose mother turns out to be an old flame of Cadfael's.

Enjoyable story. There were a couple of places where I wondered what language the characters were speaking. I think this is a recurring problem in the books that Peters doesn't do enough to address. Did Cadfael do the right thing with the murderer? We've got no way of knowing, we just have to trust in his judge of character.

Nice reviews. Thanks!

Moving on to Cadfael 5, my no. 8, The Leper of Saint Giles.

My review of Saint Peter's Fair (unchanged since last time I read it):

A merchant is found dead the night after a protest march gets out of hand. Was the leader of the protest march to blame? Or are there deeper games afoot? Cadfael investigates as the nobility manoeuvre for power in the run-up to civil war.

Ellis Peters is a great storyteller, even though I still have my doubts about whether she's really caught the social setting quite right.

Cadfael 6, The Virgin in the Ice, is my no. 9.

My review of The Leper of Saint Giles:

After a while the murders and young love in peril tend to blur one into another when reading these books.

In this installment, a young heiress is being married off against her will to a man old enough to be her grandfather, but the wedding is halted by a murder. A squire who is in love with the young heiress is accused of the murder. Naturally all ends happily, but there is one final, moving, revelation.

Brother Cadfael is an intriguing but comforting character. With him to help and with Father Radulfus to oversee things, what irreparable harm could come to us?

Cadfael 7, The Sanctuary Sparrow, is my No. 10.

My review of The Virgin in the Ice (unchanged from last time):

At the request of an old chum, Cadfael goes to another monastery to help with the care of a sick monk. We see the effects of disorder at the top further down the scale in society with refugees from the sack of Worcester and outlaws involved in the latest mystery.

I would have given this a higher rating, but naughty Ms. Ellis uses the same effect twice in this book with different characters (and it's one she's used before in other books).

Starting Cadfael 8, The Devil's Novice, my No. 11.

My review of The Sanctuary Sparrow (unchanged from last time I read it):

The monks' midnight service is interrupted by a travelling entertainer with a lynch mob hot on his heels. He claims sanctuary and is granted 40 days. Did he do what he's been accused of? Cadfael investigates.

One couple involved ends happily, the other doesn't. But even so there is hope:

'Old friend,' said Hugh, shaking his head with rueful affection, 'I doubt if even you can get Susanna into the fold among the lambs. She chose her way, and it's taken her far out of reach of man's mercy, if ever she'd lived to face trial. And now, I suppose,' he said, seeing his friend's face still thoughtful and undismayed, ' you will tell me roundly that God's reach is longer than man's.'
'It had better be,' said Brother Cadfael very solemnly, 'otherwise we are all lost.'

Starting Cadfael 9 Dead Man's Ransom, my no. 12.

My review of The Devil's Novice (a bit more positive than last time I read it):

A new novice is tormented by terrible nightmares which might be a clue to the disappearance of a high ranking clergyman. Cadfael sticks by the boy even when he admits to murder.

A run of the mill adventure for Cadfael, but that still puts it way above a lot of the dross out there.

Starting The Fourth Cadfael Omnibus, which contains Cadfael 10, 11, and 12. This is my No. 13.

My review of Dead Man's Ransom:

An exchange of prisoners after the battle of Lincoln goes wrong when one of the prisoners is murdered at Shrewsbury Abbey. Everyone thinks the other prisoner is guilty -- except Cadfael.

I must admit I do have qualms in this one about Cadfael's attitude that the murder wasn't in character so we'll let the murderer go so he can spend the rest of his life repenting.

Starting my no. 14, Cadfael 13, The Rose Rent.

Added Paradise Lost to the TBR pile after reading an article about C S Lewis's introduction to it, which is on line.

My review of the stories in The Fourth Cadfael Omnibus unchanged from last time:

The Pilgrim of Hate
Perhaps the best of the Brother Cadfael series so far. We catch up with some characters from previous books and the lyrical passages of devotion to St. Winifred and her miracles are very moving. Then we're brought down with a bump to an intriguing mystery as the world goes on, with repercussions from the high politics of the struggle for power between King and Empress making themselves felt.

An Excellent Mystery
It is. All the mayhem takes place off-stage and is only responsible for bringing the story of a vanished young woman to Cadfael's attention when two monks whose monastery has been burnt to the ground in the wars end up in Shrewsbury. But that's not the real mystery.

The Raven in the Foregate
A bit too reminiscent of One Corpse Too Many in the lovers' subplot. Cadfael's helper is not what he seems, and Hugh and Cadfael are on opposite sides again, though without spoiling their friendship. A very satisfactory outcome for the mystery element.

I read Paradise Lost not that long ago, but I never have read Paradise Regained. Are you going to read that one, too?

Did you hear about our big earthquake? (5.6, the biggest ever recorded in OK history including before statehood.) I don't know how people stand bigger ones. Yikes!

I saw about it in your thread, but otherwise nothing, but I've been quite busy at work recently so I haven't been keeping up with the news. It sounds like you've been having quite an eventful year.

I've never read Paradise Regained, my Penguin edition only has Paradise Lost. Maybe when I get to it, I'll either buy PR or read it online.

This has been quite a year for Oklahoma. :) I always intended to read Paradise Regained, but I had forgotten all about it. I am going to look for a copy.

Now starting my No. 15, Cadfael 14, The Hermit of Eyton Forest.

My review of The Rose Rent (unchanged from last time I read it):

The rosebush in the garden of a house a well-off widow has given to the abbey is mutilated. And then the widow herself vanishes. Cadfael investigates.

Judith Perle, the widow, is a wonderful character to add to the gallery of characters in this series. But she deserves a better story.

Starting my No. 16, Cadfael 15, The Confession of Brother Haluin.

My review of The Hermit of Eyton Forest (unchanged since last time I read it):

Another one where the characters deserve a better story. Though actually, the story wasn't bad, Hyacinth obviously belonged to something much more interesting.

I may have already asked you this, but how do you like your ereader? I keep going back and forth on getting one. I am mostly worried about it crashing and then losing all my books.

I haven't really got an ereader, I read ebooks on my laptop or my ipod touch. It's a bit cumbersome, so now that I've figured out a way to get books for it I might well get a Kindle next time I get back to the UK. As I understand it, most ebook suppliers also store your books on their system anyway so that if your device does crash you can download them again.

Starting Cadfael 16, my no. 17, The Heretic's Apprentice.

My review of The Confession of Brother Haluin (unchanged since last time I read it):

Brother Haluin makes a deathbed confession but doesn't die. He wants to make some reparation, but sets off an unexpected series of events.

One of her best, not so much because of the mystery, the answer to which was pretty obvious, but because of the atmosphere and the characters, especially the formidable dowager, Adelais.

That's a relief to know. I still don't have an ipod, and I heard on the news a couple of weeks ago that they will not be made much longer. I guess people use smart phones instead. I don't have a smart phone either. I guess I am living in the 20th Century still.

Starting my Cadfael 17, my no. 18, The Potter's Field, which is from the TBR pile and brings it down to 61 books.

My review of The Heretic's Apprentice (unchanged from the last time I read it):

Elave arrives back in Shrewsbury with his dead master's body and a box containing a dowry for his master's foster daughter to find himself accused of heresy and murder.

This was a very atmospheric tale, with some exciting moments as the story unfolded. This being Cadfael, we know that young love will triumph, but it also affirms that books and beliefs are important.

Starting Cadfael 18, my no. 19, The Summer of the Danes. This brings the TBR pile down to 60.

My review of The Potter's Field:

A body is found buried in a field recently donated to the Abbey. But who was she? Why was she buried in unconsecrated ground? Had she been murdered?

One of the best and most intriguing of the Brother Cadfael mysteries. As usual, great subsidiary characters in a heady combination of mystery, historical novel, and romance.

