Currently reading
Snakes and Ladders - vote for my last book!
I was having issues with BL so I created a poll on my Wordpress blog.
https://tannatreads.wordpress.com/2020/07/21/snakes-and-ladders-pick-my-last-book/
Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
This novella presents a future dystopian world where the US has devolved into a wild west style set of territories or regions. There’s mention of a war going on but not much detail is mentioned beyond all the diesel being funneled to tanks and military purposes. I found this novella initially engaging, and I liked Esther learning more about her wider world and that there were people like her out there who weren’t doomed to a bad end. The librarians go around distributing “approved materials” and smuggling essential supplies and Esther wants to join them after running away from home and a creepy marriage prospect. I’m not sure the whole Amity storyline made all that much sense though and not all that much happened in the novella, overall. I also had a bit of an issue with Esther’s immediate attraction to Cye when she was obviously still traumatized by Beatriz’s death.
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Snakes and Ladders - Update 13
Well, that worked out.
(Moonlight Reader's rule post)
Squares:
1. Author is a woman: Poulets grillés par Sophie Hénaff (2 dice: 2+6 = 8)
9. Author's last name begins with the letters H, I, J, or K: Blood Price by Tanya Huff (4+4 = 8)
17. Genre: horror: Salvage: a Ghost Story by Duncan Ralston (2 dice: 3+6 = 9)
26. Part of a series that is more than 5 books long: An Excellent Mystery by Ellis Peters [Cadfael #11] (6+5 = 11)
37. Has won an award: The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (1 die: 4)
41. Characters involved in politics: The Division Bell Mystery by Ellen Wilkinson (2 dice: 3+6 = 9)
50. Has a domestic animal on the cover: The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog by Elizabeth Peters (4+3 = 7)
57. Was published more than 50 years ago: Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein (2 dice: 1+4 = 5)
I combined this with a couple of short stories from The New Voices of Science Fiction to be sure to hit the 200 page count mark.
62. Cover is more than 50% green: Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis (2 dice: 3+2 = 5)
67. Set in a city with a population of greater than 5 million people: Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? by Paul Cornell (2 dice: 3+5 = 8)
75. Set in a fantasy world: Two Serpents Rising by Max Gladstone (2 dice: 4+1 = 5)
80. Main character is a man: L’énigme des Blancs-Manteaux by Jean-François Parot (2 dice: 6+1 = 7)
87. Snake - go back to 57
57. Was published more than 50 years ago: Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers (2 dice: 4+2 = 6)
63. Cover is more than 50% blue
You know which cover fits? The second Wimsey audio... Think I should?
4
Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
Series: Peter Wimsey #1
I'm really terrible at reading books in a series close enough together that I remember the characters, so when I landed on a square where I had to read a book published before 1950, I thought it might be a good time to revisit this series via audio. I did kind of remember how the mysterious body had gotten into the bath, but not all the details, so it was interesting to revisit that.
And I have to say that Peter's mother is a really good sport for managing to go along with the story about asking businessmen to make speeches at the church bazaar without any warning from Peter.
ETA: Apparently this isn't even the first time that I've reread this book via audio, although at least it was a different version this time. I really need to get better at reading series.
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Snakes and Ladders - Update 12
So much for an easy, uneventful game...
(Moonlight Reader's rule post)
Squares:
1. Author is a woman: Poulets grillés par Sophie Hénaff (2 dice: 2+6 = 8)
9. Author's last name begins with the letters H, I, J, or K: Blood Price by Tanya Huff (4+4 = 8)
17. Genre: horror: Salvage: a Ghost Story by Duncan Ralston (2 dice: 3+6 = 9)
26. Part of a series that is more than 5 books long: An Excellent Mystery by Ellis Peters [Cadfael #11] (6+5 = 11)
37. Has won an award: The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (1 die: 4)
41. Characters involved in politics: The Division Bell Mystery by Ellen Wilkinson (2 dice: 3+6 = 9)
50. Has a domestic animal on the cover: The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog by Elizabeth Peters (4+3 = 7)
57. Was published more than 50 years ago: Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein (2 dice: 1+4 = 5)
I combined this with a couple of short stories from The New Voices of Science Fiction to be sure to hit the 200 page count mark.
62. Cover is more than 50% green: Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis (2 dice: 3+2 = 5)
67. Set in a city with a population of greater than 5 million people: Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? by Paul Cornell (2 dice: 3+5 = 8)
75. Set in a fantasy world: Two Serpents Rising by Max Gladstone (2 dice: 4+1 = 5)
80. Main character is a man: L’énigme des Blancs-Manteaux by Jean-François Parot (2 dice: 6+1 = 7)
87. Snake - go back to 57
57. Was published more than 50 years ago
L’énigme des Blancs-Manteaux by Jean-François Parot
Series : Nicolas Le Floch #1
I should write this in French but I don’t feel like it. Overall it was ok but not great, and the series has potential. My main issue with this book was that it took forever to read. It may have only been just 300-some pages, but it felt like almost a thousand. Now, I don’t know whether it was the long chapters or the fact that I was reading it on my ereader and it might have gone better had I opted for print…maybe I’ll try to get a physical copy of the next in the series. Or maybe I should read the next one when I haven’t just bought some new computer games.
There were also some rather convenient coincidences and a tendency for prisoners to die by suicide while in custody. Admittedly, it wasn’t always convenient when they died, but as a wrap up it felt weak. I’m not sure I’d call it predictable but I did guess right in several instances.
Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy reading this as a buddy read! I just wasn’t too impressed by it and hope the next one is better fleshed out.
