It's been a relatively busy week. Jo and I have been down to Qualicum Beach, braving the fog, enjoying lunch and supporting some of their neat local shops. I've kept up with my running. Yesterday Clyde had his check-up and got his rabies shot. Poor little fella. But they said he was so sweet. 😀 Then Jo and I had lunch at Benino's and we checked out some of Comox's shops. It was a fun day, especially since it seems that after 4 or 5 days, the fog seems to have broken. We even enjoyed out walk last night, could see a few stars.
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| BREAKING NEWS: Bill buys more books... whatever! |
Just Finished
"To Amanda Gorman
Me to poetry, often, regularly, er.. generally = incomprehensible. We don't jive. I've been told; it's allegory, simile, description, but, nope, I still don't often get it. I guess my brain doesn't work that way.
But then I read Call Us What We Carry and wow. Light bulb moment. Your poetry works -
Part historical, part future -looking; prose / poetry; despair / inspiration; magical use of words, playing with them like a juggler; use of style & shape to create full pictures.
Some promote hate as the way to run / ruin America, a splitting apart at the seams, an Us vs Them battle; you talk about the desire not for revenge, but for recognition of past events and the trauma caused and the need for all to realize it if America will grow, come together to save America.
The history of racism, its use to split America; the need to recognize it, to identify it if America is to heal; a diary of the pandemic in prose and poetry; your wonderful, awe-inspiring words at Joe Biden's inauguration. So much more.
It's difficult to pick one point, the book as a whole is so great... But here is one (from Fury & Faith)
"Together, we envision a land that is liberated, not lawless.
We create a future that is free, not flawless.
Again & again, over & over.
We will stride up every mountainside,
Magnanimous & modest.
We will be protected & served
By a force that is honored & honest.
This is more than protest.
It's a promise."
Thank you for your artistry (5 stars)"
"I generally enjoy Simon Winchester's unique take on any topic about which he decides to write, very much. I opened up The Alice Behind Wonderland with anticipation, looking forward to reading about how Alice Liddell, the daughter of the college dean at Oxford, influenced Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) in his writing of Alice in Wonderland.
Sadly, in that respect it was disappointing. The story is more about the photo, one amongst many, that Dodgson took of young Alice Liddell, that being the one featured on the cover. The story covers the development of photography, how Dodgson took to it and, yeah, his pictures of the Liddell children. We learn a bit about the Liddell family, we learn a bit about Dodgson's early years and we hear snippets about possible feelings Dodgson might have had about young children... er.. well, snippets but nothing more. The information provided about photography was interesting stuff, but the rest kept starting down alleyways but never seeming to find the end.
It's a low key, relatively interesting, short story, and it flows nicely, but other than that, it was kind of disappointing, considering how much I've enjoyed previous works. Oh and Winchester never even got to see the 'actual' photograph because it's kept in an airtight room, sealed in some vault in Austin Texas. LOL (3 stars)"
"I had previously read 4 of Sax Rohmer's Dr. Fu Manchu's thriller / adventure / fantasy series. So I kind of knew what to expect when I read The Island Of Fu Manchu. And as usual, it didn't let me down. British spy / investigator Nayland Smith and his friend Bart Kerrigan, along with intrepid explorer / architect Professor Barton, travel to England, the US, Panama and ultimately Haiti as they try to stop Fu Manchu from taking over the world and also if time permits, rescuing Kerrigan's lover (or is she an enemy), the exotic Ardatha.
In this adventure, you've got Fu Manchu's marmoset, held hostage by Barton. You've got shriveled heads, green hands (unattached to anything), the mysterious snapping fingers (heard before bodies are murdered and drained of all their blood) and even zombies!!! Ardatha appears and disappears and appears again and doesn't seem to remember Kerrigan.
Fu Manchu keeps us guessing. Whose side is he actually on? His mysterious organization the Si-Fan seems to have splintered and some are working against him. What is he doing in Haiti? How does the voodoo queen, Mamaloi, tie into the whole scene? Is she on his side or against?
As usual, you've got to put blinders on somewhat. Fu Manchu is leader of the 'yellow' peril, the Haitian voodoo ceremonies are savage, bestial.. But ultimately, it's a page turning, at times ponderous (yes, Kerrigan WE KNOW YOU MISS ARDATHA!!!), but it's still non-stop, fantastic action with lots of supernatural, mystical elements, more than enough to keep you occupied. (3 stars)"
"I've been enjoying the Inspector Rebus mysteries by Ian Rankin for the past few years, very much. The Complaints is the first book in his Malcolm Fox series. It is also set in Edinburgh, Scotland. Fox works for The Complaints (aka Internal Affairs). His job is to investigate and catch bad cops.