Starting Cadfael 19, my no. 20, The Holy Thief. I have read this before but a very long time ago, pre-LT, and I don't really remember anything about it. Not from the TBR pile.

My review of The Summer of the Danes:

Sent as an interpreter on a diplomatic ecclesiastical mission from the Bishop of Coventry to the Bishops of St. Asaph and Bangor, Cadfael gets caught up in a dynastic feud between two Welsh princes and then gets kidnapped in an invasion by Danish mercenaries from the kingdom of Dublin.

This story was an exciting one with lots of tension and historical interest, but the actual murder wasn't really necessary. Cadfael found the body and happened to be present for the murderer's deathbed confession but otherwise the murder was irrelevant to the story.

Starting the last Cadfael, my no. 21 Brother Cadfael's Penance, which brings the TBR pile down to 59.

My review of The Holy Thief:

In the chaos of a flooding river, the abbey's relic of St. Winifred is stolen. A possible witness is murdered on the way to the abbey to give evidence.

This reads more like a sequel to The Potter's Field, with characters from that story followed up. But it has its own excitement and tension after a rather slow start.

Starting my no. 22, Indonesian Heritage: Visual Art by Hilda Soemantri, which brings the TBR pile down to 58.

My review of Brother Cadfael's Penance:

Olivier de Bretagne has vanished after becoming a POW when Faringdon castle was betrayed. Cadfael exceeds his leave from the monastery and goes on a quest to find him. Will the monastery accept him back?

Again, there is a murder but the discover of who committed it is inconsequential to the main story, which is afitting and moving end to the series.

I have read my No. 23 online Cordially Yours, Brother Cadfael edited by Anne K. Kaler. Review:

A collection of essays exploring the world of Brother Cadfael, his monasticism, ethics, theology, the historical background, his herbalism, etc. Although the essays vary in quality, they form a very interesting supplement bringing out themes in the books.

Reading my No. 24, Steven Saylor's Arms of Nemesis (not off the TBR pile).

Starting my No. 25, Anne Rice's Cry to Heaven, which brings the TBR pile down to 57.

My review from last time I read Arms of Nemesis (unchanged):

At the time of Spartacus's slave revolt, Lucius Lucinius is found dead in the Baiae villa belonging to his cousin Marcus Lucinius Crassus. The evidence points to two runaway slaves and the 99 other slaves in the household are going to be put to death. Mummius, Crassus's right hand man, and Gelina, the dead man's widow, ask Gordianus the Finder to help reveal the real culprit and stop the slaughter.

This was one of Gordianus's purely fictional adventures, not tied to any of Cicero's speeches. Saylor does a good job of evoking the times with only one massive information dump, where one character lectures the others on the history of slave revolts. Roman food is obviously one of Saylor's interests: in the three days of the story each meal is meticulously described.

As a mystery/thriller it works well with a good combination of action and ratiocination. There are also a couple of not unpleasant surprises in Gordianus's personal life.

Starting my No. 26, Jack Vance's Tales of the Dying Earth, which brings the TBR pile down to 56.

My review of Cry to Heaven:

Tonio Treschi, an 18th century boy in his early teens from a Venetian noble family with a beautiful singing voice, is castrated in a struggle for the family inheritance. He trains to become an opera singer and plots his revenge.

There was a time I loved Anne Rice's lush baroque prose but re-reading this book after 18 or 19 years I find it rather tiresome and kept wishing she'd just get on with the story. There were definitely times I felt she was on the verge of revealing that some of her characters were actually vampires. Despite that, it's a fascinating look at the world of the castrati.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given.

A merry Christmas or happy Solstice to all, as appropriate.

Starting my no. 27, Beowulf (no touchstone for the right edition), which is from the TBR pile. However, as I added Robinson Crusoe to the pile after listening to an "In Our Time" discussion on it, the TBR pile remains at 56.

My review of Tales of the Dying Earth:

This is an omnibus of four of Jack Vance's books written at different times during his career, but all set on Earth in the last few decades of the Sun's lifetime, many millions of years hence.

The first one, "The Dying Earth", is a collection of loosely connected stories with some recurring characters and places. The second and third books, "The Eyes of the Overworld" and "Cugel's Saga" recount the travels of a trickster Cugel the Clever, while the last book, "Rhialto the Marvellous", has three stories featuring the title character and his fellow magicians.

I enjoyed the first and last of the books but found the middle two rather tedious, repeating the same basic plot over and over again: Cugel thinks of a way to dupe some innocent only to find the tables turned but he is able to escape to continue with the next stage of his journey back to Almery. It was probably meant to be funny, but I didn't find it so. Another tedium-inducing device was the long lists of made-up words for weapons, monsters, precious objects or whatever, where the only clue to the meaning of the words was their inclusion in the list.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Did you go to Britain for the holidays?

Alas, no. Having just gone in October for my Dad's 80th birthday, I couldn't really go again.

Starting my No. 28, Tao Te Ching, which brings the TBR pile down to 55.

My review of Beowulf, unchanged since last time I read it:

A very smooth translation. In fact I often had to back up because the sound took over and I lost the thread of the meaning.

It was a different world, but one that still tugs at the heart even though I know I would hate it in reality -- and probably wouldn't last long either. It pulls no punches and although heroic it has a stark outlook that makes most sword and sorcery epics look soft and prettied up.

Starting my No. 29, Raymond Dawson's The Chinese Experience, which brings the TBR pile down to 54.

I have been wanting to read Beowulf for about a year now. I hope I read it this year.

Are you leaving your thread here or moving it to the new group? I set up my new thread for the 75 book challenge, but wasn't sure what to do here.

I will keep this thread going and then when it starts to get unwieldy move to the new group.

#49> What new group are you referring to?

>50 rocketjk:
rocketjk, for 2012 we started a new group:

http://www.librarything.com/groups/bombsbooksoffmybooks

Come on over!

Starting my no. 30, Simon Winchester's The Man Who Loved China, about Joseph Needham. I've added to the TBR pile some books I decided to re-read after conversations with friends, so the TBR pile is now at 57.

My review of The Chinese Experience:

A brief overview of traditional Chinese culture as expressed in politics, philosophy, social and economic activity, and the arts.

A little bit dated now, especially in its treatment of 20th century China, but still interesting.

Starting my No. 31, William Langland's Piers Plowman, which brings the TBR pile down to 56.

My review of The Man Who Loved China:

Interesting biography of Joseph Needham, the biochemist who planned and wrote most of a huge multi-volume history of Chinese culture, science and technology after falling in love with a Chinese scientist in the 1930s and spending most of the 2nd World War in China.

Starting my No. 32, Sam Wilkinson's Caligula, not off the TBR pile.

I think my amazon order with the Foundation books will arrive by the end of the week with the super slow shipping. Thanks for your patience. :) I have not had the reading speed this year due to my increased working, but I will make the Foundation books my priority since the other books are all so long. Since you already have Prelude to Foundation, do you have any thoughts on pace or how to divide up the reading?

By the way, I am enjoying Clarissa so far, which starts with a nice, slow pace.

The books in the core trilogy are quite short, about 200-250 pages each. The later books are not quite double that. So I would say a week or two weeks for each book.

Piers Plowman is going to take a while, and I've just started a short biography of Caligula, after which I want to read a novel about him, so I'm in no hurry to start. Just let me know when you're ready.

Have you had any thoughts yet about Lenten reading?

I haven't thought about Lenten reading yet, but it is coming up soon. I will give it some thought.

The only book I've got in my TBR pile which looks relevant is Timothy Radcliffe's What is the Point of Being a Christian?. I've also got his Why Go to Church? The Drama of the Eucharist, which I could re-read. He's a Dominican monk and former Master of the Order of Preachers.

Starting my no. 33, Douglas Jackson's Caligula.

My review of Sam Wilkinson's biography of Caligula:

Short biography arguing that Caligula was in fact a competent, intelligent ruler whose bad reputation was a result of him getting on the bad side of the senatorial class who wrote the histories.

