Jo just made a lovely supper, so tasty. We've spent the day watching curling for the most part. In the middle of the 1 vs 2 Page playoff right now and it's tied 3-3 after 6 ends. Some excellent shots being made.
So while that's going on, I'm going to provide a quick reading / new book update. Everyone is relaxing anyway. I may jump up from the computer to watch good shots though. Please excuse me.
Just Finished
I've finished 5 books since my last update, so here we go with the latest reviews.
"I saw Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang and Leuyen Pham the other day when I wandered into my local book store. They had just put it on the shelf and since Valentine's Day was fast approaching I thought it might be good to read. It was more than that.
Valentina is a young Asian girl living in Oakland with her father. They live alone as Valentina's mother died when she was very young. Valentine's Day has great significance for Valentina as a young girl. Her 'imaginary friend' is Cupid, who helps her write cards each year for Valentina's classmates. Her friend Bernice is not as hooked on Valentine's Day, doesn't believe in love. As Valentina enters high school, she will get many shocks. She is seen as odd when she gives her classmates cards on the day. One boy, Jae, tears her card up. When she gives her father his annual card, he gets very upset and stalks away. Her grandmother shows up, which also surprises Valentina, as there had been no contact with her for four or five years. As if that weren't enough shocks, she discovers something else about her mother.
Her friend, Cupid, also changes becoming an old man, St Valentine, who tells Valentina that she can keep her heart from being broken if she gives it to him. He tells Valentina that he will return in a year to see if she still wants to give it to him.
During the next year, a tumultuous one, Valentina will discover love, dragon dancing, more about her mother and father, and fight off St. Valentine. It's a surprisingly (to me) excellent story. The art work is excellent. The characters are fully presented and interesting and sympathetic. The issues are more than just love, but love is a major aspect of the story. The story draws you in immediately, grabs hold of your heart and gives it many tugs and the ending is ultimately very satisfying. Such a nice surprise. (4.5 stars)"
"Look To The Lady by Margery Allingham is the 3rd book in her Albert Campion mystery series and about the 10th book I've enjoyed in the series. Yes, I haven't been reading in sequence. (I don't think it matters all that much). Allingham was one of four British female mystery writers who made up the Queens of Crime during the 'Golden Age of Detective Fiction. The others were Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh. I've enjoyed all of these authors. You should check each of them out.
So.... Look to the Lady finds gentleman sleuth and his man servant, Lugg (and he is one), trying to help a certain Val Gyrth protect a family heirloom. Val has been living rough in London and while trying to sleep on a park bench one night, he sees an envelope on the ground.. addressed to himself. This leads him to a small late night cafe where he is told to go to a certain address, home to the one and only Albert Campion. However, even this trip is filled with adventure as the cab driver tries to kidnap him.
Val's father's estate houses an antiquity related to the royalty, the Gyrth Cup, and when the oldest son achieves his 25th year, there is a ceremony to hand over the responsibility for guarding the cup. Campion was hired to find Val, get him home and protect the cup from a gang of thieves who steal such priceless antiquities.
So there is your story. It's entertaining, peopled with interesting characters, lots of thieves, gypsies, witches... Does the mystery make sense or get resolved... sure... but it's the fun and games that make it entertaining. Campion is an interesting character, somewhat like Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey. It's worth checking out the series and all of these great Queens of Crime. (3.0 stars)"
"Monstress, Vol. 2: The Blood is the 2nd graphic novel in the Monstress series by Marjorie M. Liu. There are many things to like about this series and some that are not so good.
Maika Halfwolf continues her journey to discover the monster inside her and what it is. (It shows itself when it's hungry by coming through her left shoulder. She wants to learn how to control it or to get rid of it. On her journey are the nekomancer cat, Ren, and the little fox. The journey will take them by sea to the Isles of Bones. There are other story lines as well, plots by various Houses, the Dusk throne, the Dawn throne, the Arcanians; humans, monsters, cats, foxes, tigers... Everybody wants a piece of Maika or what she has.
Yes, it's very confusing and jumps around from the past, the present, to her mother and others. Makes for a confusing story all around which can be frustrating. But the artwork is so excellent and intense and there are some great characters, especially the Little Fox and Ren the cat. There are also neat little tidbits of information about the land and creatures at the end of each chapter, provided by the cat professor Tam Tam. These aspects of the graphics and characters counteract the frustrations about the confusing story. And really, it just makes me want to continue with the series. And I will. Haven is next. (3.5 stars)"
"The Ninth Directive, aka Quiller in Bangkok, by Adam Hall is the 2nd book in the Quiller spy thriller series and the 4th I've completed. Like the others, I enjoyed the book but didn't love it. It's a mix of spycraft, lots of action and introspection. In this book, sometimes the spycraft got to be a bit much.
