All Things Books And Reading Thread - 2018

[rubysmama]

I daren't ask you what it's about. A Dutch Wife has a very naughty meaning in Japanese.

Hmmm... I Googled and see the Japanese meaning. No, the book wasn't about that!!!! But close.

It's a novel about a Dutch woman who, along with her husband, was taken prisoner by Germans for helping Jews during WWII. Put in a different camp from her husband, and seeing a chance for a "better" existence, she ends up working in the camp brothel. So, kinda close to the Japanese meaning.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Pat Frank - Alas, Babylon

LOVE that book. Own it. Am currently hoping to find David Palmer's "Emergence" for a decent price somewhere! So far, the best I've found is almost $30!

I daren't ask you what it's about. A Dutch Wife has a very naughty meaning in Japanese.

I saw that!

It's a novel about a Dutch woman who, along with her husband, was taken prisoner by Germans for helping Jews during WWII. Put in a different camp from her husband, and seeing a chance for a "better" existence, she ends up working in the camp brothel. So, kinda close to the Japanese meaning.

So, the Dutch wife ended up being a Dutch Wife, thereby becoming a Dutch wife Dutch Wife, brought to you from our Department of Redundancy Department! I may have to read that, if I can now do so without giggling madly about the play on words!

Still re-reading the Hannah Swensen books. Currently the "Lemon Meringue Pie Murder" book...#4, I think. I have a few coming in the mail later this month, so I can fill in some blanks. I try to collect an entire series before moving on to another. That's the OCD thing kicking in. I also sort Skittles and M&Ms by color and eat them in the same order every time. MILD OCD is more an amusement than a burden. And mine is very mild.

 

[rubysmama]

LOL, Mamanyt1953 , re: the Dutch Wife.

Have you seen any of the "Murder She Baked" movies, based on the books? I've seen a couple of them. Alison Sweeney, Sami from Days of Our Lives, stars as Hannah. They're sappy, but not horrible.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Yep. Not bad, for what they are. I watch a lot of the movies on the Halmark Movie and Mystery channel that are based on cozies. I especially like the "Garage Sale" movies.

 

[rubysmama]

I've started a completely different book now. It's definitely interesting, but also a lot like being in high school history class.

Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine K. Albright

 

[Katie M]

I've just started Walter Isaacson's biography of Leonardo da Vinci. Promises to be a very interesting read.

 

[catspaw66]

I've started a completely different book now. It's definitely interesting, but also a lot like being in high school history class.

Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine K. Albright

That looks interesting. Let us know how it reads.

 

[1 bruce 1]

So I was scouring through the section of the internet archive and came across a book called, simply, "Lost Kitten." I read it, it took me an hour.
I guess it was a kids book. It was story about a 9 year old kid and her 14 year old sister living in an area that was prone to wild fires. The kid (the 9 year old) got a call from her older sister that a wild fire was nearing a horse stable that she worked at and she needed to talk to her dad, but their dad was out of town, so the 9 year old rode over on her bike to help and she and her sister went into a burning barn to save the horses. All but one survived.
These girls had an aunt that was a vet and their aunt told them it was very unwise to go into a burning stable to save horses but the kids were like "we know but we we couldn't stand there like idiots and watch the horses die" and their aunt cautions them, but forgives them. Soon thereafter their town is evac'ed due to the fires and the girls help their aunt set up her vet clinic as a haven for evacuees to leave their pets. The kid stays busy all day but is worried about her puppy at home and is upset she can't get to him. She befriends an injured kitten. Her aunt notices this bond, and tells her maybe if the kitten is not claimed (brought in as a foundling) maybe she could keep this kitten as her own. The girls upset thinking that she loves this kitten and maybe her aunt told her this because she feels her puppy has died in a fire.
The book ends with the kid noticing the kitten has a tattoo in her ear, calls a tattoo company and the owner is found...a big scary looking tattoo'ed guy with long hair and Harley Davidson stuff all over shows up as the owner, the girl is reluctant to hand the kitten over but the kitten claws her way to him and the big scary looking guy cries while the kitten cuddles up to him and purrs. The girl wonders about her puppy but the people from the local Humane Society gets her puppy out of the house and brings him to her and everyone is happy.
Seems simple, and it was, but there were a lot of really good key notes for kids reading this book highlighted at the end of the book, mainly information about forest fires and rescuing (attachment will happen but don't write off that there's an owner desperately searching for them that loves them) and to not give up, hard work pays off, sometimes we're told not to do stuff but we do it anyway because we're human. There was an excellent section on this girl and her aunt breaking up a bit of a dog fight and it was so factual and correct and informative.
I thought this was a really cute book. I can't even remember who the author was as I've returned the book but it was "animal rescue series" for anyone wanting to check it out for their kids...or themselves!

 

[Margret]

LOVE that book. Own it. Am currently hoping to find David Palmer's "Emergence" for a decent price somewhere! So far, the best I've found is almost $30!

Long out of print, sorry to say. I treasure my battered old copy. I really wish they'd reprint it; we'd have a much better chance of getting the sequel someday if they did.