I would be willing to read either book provided I can find a copy. I also have The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis, but I bet you have already read that. And I think I have a book by Eusebius on the early church.

I did see a translation of Eusebius while I was in Singapore, and nearly bought it, but didn't.

It's been a while since I read The Screwtape Letters, so I would have no objection to re-reading that and The Great Divorce again.

Either way is fine with me, too.

I got the Foundation books in the mail. Do you want me to start a group read thread? I was thinking about doing one thread for the series with the timetable you suggested. I read the back of the Prelude book and it looks pretty good!

It turns out that the Caligula novel I'm reading has a sequel, so I probably won't be ready till the end of next week, but once I've started I'll probably read through the Foundation books quite quickly, so don't let me hold you back.

I think you will probably outread me on them as my work schedule has played havoc with my reading and especially time on LT. I do have a major project for work due by the end of the month, so I will set up the thread maybe this weekend, but plan the start date next weekend. I hope to at least pick it up tomorrow for a few pages. :)

Starting my no. 34, Douglas Jackson's Claudius, an ebook, not from the TBR pile.

My review of Caligula:

The story of Rufus, slave of a wild animal supplier for the arena under Tiberius and later bought by Caligula to look after his elephant.

I didn't find the first half of the book very interesting. It relies on cliches of ancient Rome rather than building up a world for itself. For me the book only really got going once Rufus was well-established at the palace and caught up in the plots and counter-plots.

Although Jackson is definitely of the 'Caligula was a sadistic nut case' school of thought, he does appreciate that that is not the whole story. Many of the more outrageous but well known stories of Caligula are dismissed as misunderstandings of his sarcastic remarks. Nevertheless, this does leave us with some extremely unpleasant material to get through – I won't forget the description of the execution of Fronto quickly. Caligula does get credit for some good intentions and a desire to rule well.

Here is the thread for the Foundation series group read:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/131473


I put a start date of January 28th, but I decided to follow your advice and start a little early. I am enjoying Prelude to Foundation so far.

Time for me to start as well. So my no. 35 is Isaac Asimov's Prelude to Foundation, which leaves the TBR unchanged at 56, as I have put Sir Gawain and the Green Knight on the TBR pile as a re-read after reading an interesting article about its setting.

My review of Claudius:

After the death of Caligula, Rufus and Bersheba get caught up in Claudius's invasion of Britain.

Douglas Jackson takes a much much more imaginative approach to his material in this story of diplomatic and military manoeuvring in the early stages of the Roman conquest of southern Britain, but is still well-grounded in the sources. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Claudius sounds like a good read. I added it to my wishlist.

It follows on from the same author's Caligula but I think it would work as a stand alone as well.

I should have noticed that. I went ahead and added that one, too, although I thinking that you did not like it as much as the second book.

That's right.

Moving on to Isaac Asimov's Forward the Foundation, my no. 36.

I am enjoying Prelude to Foundation quite a bit. I am a little over halfway.

Next up is Isaac Asimov's Foundation, my No. 37.

Wow, you are really zooming. I just now finished the first one and it was terrific! I am looking for where on Earth (or Aurora) I put the second one. I had to clean house for company, and it is not where I thought it was. I have way more books than my house can really hold. But I think I will come across it today.

I am sorry that I have been such a slow reader this year.

My copy of Forward the Foundation says that it is the last book of the Foundation series. What did you think? I am ready to start it, but I thought I would double-check with you since you have already read it.

It was Asimov's last book before he died. He had AIDS from a contaminated blood transfusion (he was given the transfusion long before anybody knew anything about HIV transmission) and knew he didn't havelong to live. It is definitely a farewell performance.

I guess that is why it said it was his masterpiece! Thanks!

Reading my no. 38, A Christmas Carol, today in honour of Charles Dickens's bicentenary.

It's not off the TBR pile, but I was with a friend in a bookshop on Sunday and he wanted to take advantage of a 50% off offer, which needed a minimum purchase of two books. You have to help your friends out, don't you? So the TBR pile has increased to 57.

Starting my No. 39, Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Empire.

Moving on to No. 40, Isaac Asimov's Second Foundation.

Starting my No. 41, Isaac Asimov's Foundation's Edge, which brings the TBR pile down to 56.

You are really zooming through the books! I am sorry that I have been reading so slowly. I am halfway through Forward the Foundation. I am thinking that the middle three books might go more quickly.

I picked up a copy of The Great Divorce today at Barnes and Noble. I was there getting my Grandma some books on CD and a gift card for my niece. I couldn't remember the names of the other two books. Which ones were you planning on for Lent?

I can't believe it is almost Lent. I tell my Sunday School class that there is no candy jar during Lent. Instead we do good deeds and write them down on leaves for our Good Deed Tree. This year, I have a student from Bolivia and one from Germany. So I am learning prayers in Spanish and German. :)

I was thinking of reading Timothy Radcliffe's What is The
Point of Being a Christian? and Why Go to Church? The Drama of the Eucharist.

Moving on to No. 42, Foundation and Earth, which brings the TBR pile down to 55.

Taking Timothy Radcliffe's What is the Point of Being a Christian off the shelf to start tomorrow (Ash Wednesday) as my no. 43. It's from the TBR pile but the pile remains unchanged at 55 because I've added John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.

I haven't been able to order this book yet, so I will start with The Screwtape Letters. I hope to order the books tonight.

Starting my no. 44, Timothy Radcliffe's sort of sequel to What is the Point of Being a Christian?, Why Go to Church?.

My review of "What is the Point of Being a Christian?":

When Timothy Radcliffe was asked the title question by a friend he replied, "Because it's true," but apparently that wasn't a good enough answer for his friend.

In this book he explores what we mean by saying Christianity is by true in a culture where the idea of truth is losing respect. He moves on to discuss choices we make, personal and social treatment of others, courage, our nature as physical and social beings, and the fault lines between and within Christian denominations.

All in all, a very thought provoking book. Definitely one to keep and read and re-read.

I keep adding books to my Nook. My plan was only to add books as I read them. But they have the deal of the day. And I have so many real books to read that I haven't even started reading the Nook yet. At least they don't take up any space in my house.

I am starting Second Foundation tonight. I have lots to do, but I am dying to start it.

Starting Judith Geary's Getorix: The Eagle and the Bull. It's an ebook so doesn't reduce the TBR pile. I'm not getting anywhere with Piers Plowman, so I'm giving up on it for the time being. This means my book count stays at 44.

My review of Timothy Radcliffe's Why Go to Church (unchanged from last time I read it):

An interesting comparison between the parts of the Communion service and faith, hope, and charity, and the post Resurrection appearances of Jesus in John's Gospel. That makes it sound rather dry, but Radcliffe has a good sense of humour and lots of anecdotes to share.

Starting the next Getorix book "Getorix: Games of the Underworld" (no touchstone), my no. 45. Again this is an ebook and not from my TBR pile.

I forgot to mention that I incautiously went into a bookshop to buy a friend a present and came out with one for myself as well. I'm also watching a DVD of the BBC dramatisation of Little Dorrit, so I've added the book to the TBR pile as a re-read. I also recently heard a podcast by Steven Pinker so I've added his Words and Rules to the TBR pile as another re-read. The TBR pile now therefore stands at 58.

On to my No. 46, Elie Wiesel's Night. This is from the TBR pile, which now comes down to 57.

On to my No. 47, Dorothy L. Sayers's Lord Peter Views The Body. This is an ebook.

My review of Night:

Harrowing memoir of the author's time in Nazi concentration camps.

No. 48 is another of Dorothy L. Sayers's detective novels The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. Again, it's an ebook.

My review of Lord Peter Views the Body:

A collection of short stories starring Lord Peter Wimsey. All great fun. It was interesting seeing the 1920s crossword. I purposely didn't peek at the answers so I could have a go later.