Fox works with a team of two other cops, Tony Kaye and Joe Naismith. They in the process of completing an investigation on another cop, Glen Heaton, from another district and turning their findings over to the Procurator - General (the DA) for prosecution. They get a call from the sex crimes division, DS Annie Inglis and are asked to assist in investigating another cop, DS Jamie Breck. Sex crimes believes he is involved with a pedophile ring working out of Australia.
As well, Vince Faulkner, partner to Fox's sister Jude, has been found dead, basically beaten to death. Fox believed that Vince had recently broken his sister's arm and there is now suspicion that maybe Fox had something to do with his death.
That's the basic outline of the story. Fox is now being investigated by another Complaints division and he falls in with Jamie Breck as the two realize that their best outcome might result if they work together. It's all very fascinating and well-crafted. There are the usual actions that cause you to throw your hands up and shout, 'Oh, come on now!', but they are few and far between. There is a nice interaction between the two cops; can they trust each other or not? Which other cops can the trust and who will help them and who will grass them? How does the investigation into Breck and that of the murder of Vince relate, and do they even? What about the disappearance of real estate developer Charlie Brogan? How does that tie in?
It's all very intricate and interesting. And it's set during the 2009 bank / real estate crisis, all described very nicely. Rankin has a lovely flow in his stories, they move along at an excellent pace and are generally entertaining page turners. At the end of the book, Rankin offers some nice tidbits; what are the top five reads of Malcolm Fox and of Jamie Breck (I'm more like Fox, btw). What are Fox and Breck's top 5 films (once again, I'm more Fox, lol). Anyway, an excellent mystery and just an excellently entertaining story. (4 stars)"
"John Buchan wrote one of my favorite adventure thriller series featuring John Hannay, the first being The Thirty-Nine Steps. I've read a few of his other books, both fiction and non-fiction. He was a prolific writer. The Power-House as the first book in his Leithen quadrology and it was very entertaining.
Sir Edward Leithin is a somewhat staid lawyer and MP, happy with his life and friends. His main circle of life revolves around London and her rarely travels beyond. Suddenly Edward's life changes when a friend of a friend suddenly disappears. Edward sends his mate Tommy Deloraine to find this other fellow, Charles Pitt-Heron, a trip that will take them Uzbekistan. However this part of the story is only discussed via telegram. The story is focused in London as Edward tries to find out where Pitt-Heron might have gone and also why. This will lead him in a war of wits with some vague enemy, Andrew Lumley, leader of nebulous group called The Power-House.
It's a slow paced story at first but once Edward begins to understand who this enemy is and his threat to England (maybe), the civilized world (maybe?) and especially Edward Leithin. There are interesting discussions (philosophical) between Lumley and Leithin, a bit slow, but for the last half of the story, the tension rises as Edward and his friend, fellow politician Chapman, try to both avoid the Power-House and stop them.
It's a neat story. The rationale for the threat isn't really elaborated or explained in detail but it's not really that important. The transformation in Leithin is what makes the story. While seemingly momentous events are taking place in the Far East, they are only peripheral. The crucial events take place in London and like the chase cross Britain in The 39 Steps, the action builds and builds and makes for a satisfying, entertaining story. Good old Mr. Buchan. Thanks. (4 stars)"
(Ed. Note: I've completed 10 books in January, hoping I'll complete one more before month's end. We'll see)
Currently Reading
"Folks in Taneysville, Massachusetts, are furious when a builder decides to develop fifteen acres of their precious land. Then the determined developer is stopped cold in his tracks...not by a demonstration, but by a grisly discovery. The skeletal remains of a young woman have been unearthed by the construction crew. Belle and Rosco are fast on the case. It's not long before anonymous crosswords start pouring in-but even with so many clues, Belle and Rosco find that in this old-fashioned hamlet, not everything is black and white..."
"When Lilith lyapo wakes
in a small white room with no doors or windows, she remembers a
devastating war, and a husband and child long lost to her. She finds
herself living among the Oankali, a strange race who intervened in the
fate of humanity hundreds of years before.
They spared those they
could from the ruined Earth, and suspended them in a long, deep sleep.
Over centuries, the Oankali learned from the past, cured disease and
healed the world. Now they want Lilith to lead her people back home.
But salvation comes at a price - to restore humanity, it must be changed forever..."