{For those who've never heard of it, Emergence is a post-apocalyptic coming of age story, but unlike most such stories the protagonist is a girl. It's an absolutely marvelous book, and there were a few loose threads at the end, but David R. Palmer isn't primarily an author; he's a court reporter, and he doesn't have time to write the sequel unless he has a good financial reason to do so.}

I've started a completely different book now. It's definitely interesting, but also a lot like being in high school history class.

Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine K. Albright

I bookmarked it on BookBub as soon as it came out. Still waiting...

That looks interesting. Let us know how it reads.

Margret

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Long out of print, sorry to say. I treasure my battered old copy. I really wish they'd reprint it; we'd have a much better chance of getting the sequel someday if they did.

Yeah, I think I'm going to have to use part of one my little "extra" checks on this. The next one should come in July. I really, REALLY want to own that book again.

Another hard to find that I did get, and enjoyed thoroughly the second time around was "Naked Came the Sasquatch," which I picked up at Chattacon one year on the last day at a HUGE discount. The title captured my imagination, and the story was SUCH FUN! A "Who Dunnit" that turned into a "What Dunnit" that become a "Which What Dunnit." Lots of fun, lots of humor, and a couple of interesting "monsters."

 

[Winchester]

I am reading Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston. It's the story of how the Steve Elkins party searched for the White City (Ciudad Blanca) in Mosquitia, Honduras in 2015; Preston was part of the group. Very interesting (even reading about the fer de lance snake that can spit its venom a good six feet from its mouth). They used LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to survey the areas; the problem was that the rainforest is so dense, even LiDAR had trouble getting beyond the tree leaves. It's really quite interesting. I'm about halfway through the book.

I'm also reading BraveTart by Stella Parks, which is interesting (to me, anyway). Not only does it include recipes for cookies, cakes, and pies, but for faux Fig Newtons and Oreos, and even candy like Snickers, Milky Way, peanut butter cups, and the like. I think I might buy this book.

Others from the library:
The Deeds of the Disturber - Elizabeth Peters
Darkness Creeping - Neal Shusterman
Dark in Death - JD Robb
Complete Make Ahead Cookbook - America's Test Kitchen

 

[Margret]

Winchester , I'm sure you'll enjoy Deeds of the Disturber. The Amelia Peabody series of mysteries was excellent. Incidentally, since Elizabeth Peters' death one more volume has been published, "co-authored" by Elizabeth Peters and Joan Hess, named The Painted Queen. It's number 20 in the series. I picked it up on discount through BookBub the other day but haven't had a chance to read it yet. I don't know whether Joan Hess is taking up the series where Elizabeth Peters left off or whether she just cleaned up a final, unpublished manuscript for publication, or how many other manuscripts there might be.

* * * * * *​

In 1987 I was moving home to Denver from Bend, Oregon, where we had lived for a year while I was editing at Micro Cornucopia (a computer hobbyist magazine which was quite popular at the time). It was my final trip; most of our possessions were already in Denver, as were Roger and Sweet Thing, and I was just bringing a last car load home. The first night out I got past Boise, Idaho, but knew I couldn't make it to Pocatello that night, so I turned off the highway and stopped in Twin Falls for the night. But it was still fairly early in the evening, so after I got some supper I went to the local mall and visited a bookstore, where I found a Star Trek novel I'd never read before. It was ST #21, Uhura's Song, by Janet Kagan, and it's a wonderful book, whether or not you're a big fan of Star Trek. It features a race of sapient felinoids named the Eauoans, who have prehensile tails.

This was my first introduction to Janet Kagan, a great science fiction author and, unfortunately, a smoker. She died in 2008 of COPD. Her widower, Ricky, still maintains her website (Janet Kagan - Her Real Domain) and has republished some of her short stories and novelettes there.

In her lifetime Janet Kagan published three books, two of which (the aforementioned Uhura's Song and Hellspark) were novels, and the third of which, Mirabile, was a series of short stories that had originally been published in Asimov's, all set on the planet Mirabile and featuring the same viewpoint character, Annie Jason Masmajean. I have Mirabile and Uhura's Song in paperback, and Hellspark in hardback, and I highly recommend all of them.

However, most of Janet Kagan's work was shorter fiction, published in Asimov's and other 'zines or various anthologies, and it has been harder to find, except for the stories that are posted on her website. Last night I got to wondering whether anyone had published a collection, so I went to Shop on my Nook and entered her name, and lo and behold, I found a book named The Collected Kagan. It's available for $4.99 from most (all?) major ebook sellers, and I picked it up last night. It includes several of my favorites: "Fermat's Best Theorem" (originally published in Absolute Magnitude at a time when Andrew Wiles' solution of Fermat's Last Theorem had been announced but not yet verified, and readable for free on Janet Kagan's website), "How First Woman Stole Language From Tuli-Tuli The Beast" (originally published on her website, where it is available for free), "The Nutcracker Coup" (first published in Asimov's in December of 1992, winner of the 1993 Hugo for best novelette and nominee for the 1993 Nebula in the same category), and "Winging It" and "Fighting Words" (originally published in two consecutive volumes of stories in the short-lived Isaac's Universe shared universe series: Isaac's Universe, Volume Two: Phases in Chaos and Isaac's Universe, Volume Three: Unnatural Diplomacy). "Winging It" and "Fighting Words" both feature an intact Siamese tom cat named His Highness (not set on earth so kittens are valued).