I haven't read Dorothy Sayers in a long, long time. I am hoping to get back to the mystery genre maybe next year.

I have only one more of the Foundation books to read and have enjoyed them all so much. Thank you for starting me on this journey.

I am wishing you all the best for Easter!

Starting the next Lord Peter Wimsey mystery Strong Poison, my no. 49. Another ebook.

My review of The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club:

An elderly member of the Bellona Club is found dead of heart failure in a chair at the club. But did he die before or after his sister? Who inherits his sister's fortune of half a million pounds depends on the answer.

Good mystery. The obvious (and correct) answer only gets you half way to the solution. Lord Peter's silly ass dialogue did get on my nerves at times.

And on to the next story, Five Red Herrings, my No. 50. Another ebook.

My review of Strong Poison:

The jury can't agree on whether Harriet Vane murdered her ex lover. The judge declares a mis-trial. Can Lord Peter Wimsey find proof to exonerate her before the new trial begins?

Lord Peter is in love. It suits him and makes him less of a silly ass. Good mystery and suspense. I felt quite concerned over whether the ladies from the Cattery were going to get caught by the real murderer.

Starting my No. 51, Adrian Goldsworthy's Antony and Cleopatra, which is another ebook. I'm reading this for my online Roman History reading group.

My review of Five Red Herrings:

An unpopular and quarrelsome member of an artists' colony in SW Scotland is found dead in a burn below some rocks. He died from head wounds rather than drowning. Was it the result of a fall or something more sinister?

I found the continual Scottish eye dialect in this one rather tedious. I also had some trouble remembering who was who and the details of the train timetables. Not one of her more enjoyable efforts.

We had an office outing to Singapore a week ago, and I strayed into a bookshop. I came out with 5 books, one of which I read a few pages of and then lent to a friend who really, really wanted to read it.

A colleague writes short stories for magazines and he gave me a book of his collected stories, which I've started as No. 52: Dongeng Kampung Kecil.

I'm also starting Robert Darnton's The Case for Books (No. 53).

The TBR pile now stands at 60.

Starting Jeremy Reed's Boy Caesar, my no. 54, which brings the TBR pile down to 59.

My review of The Case for Books:

A collection of essays written by a historian of the book, who is now director of Harvard library. The essays are grouped into three sections: future, present and past.

The main theme of the essays on the future is Google Book Search's attempt to make available online the contents of major libraries and the possible consequences, good and bad, if Google succeeds and doing this. This was very interesting and thought provoking, if somewhat repetitive. Even though the book was published in 2009, it already feels somewhat dated by the ever-increasing availability of ebooks. Incidentally the blurb is somewhat misleading as it rather gave me the impression that the essays were going to be about ebooks v. printed books and the dominance in printed book retailing of Amazon, and in ebooks of Amazon, Apple, and Google.

The present section was the shortest and was mainly concerned with the author's forays into electronic publishing of academic works in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This again was interesting, particularly the author's trenchant remarks about the state of academic publishing brought about by the unnecessarily high prices charged by journals. This section also includes the horror story of how many libraries' holdings of newspapers in particular but books as well were destroyed by misguided attempts to transfer them to microfilm in an endeavour to save space.

The section about the past had some interesting things to say about how books were produced and distributed in the 17th and 18th centuries and how the experience of reading has changed over the last 400 years.

So was the future of the book overall positive? Or will all the bookstores close?

He didn't really discuss that, though it was what I thought it was going to be about. It was more about the effects on libraries of books being available through Google Book Search, the implications for copyright, does it give Google a monopoly that could be abused, and how will it affect the way we read and conceive of knowledge if start at the beginning and keep going to the end is no longer the dominant method.

I saw a news story today about Google seeking to mine asteroids as it has already achieved world domination. I never thought it would be as big as it has become, but I use the maps all the time.

Going away to a spa for a few days and taking with something I had been thinking of reading over Lent but didn't: John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. This is my no. 55 but the TBR pile is unchanged because I added Christopher Isherwood's A Single Man to the pile after watching the film on DVD.

Starting my No. 56, Paul Waters's Of Merchants and Heroes, which brings the TBR pile down to 58.

My review of Boy Caesar:
A fictional re-creation of the life of Heliogabalus is interwoven with the story of a present-day historian researching Heliogabalus's life for a thesis.

Bizarre. Episodes in the historian's life are supposed to echo episodes in Heliogabalus's until he meets a reincarnation of Heliogabalus in Rome. It could have been an interesting experiment but the author shows absolutely no sense that people in 3rd century Rome might have been different from people in the present day and the anachronisms become more and more glaring as we go along with forced parallels between then and now. The clunky prose doesn't help matters.

I hope your next book is better.

I've just finished Of Merchants and Heroes and am going back to read the second part of The Pilgrim's Progress.

"Of Merchants and Heroes" was wonderful. But I'll wait till my online discussion group says about it before I post a review.

The TBR pile has increased by one to 59 because "In Our Time" discussed Voltaire's Candide, so on to the TBR pile it went.

I also have Pilgrim's Progress on my tbr, so I look forward to your review.

Starting Anne Lamott's Grace (Eventually), which I saw was on sale when I went into a bookshop to buy something for a friend's birthday. It didn't even touch the TBR pile because I wanted something to read in chunks in between other things.

My review of Of Merchants and Heroes:

At the end of the wars against Hannibal a young Roman called Marcus and his father are captured by pirates. Marcus's father sacrifices his life to give Marcus a chance to escape. Marcus swears revenge and we follow him as an assistant to his rich merchant uncle/stepfather and as a friend and soldier of the general and politician Titus Quinctius Flamininus until he finally does get his revenge.

An exciting, well-written story that really takes you into the minds and actions of people from a civilization who are the same as us and yet different. A worthy successor who does for the Romans what Mary Renault did for the Greeks. 6 stars out of 5.

My review of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress:

In Part I Christian sets out from the City of Destruction to make his way to the Celestial City. In part 2 his wife Christiana and his children make the same journey.

This book gave me much to think about with regard to my own pilgrimage. Some parts left me cold, but may well have resonances at other stages of my life. There were also parts where I couldn't share Bunyan's point of view but it is definitely something I would like to read again.

Starting my no. 58, Mary Renault's The Mask of Apollo. This brings the TBR pile down to 58.

My review of Grace (Eventually):

Again, I felt that her striving for literary effect spoiled what could have been some interesting essays.

I hope you like Mask of Apollo. It's one of my very favorites.

Thanks for dropping by, MerryMary. I am enjoying it. Although I haven't read that one for a long time, I've been a huge Mary Renault fan since I was a teenager. I think my favourite is The Persian Boy.

Starting as my 59 the first of Mary Renault's Alexander trilogy Fire from Heaven (not from the TBR pile).

My review of The Mask of Apollo:

Nikeratos, an actor of the 4th century BC, comes to the attention of the statesman and diplomat Dion, son-in-law of the ruler of Syracuse and friend of Plato. As their paths cross over the years Nikeratos gets drawn into Syracusan politics and Plato's attempt to put his theories of a philosopher king into practice.

It took me a while to get into this one but Mary Renault knows how to draw her readers into the world she describes and the memorable characters she creates and re-creates.

Nice reviews! I tried to add Of Merchants and Heroes to my wishlist, but I guess amazon was not the best place to search.

When I think of all your long flights, I wonder how you deal with the jetlag. My dog thinks I am crazy.

Of Merchants and Heroes had a different title in the US: "The Republic of Vengeance".

They say jet lag lasts one day for every hour of time difference. I would be very hesitant to take a trip where I didn't have at least double that between the outward and homeward flights. Try not to nap during the day when you first arrive (easier said than done, I know). Accept that you're going to be hungry and wake up at crazy times and just grit your teeth and keep to your usual routine.