"In this beautifully
written and propulsive memoir, Huma Abedin—Hillary Clinton’s famously
private top aide and longtime advisor—emerges from the wings of American
political history to take command of her own story.
The
daughter of Indian and Pakistani intellectuals and advocates, Abedin
grew up in the United States and Saudi Arabia and traveled widely. Both/And grapples with family, legacy, identity, faith, marriage, motherhood—and work—with wisdom, sophistication, and clarity.
Abedin
launched full steam into a college internship in the office of the
First Lady in 1996, never imagining that her work at the White House
would blossom into a career in public service, nor that her career would
become an all-consuming way of life. She thrived in rooms with
diplomats and sovereigns, entrepreneurs and artists, philanthropists and
activists, and witnessed many crucial moments in 21st-century American
history—Camp David for urgent efforts at Middle East peace in the waning
months of the Clinton administration, Ground Zero in the days after the
9/11 attacks, the inauguration of the first African American president
of the United States, the convention floor when America nominated its
first female presidential candidate.
Abedin’s relationship with
Hillary Clinton has seen both women through extraordinary personal and
professional highs, as well as unimaginable lows. Here, for the first
time, is a deeply personal account of Clinton as mentor, confidante, and
role model. Abedin cuts through caricature, rumor, and misinformation
to reveal a crystal clear portrait of Clinton as a brilliant and caring
leader, a steadfast friend, generous, funny, hardworking, and dedicated.
Both/And
is a candid and heartbreaking chronicle of Abedin’s marriage to Anthony
Weiner, what drew her to him, how much she wanted to believe in him,
the devastation wrought by his betrayals—and their shared love for their
son. It is also a timeless story of a young woman with aspirations and
ideals coming into her own in high-pressure jobs and a testament to the
potential for women in leadership to blaze a path forward while
supporting those who follow in their footsteps.
Abedin’s journey
through the opportunities and obstacles, the trials and triumphs, of a
full and complex life is a testament to her profound belief that in an
increasingly either/or world, she can be both/and. Abedin’s compassion
and courage, her resilience and grace, her work ethic and mission are an
inspiration to people of all ages."
New Books
"Introducing...Dominic Flandry.
Before
he's through he'll have saved worlds and become the confidante of
emperors. But for now he's seventeen years old, as fresh and brash a
sprig of the nobility as you would care to know. The only thing as damp
as the place behind his ears is the ink on his brand-new commission.
Though
through this and his succeeding adventures he will struggle gloriously
and win (usually) mighty victories, Dominic Flandry is essentially a
tragic figure: a man who knows too much, who knows that battle, scheme
and even betray as he will, in the end it will mean nothing. For with
the relentlessness of physical law the Long Night approaches. The Terran
Empire is dying..."
"Known as the wittiest woman in America and a founder of the fabled Algonquin Round Table, Dorothy Parker was also one of the Jazz Age's most beloved poets. Her verbal dexterity and cynical humor were on full display in the many poems she published in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Life and collected in her first book in 1926. The poems in Enough Rope range from lighthearted self-deprecation to acid-tongued satire, all the while gleefully puncturing sentimental cliches about the relations between men and women."
"When a mysterious
invitation for a spa holiday arrives for Miss Phryne Fisher from an
unknown retired Captain Herbert Spencer, Phryne's curiosity is piqued.
Spencer runs a retreat in Victoria's rural spa country for shell-shocked
veterans of World War I. It's a cause after Phryne's own heart, but
what can Spencer want from her?
Phryne and her faithful servant
Dot set out for Daylesford, viewing their rural sojourn as a short
holiday. While Dot gets to know the remarkable women who run the hotel
where they are lodging, Phryne enjoys an enticing meal--and
dessert--with the attractive Captain Spencer. But their relaxation is
short-lived as they are thrown into treacherous Highland gatherings, a
mysterious case of disappearing women, and a string of murders committed
under their very noses. Meanwhile, back at home, Phryne's three wards
are busy solving a mystery of their own when a schoolmate is found
floating facedown near the docks--and pregnant at the time of her death.
With
her usual pluck and deft thinking, Phryne methodically investigates the
strange goings-on in this anything-but-tranquil spa town."
"Inspired by a
little-known chapter of World War II history, a young Protestant girl
and her Jewish neighbour are caught up in the terrible wave of hate
sweeping the globe on the eve of war in this powerful love story that’s
perfect for fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
If
you’re reading this letter, that means I’m dead. I had obviously hoped
to see you again, to explain in person, but fate had other plans.