So Quiller is approached by Loman to take on a mission in Bangkok, which Loman is heading. They both work for a mysterious British organization, sort of outside the normal bureaucracy, and take on under the radar missions. In this case, a royal personage (they refer to him / her as the Person) is visiting Thailand as part of an Asian visit and a threat has been made to the Person's life. Now there is already tons of security, both Thai and British. What Loman wants is for Quiller to use his past knowledge of Bangkok to try and figure how this attempt might be made and how it can be stopped.
Firstly, Quiller doesn't want to take the mission but Loman finally persuades him. He narrows down the potential assassins to one and then begins the process of finding him (this being Kuo the Mongolian assassin) and then figuring out his plan. It's a neat process and Quiller is helped by a Thai import / export person, one Pangsapa, and also hindered by people from another British directorate, Mil 5, especially a young woman, Minia.
Along the way, there is plenty of action and the result leads to a follow-on chase which I won't get into. There is lots of spycraft, the whole 'tagging' (following) and the planning, the communications, the threat assessments. At times I found the story somewhat bogged down in this minutiae. Take Chapter 22 - Bait for example.
"Reaction time covers three phases: time required to sense the signal, to decide on the correct response, and to respond. Relevant factors: age, state of health, muscle-tone, ....."and on for a few more paragraphs. Now this is interesting to an extent but sometimes you just want to get to the story and the action. It is a spy thriller after all.
Having said that, it's still an interesting approach to the genre and the twists and turns all made for a neat little story. Try Quiller for yourself. It might be right up your alley. I'll continue with the series. (3.0 stars)."
"(Warning - In my review of this book I may express political opinions. I apologize if any of them offend anyone. They are strictly my thoughts. Feel free to believe what you want. I'll try to confine my comments to a straight book review, but it'll be difficult not to digress somewhat, sometime)
I followed the Jan 6 Committee hearings with great interest (and fear, considering the lengths Donald Trump was willing to go to stay in power) and when Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning by Liz Cheney came out, I felt a responsibility to read it as well, to see what other information Ms. Cheney might bring to light. I'm a Canadian so I should probably not be worried about American elections but with Trump and his gang trying to get back into power, I think it will affect elections around the world. (Hoping this is my only political digression)
The book highlights Liz Cheney's work on the Jan 6th Committee and also talks briefly about her losing campaign to retain her seat in Wyoming, plus her thoughts on the GOP and democracy, etc. It's a well-written, well-presented book. I would say that that I probably had heard most of the information from watching the hearings and news analyses of the hearings, but it was interesting to see it laid out so clearly and tidily. I probably don't agree with many of Liz's conservative leanings but I am a kind of Conservative / Liberal hybrid, so who knows. But I do share her belief in democracy and its importance.
Whether you agree with Liz's politics or no, this is still a must read book and it will be difficult to put down. Please read it. (4.0 stars)"
*VOTE FOR DEMOCRACY ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE*
Currently Reading
"Three muffled thuds ring from the partially filled grave of the newly wed girl. Only the verger hears them and he dismisses the noise as his imagination. But over the next few days others also hear faint sounds. An exhumation order is granted. Reporter Kate Hemingway sneaks into the small suburban churchyard when the coffin is opened, and the scene she witnesses is so horrific she can never forget it. As she starts work on the story, Kate finds herself caught up in a sinister and macabre cover-up. At the center is a respected anesthetist who has a secret obsession. He believes people can exist outside their bodies and that if he can prove it he will provide the answer to the question that has haunted mankind through the is there life after death? Nothing - and no one - is going to stand in the way of his driving ambition ..."
"Charles Paris is a part-time detective and professional actor, drawn into the affairs of an amateur theater company. Charles's friend Hugo's wife is murdered, and Hugo is charged with the crime.
Paris takes on the case personally. The solution to the mystery lies in a clever double alibi. An Amateur Corpse is an absorbing and entertaining account of theatrical back staging, back scratching and backbiting."
When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is all alone on a remote, wild island. She has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is--but she knows she needs to survive. After battling a violent storm and escaping a vicious bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island's unwelcoming animal inhabitants.
As Roz slowly befriends the animals, the island starts to feel like home--until, one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her."
Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.
Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn't know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad."
‘A home for bachelors with a suicidal turn of mind…’ – Department Z agents ready themselves for this high-profile, high-danger job and James Quinion will find himself right in the firing line and in personal danger – how will he keep this conspiracy under control and under wraps?"
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