Thanks for the help with the jetlag. With a 7 hour difference, I guess that I will soon be better. I did not nap the first day, but I did go to bed at 7. But I have slept at lots of odd hours since.

Thanks for the US title to the book. I will try to search that one.

I found the title you listed. Thanks!

The Persian Boy is the second in Mary Renault's Alexander Trilogy. It is my no. 60 and brings the TBR pile down to 57.

My review of Fire From Heaven from the last time I read it:

The first of Mary Renault's novels about Alexander the Great, it takes us through his early life up to the assassination of his father, Philip of Macedon.

Basically, Mary Renault's works are the standard by which all other fiction set in the ancient world should be judged, and she is in top form in this novel. Somebody, I forget who, once said that the first sentence is one of the best openings ever: "The child was wakened by the knotting of the snake's coils about his waist."

As we watch the spectacular clashes between Alexander's parents, his interaction with soldiers, courtiers, and diplomats, his education, the famous story of the horse Bucephalus, and Alexander's developing relationship with Hephaistion, we can see that these are not 20th century people dressed up in ancient costumes, these are people from a very different society.

Real life probably wasn't quite the way Mary Renault portrays it. So much the worse for real life. Six stars out of five.

Somebody foolishly left me in a bookshop unsupervised today. I was a model of self restraint and only came out with two books to add to the TBR pile. I am also adding Barbara Pym's Excellent Women to the TBR pile to re-read after chatting about with a friend on Twitter. This takes the TBR pile back up to 60.

Now reading Neil S. Plakcy's Mahu Surfer, my no. 62.

My review of The Persian Boy:

When his family in Persia is wiped out by a political opponent, 10 year old Bagoas is castrated and sold into slavery as a eunuch. As his master becomes poorer he starts renting out Bagoas as a prostitute. Bagoas is eventually taken on as one of the Great King's eunuchs until Darius is murdered after a second defeat by Alexander the Great. Bagoas is given as a gift to Alexander, falls in love with him, and follows Alexander and his army as they try to bring the furthest flung reaches of the Persian empire under control.

High adventure and romance as we see Alexander the Great through a Persian's eyes. Bagoas was a real person, though we know very little about him, and the description of Alexander's career sticks to the facts as they have come down to us.

Some favourite quotes:

"I stood pressed to a tree. It looked a long way across the clearing. I remembered Susa. I was not like the others; I was loot."

"The living chick in the shell has known no other world. Through the wall comes a whiteness but he does not know it is light. Yet he taps at the white wall, not knowing why. Lightning strikes his heart; the shell breaks open.

I thought, There goes my lord, whom I was born to follow. I have found a King."

I also read one of the books I bought over the weekend, Mahu, bringing the TBR pile down to 59. My review:

Closeted gay cop in Hawaii, Kimo Kanapa'aka, accidentally witnesses a body being dumped outside a gay bar. Not wanting anybody to know he was at the bar, he phones in an anonymous tip off, thus setting in motion a series of events that out him on TV and uncover the secret lives of family and friends after he is assigned to the case.

A quick, entertaining read. I must admit I did find the scene where the murderer confesses very implausible.

On to the short stories in Mahu Men, my No. 63, which chronologically come after Mahu Surfer.

My review:

After the events in "Mahu" Kimo is assigned to undercover work investigating three mysterious shootings which appear to be related but without any links between the victims.

Again a quick and easy but not trashy read.

Starting No. 64, Mahu Fire.

Starting my no. 65, Annelise Freisenbruch's First Ladies of Rome.

My review of Mahu Fire:

A charity event attended by Kimo and his family and friends is firebombed and Kimo has to find out who dunnit.

It was the obvious and most cliched culprits, with some mildly interesting hidden motivations. The developments in Kimo's personal life are much more interesting than the main plot.

And my review of Mahu Men:

Short stories starring Kimo, billed as a mixture of erotica and mysteries.

The erotic stories are explicit but not particularly erotic. The mysteries are OK, but probably not very interesting for anyone who hadn't read any of the novels and got to know Kimo. One of them has an Indonesian diplomat as a character and is a great disappointment, revealing the author's ignorance about Indonesia and lack of research.

Starting my no. 66, Albert A. Bell Jr's All Roads Lead to Murder.

Starting my no. 67, the second book in Albert A. Bell Jr's series with Pliny the Younger as the detective, The Blood of Caesar.

My review of All Roads Lead to Murder:

In the year 83 AD, Pliny the Younger and his friend Tacitus are on the way back to Rome from government service in Asia. Travelling with a motley group they arrive in Smyrna, where a member of the party is found dead in the morning with his heart having been cut out. After examining the body with a doctor, Luke, who is travelling with a companion called Timothy, and drawing on the principles he learnt from his uncle and adoptive father, Pliny the Elder, author of the famous "Natural History", Pliny concludes that Cornutus was actually poisoned and his heart cut out some time after his death. Cornutus had a very beautiful slave girl called Chryseis who is in danger of being tortured and killed together with all of Cornutus's other slaves if the murderer is not found. Pliny tries to find out who the real murderer is.

There were rather heavy information dumps in the first couple of chapters as the author introduced the world of the first century AD but once the story got going, the author piled on the suspense in a very satisfactory way, with the seamier and more violent sides of Roman life playing graphic roles. At times Pliny's sensibilities did seem a bit too modern to be true, but they are not incompatible with how he appears from his surviving letters.

Ooh, All Roads Lead to Murder sounds interesting! I'm on a bit of an ancient-Rome kick at the moment so I shall have to get this from the library.

On to No. 68, The Corpus Conundrum.

My review of The Blood of Caesar:

Pliny and Tacitus have been invited to dinner and are approaching Domitian's palace with some trepidation. Josephus, one of the other guests, receives word that a body has been found in the library. Pliny correctly deduces that the dead man died elsewhere and his body was moved to the library. Impressed that Pliny had passed the test, Domitian asks him to track down a missing copy of Agrippina the Younger's memoirs with possibly explosive contents not found in other copies.

An intriguing and suspenseful mystery, somewhat spoiled by the fact that no genealogical tables are provided, which makes the core puzzle very difficult, if not impossible, to understand. I found key information difficult to follow even with a family tree. I suspect someone not familiar with the Julio-Claudians would be completely lost. It has to be said that Pliny really isn't very bright and fails to make some deductions until they have been obvious to the reader for several chapters.

Starting my No. 69, Ursula K. Le Guin's The Word for World is Forest. This is a book from the TBR pile but as I added The Iliad after listening to a podcast about Troy, the TBR pile stays at 60.

Starting my No. 70, Chronicles of the Maya Kings and Queens, which is from the TBR pile. I went to a sale yesterday and bought 6 books so the pile is now at 64.

My review of The Corpus Conundrum:

While "hunting" on one of his country estates, Pliny finds a dead man in the woods. After examining the body Pliny decides he died very recently but is unable to determine how and has him taken back to the stables to protect the body from animals. Although a guard was placed in the stables the body had vanished the next morning. A very handsome young man turns up claiming that the body was his 700 year old father who wasn't really dead, just in a trance. Then a mysterious young woman turns up claiming that on the contrary the body was her father who had been duped by the young man. The young woman may or may not be an empusa, a type of vampire. And then things start to get complicated.

This was both an intriguing puzzle and an amusing romp. I couldn't help but feel sorry for Pliny as these extraordinary people turn his world upside down, disrupting his household with their outrageous claims till he doesn't know what to believe. But rationality wins out in the end and a present day murder leads to the solution of another murder 15 years before as two families' secrets are laid bare.

My review of The Word for World is Forest:

The presence of a yuman colony on Ashthe poses a threat not only to the way of life of the local life form but to their very existence as they are cruelly enslaved and the forests on which they depend are cut down for timber to be shipped back to earth. Pushed beyond endurance the Ashtheans start to fight back, but this in itself involves killing other sentient beings which irrevocably changes their culture.