1933
At
eighteen years old, Molly Ryan dreams of becoming a journalist, but
instead she spends her days working any job she can to help her family
through the Depression crippling her city. The one bright spot in her
life is watching baseball with her best friend, Hannah Dreyfus, and
sneaking glances at Hannah’s handsome older brother, Max.
But as
the summer unfolds, more and more of Hitler’s hateful ideas cross the
sea and “Swastika Clubs” and “No Jews Allowed” signs spring up around
Toronto, a city already simmering with mass unemployment, protests, and
unrest. When tensions between the Irish and Jewish communities erupt in a
riot one smouldering day in August, Molly and Max are caught in the
middle, with devastating consequences for both their families.
1939
Six
years later, the Depression has eased and Molly is a reporter at her
local paper. But a new war is on the horizon, putting everyone she cares
about most in peril. As letters trickle in from overseas, Molly is
forced to confront what happened all those years ago, but is it too late
to make things right?"
"The first mystery in Caudwell's popular series featuring amateur investigator Hilary Tamar and a cast of clever and trouble-prone young London barristers. When a young man is found dead in Julia Larwood's bed, her barrister friends are the only ones who can uncover the truth of this masterpiece of murder."
"Whilst returning home from a cricket match at his father's country home, the Honourable Richard Rollison - alias The Toff -comes across an accident which proves to be a mystery. As he delves deeper into the matter with his usual perseverance and thoroughness , murder and suspense form the backdrop to a fast moving and exciting adventure."
"On a blustery February day Sarah Keate arrives at a gloomy mansion to nurse old Adolph Federie, bed-bound after a stroke. Meeting the patient sets off an alarm inside her, but fleeing the house is impossible. The redoubtable red-haired nurse is stuck there with a strange coterie and a black cat named Genevieve. "
"Charlie and Margaret
Marder, political stars in 1960s Washington DC, know all too well how
the tangled web of power in the nation's capital can operate. But while
they long to settle into the comforts of home, Attorney General Robert
Kennedy has other plans. He needs them to look into a potential threat
not only to the presidency, but to the security of the United States
itself.
Charlie and Margaret quickly find themselves on a flight
to sunny Los Angeles, where they’ll face off against a dazzling world of
stars and studios. At the center of their investigation is Frank
Sinatra, a close friend of President John F. Kennedy and a rumored mob
crony, whom Charlie and Margaret must befriend to get the inside scoop.
But in a town built on illusions, where friends and foes all look alike,
nothing is easy, and drinks by the pool at the Sands and late-night
adventures with the Rat Pack soon lead to a body in the trunk of their
car. Before they know it, Charlie and Margaret are being pursued by
sinister forces from Hollywood’s stages to the newly founded Church of
Scientology, facing off against the darkest and most secret side of
Hollywood’s power.
As the Academy Awards loom, and someone near
and dear to Margaret goes missing, Charlie and Margaret find the clock
is not only ticking but running out. Someone out there knows what
they’ve uncovered and can’t let them leave alive. Corruption and
ambition form a deadly mix in this fast-paced sequel to The Hellfire Club."
"Cornwall 1794. The birth of a son to Elizabeth and George Warleggan serves only to accentuate the rift between the Poldark and Warleggan families. And when Morwenna Chynoweth, now governess to Elizabeth's eldest son, grows to love Drake Carne, Demelza's brother, the enduring rivalry between George and Ross finds a new focus for bitter enmity and conflict."
"An orchestral conductor
has been found dead and Detective Inspector Jack Robinson needs the
delightfully incisive and sophisticated Miss Fisher's assistance to
enter a world in which he is at sea. Hugh Tregennis, not much liked by
anyone, has been murdered in a most flamboyant mode by a killer with a
point to prove. But how many killers is Phryne really stalking?
At
the same time, the dark curls, disdainful air and the lavender eyes of
mathematician and code-breaker Rupert Sheffield are taking Melbourne by
storm. They've certainly taken the heart of Phryne's old friend from the
trenches of WW1, John Wilson. Phryne recognizes Sheffield as a man who
attracts danger and is determined to protect John from harm.
Even
with the faithful Dot, Mr and Mrs Butler, and all in her household
ready to pull their weight, Phryne's task is complex. While
Mendelssohn's Elijah, memories of the Great War, and the science
of deduction ring in her head, Phryne's past must also play its part as
MI6 become involved in the tangled web of murders."