So now, in addition to LOTR and The Cat, The Devil, and Lee Fontana I'm also reading some short stories by Janet Kagan that I've never read before, and thoroughly enjoying myself.

Margret

 

[Mamanyt1953]

And I just added Uhura's Song to my "To Read" list!

 

[Margret]

So far the works in The Collected Kagan have been a mixed bag:

• "No Known Cure" A powerful and painful story about fanaticism and political repression.
• "Love Our Lockwood" A story set in a time when, while women are allowed to hold office, they are not allowed to vote.
• "Space Cadet" Fun story (if you're old enough to remember the characters and political events in the U.S. of the late '80s and early '90s) featuring Dan and Marilyn Quayle, Pat Schroeder, Jacques Cousteau, and "you're no Jack Kennedy."
• "How First Woman Stole Language From Tuli-Tuli The Beast" An origin story from a fictional planet designated (not named, because names confer power) "y" (pronounced "ee"). We encountered a native of y in Hellspark.
• "The Last of a Vintage Year" Ever wondered what happened to Aladdin in his old age? Read this story to find out. Enjoyable.
• "Out On Front Street" The dangers of harassing beautiful women (not to mention attempting to rape them).
• "From The Dead Letter File" What happens to authors when someone goes back in time and prevents the depredations of Jack the Ripper?
• "Mischief in the Spaceways" Not a story. This was a foreword she wrote for The Best of James H. Schmitz, a book published by NESFA (the New England Science Fiction Association: NESFA Press) in 1991. It reminded me how much I like James Schmitz as an author.
• "Faith-Of-The-Month Club" A tongue in cheek "ad." Favorite line:

  You choose four religions and WE DO THE REST! We pay shipping and handling of all IDOLS, RELIGIOUS TESTS, PRIESTS AND PRIESTESSES!!! WE EVEN PROVIDE YOUR FIRST SACRIFICE!!!

• "Winging It" and "Fighting Words" Already reviewed in my earlier post. What I neglected to mention is that these are also (somewhat) about hang gliding. I absolutely love these two stories.
• "She Was Blonde, She Was Dead---And Only Jimmilich Opstromommo Could Find Out Why!!!" Pastiche of mysteries featuring amateur detectives. Jimmilich is an alien.
• "Face Time" Providing security for a historic first meeting between humans and a new alien race.
• "Christmas Wingding" I first read this one this morning and I was absolutely blown away. Like "The Nutcracker Coup," (which follows it and which won a Hugo) this is a Christmas story. Also like "The Nutcracker Coup," it's a story about how to change a repressive political regime. Wonderful characters, and filled with a sense of wonder and with Christmas as experienced by children.
• "The Nutcracker Coup" It well deserved the Hugo it received. Fantastic story.

And that's as far as I've gotten at this point.

Margret

 

[jcat]

I've just finished two non-fiction books by Elizabeth Letts: The Perfect Horse, about the rescue of Vienna's Spanish Riding School's Lippizaners during WWII, and The Eighty-Dollar Champion, about Snowman, an Amish plowhorse turned champion jumper in the late 1950s. Both were quite interesting and heartwarming.

 

[aliceneko]

Just started reading The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr.

 

[Margret]

Just started reading The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr.

It sounds interesting; let us know what you think of it.

Margret

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I'm currently reading "Immortal Unchained," the only book I hadn't read in Linsay Sands' "Argeneau Vampire" series. Yes, I am reading a vampire romance, and enjoying it, thankyouverymuchindeed. These guys are not the soulless dead. It's all nanos, and wildly improbable. But, they are fun (even if a little cookie cutter), they are light reading, and they require nothing from me but that I enjoy.

 

[rubysmama]

Whenever someone posts the name of a book they're reading, I check my library website to see if they have the e-book. Quite often, they don't.

Just checked for "Immortal Unchained" and discovered it book 25 of a series! And it looks like the library has all of them in e-book versions. So should I add 25 more books to my "wishlist".

 

[Winchester]

I went to the library for some easy reading material and to see what their new 7-day books were in stock.

Charmed Bones - Carolyn Haines (a Sarah Booth Delaney mystery; I like these books, easy reading, done in an hour or so)
Marbled, Swirled, and Layered - Irvin Lin (a couple of the recipes appealed to me--Chocolate-Peanut Butter and Butterscotch Layered Cookies -- which I would turn into Chunky Peanut Butter and Snickerdoodle Cookies; Jumbo Arnold Palmer Cookies -- half of the cookie is lemonade and the other half is iced tea; Dark Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Raspberry Marshmallow Filling. But not enough to actually buy the book)