Ursula K. Le Guin does a great job alternating between the yuman and Ashthean viewpoints, though a few shades of grey might have been welcome rather than having all the yumans as weak, stupid, or evil and all the Ashtheans as noble, wise, and peace-loving.

Starting my 71, Three Tales of Love and Chivalry, part of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. This brings the TBR pile to 66 as I went into a bookshop intending to buy one book and came out with three!

My review of Chronicles of the Maya Kings and Queens:

After a brief introduction the book takes us reign by reign through various Classic Era Mayan city-states.

This book has some great illustrations but in many ways is a reference book rather than a narrative history to read straight through.

The Mayan lords put up stelae at calendrically significant dates with texts about the lord who sponsored the stela. Some buildings also have inscriptions. Unfortunately most of these texts are incomplete or otherwise not in very good condition, which makes them hard to read, so our historical knowledge is very incomplete.

I doubt that I'll retain more than a vague idea of lots of city states which waxed and waned in power and lots of fighting between the states.

Starting my No. 72, Dorothy L. Sayers's Have His Carcase, which is an ebook and so not off the TBR pile. I bought 2 books today, bringing the pile up to 68.

My review of Three Tales of Love and Chivalry:

Three of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: The Knight's Tale, The Squire's Tale, and The Franklin's Tale.

This was a good edition, pitched at round about the right level for me, with helpful vocabulary glosses but not too many unnecessary ones. A few notes on cultural matters and some of the allusions might have been useful. Even without that, I felt I was getting the drift most of the time.

It was possible to see how the characters had a different story-telling voice in each tale. The Knight's tale was perhaps the most foreign to a modern reader: two cousins in love with the same woman fight a joust with her hand in marriage as the prize. She would really much rather stay single but doesn't get any say in the matter. The Squire's tale looked like it was going to be very long and worthy of Scheherezade so I wasn't sure whether I was glad or sorry when he was cut off. The Franklin's tale was a lovely little tale of married love with a happy ending after the wife gets herself into trouble by speaking without thinking.

Starting my No. 73, Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, which brings the TBR pile down to 67.

My review of Have His Carcase:

Harriet Vane finds a dead body lying on a rock on a deserted beach. Everything points to the victim having cut his throat with a razor, but there was no reason why he should have. Harriet and Lord Peter Wimsey investigate.

I found this much easier to follow than her previous book, even though the code diagrams didn't come out in the ebook version. A few rueful remarks about train timetables may be a sign that Sayers agrees that "Five Red Herrings" didn't really work. I like Harriet Vane and her relationship with Lord Peter. Although the solution seems a bit of a cliche now, it was probably a good deal fresher in 1932.

Starting my no. 72, Malise Ruthven's Islam: A Very Short Introduction, which seems suitable as Ramadhan is starting on 20 July. It brings the TBR pile down to 66.

My review of Wolf Hall:

After a brief chapter describing why Thomas Cromwell left home in 1500, Hilary Mantel follows his career from 1527 as Wolsey's lawyer and protege to Cromwell's becoming Henry VIII's chief minister and the execution of Sir Thomas More in 1535, with one long-ish flashback chapter describing the events of the 1520s.

It's not always easy to follow the narrative as everything is told from Cromwell's point of view but still in the third person, so it's not always clear whether 'he' is Cromwell or somebody else. Also many characters are introduced with it being assumed that the reader already knows what Cromwell knows about them. This certainly left me thinking 'who?' at times. For all that, though, I would heartily recommend the book as a portrayal from an unusual point of view of a period that we think we know through tellings and re-tellings of the story of Henry and his wives.

Starting my No. 73, The Death of King Arthur, Peter Ackroyd's retelling of Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur. It's an ebook, so not off the TBR pile.

Starting my No. 74, Dorothy L. Sayers's Hangman's Holiday.

My review of The Death of King Arthur:

Version: ebook bought from www.booksonboard.com
Genre tags Classic, Arthurian Legend, Medieval

This is the ebook version of Peter Ackroyd's retelling/adaptation of Sir Thomas Malory's classic "Le Morte D'Arthur" in modern English.

Although in most stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Story we hear of knights fighting to defend the weak against dragons or evil oppressors, for most of the first part of this book, the knights seem to wander about at random fighting for no discernible reason. The extended story of Tristram and Isolde was quite frankly a mess. The narrative only really started to make sense with the story of the Holy Grail, followed by the story of Lancelot and Guinevere, which led to the war between Arthur and Lancelot and Mordred's attempted coup. The final few pages with Arthur's death and the final days of Lancelot and Guinevere were unexpectedly moving.

Taken as a whole I'm glad I read the book, but equally glad I didn't attempt the original Middle English version, which is apparently about 4 times as long.

Starting the next Lord Peter Wimsey novel, Murder Must Advertise, my No. 75.

My review of Hangman's Holiday:

Version ebook bought from www.booksonboard.com
Genre tags mystery

This ebook contains short stories written by Dorothy L. Sayers. Lord Peter Wimsey is the detective in four of stories, while the lesser known Montague Egg is the detective in six stories, and the last two stories are stand alone stories written from the point of view of the murderer.

The first two stories had intriguing solutions which led me to look up the medical conditions described, just to check. The other stories depended more on careful observation and bright ideas of the detectives. The Montague Egg stories are more humorous than the Wimsey stories, while the two stand alone stories have a very dark sense of humour, which quite surprised me.

Although I enjoyed all the stories in this book, I do think the Montague Egg stories and the two stand alone stories worked better as short stories. The main interest of the Wimsey stories was as additions to what we know of him from the novels.

On to the next in the series, my No. 76: The Nine Taylors.

My review of Murder Must Advertise:

Lord Peter goes undercover to investigate a mysterious half-finished letter left by an employee at Pym's Publicity who fell to his death down a staircase.

At this remove, the description of life in an advertising agency between the wars, based on Sayers's own experience, is much more interesting than the actual mystery and also much more convincing than the description of life amongst the dissolute drug addicts in high society.

Next up in the series is my No. 77 Gaudy Night

My review of The Nine Tailors:

Stranded in a remote Fenland village on New Year's Eve after a car accident, Lord Peter has to spend the night and hears the story of the theft of an emerald necklace which was never recovered. Later in the year, an extraneous body is found in one of the graves in the churchyard and Lord Peter is asked to investigate it.

Interesting story which teaches the reader a lot about campanology. It turns out Quasimodo had a point.

You are really zooming through the books. I was glad to see your review of Wolf Hall. I need to get a copy of that book. I think I would like it, and I know that my daughter would.

I have a copy of Le Morte D'Arthur around here, but I guess I will wait even longer before attempting it. I quite enjoyed The Once and Future King.

These Lord Peter Wimsey detective stories are quick reads.

Starting the next one, my no. 78, Busman's Honeymoon. It's another ebook but the TBR pile increases by two books a friend brought back for me from the States.

My review of Gaudy Night:

Harriet Vane is asked to investigate a rash of poison pen letters and vandalism at her old Oxford college. When a student is driven to attempt suicide by the poison pen letters, Harriet has to call on Lord Peter for help.

Very enjoyable. Makes me wish I'd gone to Oxford. But then, going by the description of the Gaudy in the first three chapters the experience seems to have left many of the former students with regrets in later life at not having made the best of their intellectual potential. Harriet Vane spends quite a bit of time musing about whether she has taken the detective story as far as it will go. Since this is the penultimate Wimsey novel (plus some short stories still to come), I do wonder how much this is based on Sayers's own misgivings about the genre.

On to my No. 79, In the Teeth of the Evidence, another collection of Dorothy L. Sayers's short stories.

My review of Busman's Honeymoon:

Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey, having got married at last, move into their new home only to have the previous owner's body be found in the cellar.