"Poison Flower, the
seventh novel in Thomas Perry's celebrated Jane Whitefield series, opens
as Jane spirits James Shelby, a man unjustly convicted of his wife's
murder, out of the heavily guarded criminal court building in downtown
Los Angeles. But the price of Shelby's freedom is high. Within minutes,
men posing as police officers kidnap Jane and, when she tries to escape,
shoot her. Jane's captors are employees of the man who really killed
Shelby's wife. He believes he won't be safe until Shelby is dead, and
his men will do anything to force Jane to reveal Shelby's hiding place.
But
Jane endures their torment, and is willing to die rather than betray
Shelby. Jane manages to escape but she is alone, wounded, thousands of
miles from home with no money and no identification, hunted by the
police as well as her captors. She must rejoin Shelby, reach his sister
before the hunters do, and get them both to safety.In this unrelenting,
breathtaking cross-country battle, Jane survives by relying on the
traditions of her Seneca ancestors. When at last Jane turns to fight,
her enemies face a cunning and ferocious warrior who has one weapon that
they don't."
"Tarzan cared little for the fate of adventurer Brian Gregory, drawn to the legendary city of Ashair by the rumor of the Father of Diamonds, the world's hugest gem. But to the ape-man the tie of friendship was unbreakable, and Paul d'Arnot's pleas moved him to agree to guide the expedition Gregory's father and sister organized for his rescue. The enigmatic Atan Thome was also obsessed with the Father of Diamonds, and planted agents in the Gregory safari to spy out its route and sabotage its efforts. Both parties reached their goal, remote Ashair . . . as prisoners of its priests, doomed to die in loathsome rites."
"When Barbra Delaney comes into Grace Smith's office, looks her in the eye and announces, 'I'm filthy rich and I've decided to make a will leaving the lot to a complete stranger. I've chosen you...', Grace thinks she may be hallucinating. It is, after all, the stuff of which daydreams are made. That is until Barbra hands Grace the photographs of three complete strangers, and tells her to find their names and addresses so that she can will all her dear departed husband's worldly goods to them. But, as Grace tracks down the lucky legatees, she discovers that they all have their own reasons for not wanting her poking around in their lives. When a series of increasingly violent events culminates in a very nasty death, it seems that someone will stop at nothing - not even murder - to stop Grace finding out the truth ..."
"Ten pieces never before collected that offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of a legendary writer
Here are six pieces written in 1968 from the "Points West" Saturday Evening Post
column Joan Didion shared from 1964 to 1969 with her husband, John
Gregory Dunne about: American newspapers; a session with Gamblers
Anonymous; a visit to San Simeon; being rejected by Stanford; dropping
in on Nancy Reagan, wife of the then-governor of California, while a TV
crew filmed her at home; and an evening at the annual reunion of WWII
veterans from the 101st Airborne Association at the Stardust Hotel in
Las Vegas. Here too is a 1976 piece from the New York Times magazine on "Why I Write"; a piece about short stories from New West in 1978; and from The New Yorker,
a piece on Hemingway from 1998, and on Martha Stewart from 2000. Each
one is classic Didion: incisive, bemused, and stunningly prescient."
"Fleeing, he glanced
back across his shoulder and saw that the spider was gaining on him, its
pulsing egg of a body perched on running legs - and egg whose yolk swam
with killing poisons. He raced on, breathless, terror in his veins...
Scott
Carey's life was good. He was a regular guy, normal wife, normal house,
normal job. He was even normal-sized... until the fog passed over...
He was the size of a doll when the cellar door slammed - and locked - behind him....
He was the size of a match-stick when the Black Widow spider awakened to feed..."
"In the middle of the
night, in a house on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis, intruders
silently murder Luke Ellis’s parents and load him into a black SUV. The
operation takes less than two minutes. Luke will wake up at The
Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there’s no
window. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other
kids with special talents—telekinesis and telepathy—who got to this
place the same way Luke did: Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris, and
ten-year-old Avery Dixon. They are all in Front Half. Others, Luke
learns, graduated to Back Half, “like the roach motel,” Kalisha says.
“You check in, but you don’t check out.”
In this most sinister
of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly
dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extra-normal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get
tokens for the vending machines. If you don’t, punishment is brutal. As
each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more
desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the
Institute."