A very odd book. I had no idea what was going on in some of the romantic newlywed scenes between Harriet and Lord Peter. There were some scenes with ludicrous situations which I think were meant to be comic relief, but weren't particularly funny. The comic yokels weren't funny to a modern reader, either. All in all, I think Ms. Sayers might have done better to have finished the novels with Harriet accepting Lord Peter's proposal at the end of the previous book.

Starting my No. 81, Terry Pratchett's Pyramids. It's from the TBR pile but I bought a book while waiting for a friend, so the TBR pile is now at 67.

My review of In the Teeth of the Evidence:

A collection of Dorothy L. Sayers's short stories, with 2 Lord Peter Wimsey stories, 5 Montague Egg stories, and 10 stand alone stories.

I found the Lord Peter and Montague Egg stories pretty run of the mill, apart from the Montague Egg story 'False Weight', which I couldn't follow at all until I looked up repeater clock on wikipedia -- I had no idea such a thing existed.

Many of the stand alone stories were more like uncanny tales than detective stories, and good ones which I actually enjoyed rather more than the detective stories.

I have started and finished my No. 80, Striding Folly, which only has 3 Lord Peter Wimsey stories padded out with an introduction about Dorothy L. Sayers.

Starting my No. 82, Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, which brings the TBR pile down to 66.

My review of Pyramids:


The heir to the throne of Djelibeybi, the Discworld's equivalent of Ancient Egypt, trains at the Assassins' Guild in Ankh-Morpork but is called home on his graduation because his father has died. Life as a student assassin is a piece of cake compared to the problems which can arise when a very large pyramid isn't capped off properly.

The whole romp is very enjoyable, with all the word play and general craziness you'd expect. Lots of great characters.

Starting my No. 83, Hogfather, which is an ebook and so doesn't affect the TBR pile.

My review of Small Gods:

It turns out that Brutha, a novice monk, is the only one who truly believes in the Great God Om, much to the detriment of the Great God's powers. Prompted by Om, who is stuck in the form of a one-eyed tortoise, Brutha embarks on the journey to prophethood.

Great comedy with some trenchant observations on the misuse of religion and philosophy as we follow Brutha on his journey from the theocracy of Omnia to Ephebia (the Discworld's Ancient Greece) and back with Vorbis, the head of the Quisition.

Starting my No. 84, David Mattingly's An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire, which brings the TBR pile down to 65.

My review of Hogfather:

The Assassin's Guild has been approached by a strange client offering a very large sum for the inhumation of a certain person. A junior assassin called Teatime (pronounced Te-ah-ti-me) develops an ingenious strategem to carry out the commission with some unexpected side effects. Susan, Death's adopted granddaughter, copes with it all.

Very funny with some thought provoking jokes, some dreadful puns, and great subsidiary characters such as Bilius, the oh god of hangovers. I saw the film before I read the book. Although the film was very enjoyable the book makes the story a lot clearer.

I've got a cold, so I've put An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire on hold for the time being. It's rather heavy going. I read something lighter from the TBR pile, James Lear's The Back Passage, yesterday as my No. 85. I am now starting my No. 86,Greg Herren's Murder in the Rue Dauphine, which is from the TBR pile. But as I also bought one book, the net result is that the TBR pile is now at 64.

My review of "The Back Passage":

1920's country house party. Body found in cupboard. Footman arrested for murder. American guest and his English sidekick investigate to prove him innocent.

Very enjoyable romp but not for the fainthearted as all and sundry indulge in activities I'm sure dear Dame Agatha never dreamt of.

I enjoyed Murder in the Rue Dauphine and being the series freak that I am I went out and bought nos. 2, 3, and 4. In the series. I've now read my No. 87 Murder in the Rue St. Ann and am about to start my No. 88 Murder in the Rue Chartres.

My review of "Murder in the Rue Dauphine":

Gay New Orleans PI Chanse MacLeod is approached by a prospective client to put a stop to a blackmailer. When he calls at the client's house to see the blackmail threat and the incriminating videotape he finds his client has been shot, apparently as the victim of a hate crime, but there is no sign of the threatening letter or the videotape. As the temperature and social tensions rise, Chanse tries to find out what's really going on.

I enjoyed this story. Chanse has an interesting back story that is slowly revealed. I did find it slightly disconcerting that Chanse had to go and knock on a neighbour's door to use a phone. I'm sure I'd already had a cell phone for several years by 2002 (the publication date) and I was by no means an early adopter, being one of the last people at work to get one.

My review of "Murder in the Rue St. Ann":

Chanse MacCleod is asked to investigate who is causing problems to delay the opening of a former singer's new night club in New Orleans. The club's PR agent then turns up dead and the main suspect is Chanse's boyfriend, who then disappears.

I started reading this book because I enjoyed Chanse's social milieu, his interactions with his friends Blaine (who hardly appears in this book) and Paige and his contact on the police force, Venus, and his slowly revealed back story. We do get to hear more of the back story in this book but Chanse's social life takes much more of a back seat despite his reflections about his life with Paul, so that was a bit of a disappointment. Oh, and c'mon, an albino villain?

On to the next Chanse MacLeod book Murder in the Rue Ursulines, my No. 89.

My review of Murder in the Rue Chartres:

In the last days before Katrina strikes Chanse MacLeod is hired by Iris Verlaine to find her father, who disappeared before she was born. The night before the hurricane strikes, Iris is killed, allegedly by a burglar. When Chanse returns to the stricken city Iris's brother Joshua asks him to take up the case again.

Much of the actual mystery was very predictable, though still a fun read. Where this book stands out, though, is in the description of the heartache suffered by the characters we've got to know over the first two books in the aftermath of the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent floods.

I hope you are feeling better now.

I have just finished a series myself. Now I have finally picked Infinite Jest back up. Your new series looks pretty good.

Our bishop celebrated Mass at our Church and then blessed the grounds for our big renovation which is about to start. Amazingly, in this economic downturn, the Church raised almost 100% of the goal (although in pledges over a 5 year period). It had rained all day on Saturday, and Sunday was sunny, but pleasant and mild.

I'm just about over the cold now, thanks. It's just as well as I've finished Murder in the Rue Ursulines, which is the last in the series easily available here. There are a couple more books in the series but they haven't reached my local bookshop or my online bookshops ;-( . On to the wishlist the next one goes.

My review:

Chanse MacLeod is hired by a topnotch Hollywood couple to investigate some threatening emails the husband is receiving. He traces them to the husband's ex-wife's computer and the ex-wife is then murdered. A media feeding frenzy breaks out.

It was pretty easy to guess at least part of the truth behind this mystery. I did feel uneasy about the threat to the life Chanse had built for himself from the media. It cut a bit too close to the bone for comfort.

Oh, and congratulations to your parish for your successful efforts.

So I enjoyed your review of Murder in the Rue Dauphine.... then I caught on that it was an actual "gay" detective and not a "happy" detective and I had to immediately go add it to my wish list!! :) Hard to find decent LGBT characters in the south where I live. *Also thumbed-up your review!

Thanks for dropping by, Tina. I'm glad you found the review helpful and thanks for the thumbs up.

Starting Alexander McCall Smith's The Good Husband of Zebra Drive, my No. 90.

My review of An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire:

Mattingly tries to consider Britain in the Roman Empire rather than the Romans in Britain. He wants to know what it was like for the people of Britain being on the receiving end of Roman imperial rule. Since Caesar forgot to also divide Britain into three parts, Mattingly does so looking at the military, the urban population and the rural population through their archaeological remains.

Although this book is meant to be aimed at the general reader rather than the specialist, I found it very heavy going. I suspect it might have worked better as an interactive website, with summarising texts accompanied by clickable maps so that one could then look at the archaeological evidence in as much or as little detail as one wishes.

Starting the next book in Alexander McCall Smith's Precious Ramotswe series The Miracle At Speedy Motors. This is my No. 91, and brings the TBR pile down to 63.