"Our far future descendants are primitive, earth-bound people, preyed upon by silver-clad beings who descend from the sky. Berry, chief of the nomadic Londos clan, devises a defensive strategy to protect his people from the Night Comers. But the gleaming giants are indifferent to Berry's fiercest warriors with their arrows & carry off Londos women as they always have, effortlessly. Furious with frustration & doomed to disgrace & death at the hands of his disappointed tribe anyway, Berry recklessly pursues the Night Corners & finds a giant tower is, of course, tho Berry Doesn't recognize it, a space vehicle. It seizes him, taking him to a world of technological complexity & social sophistication beyond his wildest imaginings. It's a world that despises his crudeness & determines to kill him since he won't be submissive. But it is a decadent world. Berry's resourcefulness & deadly skills enable the primitive man to run a world-spanning chase for his life--& for the existence both of the Night Comer's world & his own earth as well."
"Finally published in the United States ten years after Patricia Highsmith's death, Small g,
in the words of her biographer Andrew Wilson, is an "extended fairy
tale suggesting that…happiness is precarious and…romance should be
embraced."
In unmistakable Highsmithian fashion, the
novel opens in a seedy Zurich bar with the brutal murder of Peter
Ritter. Unraveling the vagaries of love, sexuality, jealousy, and death,
Highsmith weaves a mystery both hilarious and astonishing, a classic
tale executed with her characteristic penchant for darkness. Small g
is at once an exorcism of Highsmith's literary demons and a revelatory
capstone to a wholly remarkable career. It is a delightfully incantatory
work that, in the tradition of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, shows us how bizarre and unpredictable love can be."
"My name is Kvothe.
I
have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down
the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with
both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a
younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight
that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved
women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
You may have heard of me.
So begins the tale of a hero told from his own point of view — a story unequaled in fantasy literature. Now in The Wise Man's Fear,
an escalating rivalry with a powerful member of the nobility forces
Kvothe to leave the University and seek his fortune abroad. Adrift,
penniless, and alone, he travels to Vintas, where he quickly becomes
entangled in the politics of courtly society. While attempting to curry
favor with a powerful noble, Kvothe uncovers an assassination attempt,
comes into conflict with a rival arcanist, and leads a group of
mercenaries into the wild, in an attempt to solve the mystery of who (or
what) is waylaying travelers on the King's Road.
All the while,
Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the
mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the
way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, is forced
to reclaim the honor of the Edema Ruh, and travels into the Fae realm.
There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no
man has ever survived ... until Kvothe.
In The Wise Man's Fear,
Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how
difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time."
"You can't keep a good wizard down - even when he wants to stay that way.
For
years, Harry Dresden has been Chicago's only professional wizard, but a
bargain made in desperation with the Queen of Air and Darkness has
forced him into a new job: professional killer.
Mab, the mother
of wicked faeries, has restored the mostly-dead wizard to health, and
dispatches him upon his first mission - to bring death to an immortal.
Even as he grapples with the impossible task, Dresden learns of a
looming danger to Demonreach, the living island hidden upon Lake
Michigan, a place whose true purpose and dark potential have the
potential to destroy billions and to land Dresden in the deepest trouble
he has ever known - even deeper than being dead. How messed up is that?
Beset
by his new enemies and hounded by the old, Dresden has only twenty four
hours to reconnect with his old allies, prevent a cataclysm and do the
impossible - all while the power he bargained to get - but never meant
to keep - lays siege to his very soul.
Magic. It can get a guy killed."
"Change or die. These are the only options available on the planet Jeep. Centuries earlier, a deadly virus shattered the original colony, killing the men and forever altering the few surviving women. Now, generations after the colony has lost touch with the rest of humanity, a company arrives to exploit Jeep - and its forces find themselves fighting for their lives. Terrified of spreading the virus, the company abandons its employees, leaving them afraid and isolated from the natives. In the face of this crisis, anthropologist Marghe Taishan arrives to test a new vaccine. As she risks death to uncover the women's biological secret, she finds that she, too, is changing - and realizes that not only has she found a home on Jeep, but that she alone carries the seeds of its destruction."
"Put your feet up and
enjoy a good read! Longtime P. D. James fans will devour these short
tales of criminality and deception, each one a pleasure, evocative and
engrossing. Including several stories originally published in magazines,
this enchanting arrangement of memorable whodunits treats the reader to
atmospheric storytelling, mysteries to be solved, and enjoyable puzzles
that will keep you guessing. With wit and warmth, P. D. James pays
tribute to her English crime-writing forebears, delighting in the dark
secrets that lurk beneath the surface of quintessentially English
settings.
Sleep No More is a beautifully produced, rare
gift book, and an exciting addition to the P. D. James library, offering
her devoted readers a glimpse of earlier work never before collected
between two covers, and--for those who come newly to it--a delightful
place to begin."
Whew.. Well, there you go. I guess I need to do more regular updates.. lol..