My review of The Good Husband of Zebra Drive:

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is asked to investigate deaths at a local hospital, a possibly unfaithful husband, and a possible pilferer at a printing works. There are changes at the agency and at Speedy Motors.

I realise the mysteries are not really the point of these gentle stories but one of the current crop follows the lines of an old joke, which was a bit of a disappointment.

My next book, No. 92, bringing the TBR pile down to 62, is Barry Cunliffe's Europe Between the Oceans, which a friend who was given a review copy passed on to me.

My review of The Miracle At Speedy Motors:

An adopted child asks Mma Ramotswe to trace her real family while Precious has her own problem of anonymous hate mail to deal with.

Another gentle read asserting the belief that love and understanding can go a long way in solving the world's problems -- not all of them, of course, but many of those we have to deal with in our daily lives.

Starting my No. 93, Terry Pratchett's Eric, which brings the TBR pile down to 61. This is a re-read, which I put in the TBR pile after one of my favourite bloggers reviewed it and I realised I couldn't remember anything about it.

My review of Europe Between the Oceans:

Barry Cunliffe takes a look at the long-term history of the Asian peninsula we call Europe in the 10,000 years from 9000 BC to AD 1000.

Fascinating. Obviously relies on archaeological discoveries for the first 8500 years, and I always find archaeology heavier going than history, but I'm glad I persevered. Certain themes, such as the movement of peoples from East to West and North to South, and the persistence of certain geographically defined regions (the Mediterranean shores, the Atlantic shore, the North Sea and Baltic shores, and the Central areas), which become interlocking cultural areas as well.

Starting my No. 94, another Discworld novel, Interesting Times, which brings the TBR pile down to 60.

My review of Eric:

13-year-old Eric conjures up a demon and gets 3 wishes. Unfortunately, ruling the world, the face that launched a thousand ships, and living for ever are not all they're cracked up to be.

Nice review of Eric! I am trying to decide if I should read the Discworld books or not. I loved Good Omens.

Thanks for the congrats to our parish. I think the construction starts in October. Then I don't know where we will park. I am hoping that the expansion of the parking lot will come first before adding to the building on top of our already too small parking lot. I guess the builders will think of that.

Starting my No. 95, The Last Continent, another Discworld adventure.

My review of Interesting Times:

The Patrician receives a message from the Agatean Empire (the Discworld equivalent of our China and Japan), asking him to send the "Great Wizzard". The wizzard chosen is, of course, Rincewind, who gets caught up in the struggle for power between the Lords heading the Five Families, the Red Guard, the Silver Horde, and assorted eunuchs and courtiers as the Emperor lies dying.

Very funny. I particularly enjoyed the Silver Horde, who had me in stitches with their every appearance.

Starting my No. 96, Lindsay Powell's Eager for Glory: The Untold Story of Drusus the Elder, Conqueror of Germania, which is an ebook and so does not affect the TBR pile.

My review of The Last Continent:

Rincewind goes to the Last Continent, the Discworld's Australia.

No worries, mate.

Also starting No. 97 Jasper fforde's The Eyre Affair, which brings my TBR pile down to 59.

Starting my No. 98 Jess Lourey's September Fair for the TIOLI challenge. This is an ebook and so doesn't affect the TBR pile.

Do you have a plan for the Discworld books? I printed out a chart at one time and just could not figure out what the preferred reading order would be.

There are a number of smaller series that make up the overall Discworld series. This chart shows the recommended order in each series.

I don't think really matters which order you read the series in. You could start with the first two The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, which do the basic world building, though a lot of people say they're not as god as the others.

Starting my No. 99, Jasper Fforde's Lost in a Good Book. This is an ebook, not from the TBR pile.

My review of The Eyre Affair:

When the original manuscript of "Martin Chuzzlewit" is stolen in an England that has a very different history and society from the one in this universe, Thursday Next of SpecOps is assigned to the investigation. What is arch-criminal Acheron Hades's fiendish plan, and how are Thursday's Uncle Mycroft and Aunt Polly involved?

All very odd. It took me a while to get the hang of Fforde's universe but once I did I enjoyed this book, which was quite amusing in a cerebral kind of way.

My review of September Fair:

The winner of the Milkfed Mary beauty contest, Ashley Pedersen, dies while having her image sculpted in butter at the Minnesota State Fair. Mira James, librarian and part-time journalist for the local paper in Battle Creek, Ashley's home town, is covering the State Fair for the paper and gets drawn into investigating what happened.

This was a Kindle freebie and at first I had my doubts but there were some amusing parts and some quite tense moments as well. I also learnt a lot of American slang I hadn't been familiar with so it was quite an educational read as well. I'll put the first in the series on my wishlist but am in no great hurry to get it.

Starting another Thursday Next novel, The Well of Lost Plots. This is my No. 100 and brings the TBR pile down to 58.

My review of Lost in a Good Book:

Ebook also reviewed on BooksonBoard.com
Genres: SF, alternative history, comedy, detective

Having disposed of criminal mastermind Acheron Hades (the third most evil being on Earth), restored Jane Eyre, and banished Jack Schitt to live in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", SpecOps officer Thursday Next finds herself famous. In between dodging PR work for the department and investigating what may be a manuscript of Shakespeare's lost play "Cardenio", she has to figure out a way to undo the eradication of her husband by a corrupt ChronoGuard officer. Oh yes, and save the world from all life being changed into a pink goo.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable romp. But now I'm going to have to read Kafka and Beatrix Potter.

Congrats on starting 100.

And thanks for the tips on Discworld.

Starting my No. 101, Something Rotten, Thursday Next's next adventure. This is an ebook, not off the TBR pile.

My review of The Well of Lost Plots:

To avoid unwelcome attention from the Goliath Corporation and Aornis Hades, Thursday Next goes into hiding in the Well of Lost Plots, the part of the Book World where books are created before being beamed to the author's pen or keyboard. In return for this hiding place Thursday starts working for Jurisfiction, the Book World's police force, under the tutelage of Miss Havisham.

Although I shall resist the temptation to run out and buy Enid Blyton's "Shadow the Sheepdog", I suspect I might have to check up and see whether the anger management courses have improved life at Wuthering Heights and how accurate the gossiping Russians are about the goings-on in Anna Karenina.

Starting my No. 102, First Among Sequels, which brings the TBR pile down to 57.

My review of Something Rotten:

Thursday Next has returned to the Outland from the Book World. She has to not only to get her husband un-eradicated but also foil the dastardly plans of Yorrick Kaine to assassinate President George Formby and lead England into a nuclear war, thus destroying life on Earth as we know it. And the way to do this is by ensuring that Swindon wins the national Super Hoops croquet tournament. And then things start to get really weird.

Great fun if not always easy to keep track of.

Tina: You may want to check out the Robin Miller series by Jaye Maiman. First one's called I left my heart.

PS: This was in reference to message no. 151.:)

Sounds fantastic!!!! Added to my wish list! Thank you! ;)

Starting my no. 103, Tony Perrottet's The Naked Olympics, about how the Olympics were celebrated in Ancient Greece. This is an ebook and so doesn't count for the TBR pile.

My review of First Among Sequels:

14 years after the events of the previous Thursday Next is still working as a member of SpecOps and Jurisfiction, but keeping it secret as most of SpecOps has been disbanded due to budget cuts. Ostensibly she is working as the manager of a shop for carpets and other floor coverings but she is carrying on her detective work and funding it through cheese smuggling. Time itself is unravelling because time travel has not been invented in the far future and reality TV is taking over from books -- does Thursday want to live in a world where Pride & Prejudice is revamped as a Big Brother type TV show?

I ended up more and more confused as this book went on. The details about the Book World were interesting but the interactions between the three different Thursdays was one level of complexity too much for me. I'll put the next book in the series on my wishlist but I don't know if I'll actually bother.

Starting TBR@55 here.