Previous updates:
Cibola Burn by James S A Corey
Series: The Expanse #4
The author duo that brought you vomit zombies now offers death slugs. I was warned that this wasn’t the greatest in the series, but overall I thought it was alright although I didn’t entirely buy Murtry’s motivations. It almost lost me at a couple other points too, but recovered.
Previous updates:
 - James S.A. Corey)
Mid Year Wrap Up
Well, I saved a few times before continuing, but I managed to make this post without too many problems. Now hopefully you all will be able to read it!
Books read so far: 41
Average rating: 3.4
I had a very slow start to the year, but my reading picked up once I started logging onto booklikes again and participating in some of the buddy reads.
Since mystery represented such a big chunk of my reading, I decided to break it down further. The above genre chart is actually misleading since I included the fantasy mysteries in with fantasy rather than mystery (otherwise I end up double counting books and it gets confusing).
In the above chart, I arbitrarily chose a cutoff publication year of 1960 for the golden age mystery genre. I know it's not strictly speaking accurate, but a lot of the golden age mystery authors wrote well into the 1950s so I figured it was fair.
Nothing surprising here...
I've started tracking non binary as a gender category, even though I don't read all that many non binary authors (this category basically includes anyone who self identifies as non binary in their bio or uses they/their pronouns).
My diversity stats are pretty pitiful. I don't usually break down POC and LGBTQA into individual categories, although I realize that maybe I should. It would involve more editing of my spreadsheet and graphs though, and they're not mutually exclusive categories.
Author nationality is a fairly new thing I've started tracking, mainly just because I was curious.
I managed a few small culls of my Mount TBR but as you can see, the summer sales are trying to counteract my efforts.
So many ebooks....
Finally, some June numbers.
Books read in June: 10
Average rating for books read in June: 3.2
So, June wasn't quite as productive as May, but I still managed 10 books.
Phew, so many graphs!
Reading progress update: I've read 31%.
I think my favourite thing about these books is that they make the actions of each side sound so logical for that side even though you want to scream at them all to just make nice. Or listen to Holden.
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 - James S.A. Corey)
BLopoly Update 10
Bank: $44
I decided to listen to an audiobook for my last square, so I rolled again today and got my first doubles!
This may not quite be what is intended, but Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey is being marketed as a "western", even though it's a future with lawlessness and bandits. I think Sarah Gailey fits the author criterion anyway.
Not sure about this one. Ooh, maybe I can fit The Golden Compass in! Lyra's a pretty strong female lead character.
Rolls:
2020-05-26 Stay-cation 7: The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins, 390 pages, $3
2020-05-29 Beach Week 11: Skipped
2020-05-30 Mountain Cabin 18: Icy Clutches by Aaron Elkins, 277 pages, $3
2020-06-03 The Lake House 20: The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog by Elizabeth Peters, 497 pages, $5
2020-06-07 The Summer Blockbuster 27: Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein, 176 pages, $2
2020-06-10 Chance 34: Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis, 368 pages, $3
Pass go, $5
2020-06-15 School's out 4: Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? by Paul Cornell, 368 pages, $3
2020-06-19 Just Visiting Jail: Scorpions in Corinth by J M Alvey, 432 pages, $5 for bail fund
2020-06-24 Mountain Cabin 16: Cibola Burn by James S. A. Corey (audiobook)
2020-06-26 (1) Mountain Cabin 18:
2020-06-26 (2) The Lake House 22:
6
Snakes and Ladders - Update 11
(Moonlight Reader's rule post)
Squares:
1. Author is a woman: Poulets grillés par Sophie Hénaff (2 dice: 2+6 = 8)
9. Author's last name begins with the letters H, I, J, or K: Blood Price by Tanya Huff (4+4 = 8)
17. Genre: horror: Salvage: a Ghost Story by Duncan Ralston (2 dice: 3+6 = 9)
26. Part of a series that is more than 5 books long: An Excellent Mystery by Ellis Peters [Cadfael #11] (6+5 = 11)
37. Has won an award: The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (1 die: 4)
41. Characters involved in politics: The Division Bell Mystery by Ellen Wilkinson (2 dice: 3+6 = 9)
50. Has a domestic animal on the cover: The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog by Elizabeth Peters (4+3 = 7)
57. Was published more than 50 years ago: Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein (2 dice: 1+4 = 5)
I combined this with a couple of short stories from The New Voices of Science Fiction to be sure to hit the 200 page count mark.
62. Cover is more than 50% green: Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis (2 dice: 3+2 = 5)
67. Set in a city with a population of greater than 5 million people: Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? by Paul Cornell (2 dice: 3+5 = 8)
75. Set in a fantasy world: Two Serpents Rising by Max Gladstone (2 dice: 4+1 = 5)
80. Main character is a man
Maybe I can finish my French book for this square...
5
Two Serpents Rising by Max Gladstone
Series: Craft Sequence #2
This second installment in the craft sequence wasn’t nearly as interesting as the first. I think I just wasn’t very interested in Caleb as a character and I thought his infatuation with Mal was silly. And I kept thinking that it was awfully convenient the way things were working out in the plot. This is unfortunate because the city and the serpents and the whole plot with the water supply poisoned repeatedly by demons were interesting. I hope the next book is more my cup of tea.
Previous updates:
9
BLopoly Update 9
Bank: $44
So as I see it, I can either finish L'Enigme des Blancs-Manteaux (assuming that's allowed), listen to Cibola Burn, or pick a mystery I've been meaning to read. I'm open to suggestions.
Rolls:
2020-05-26 Stay-cation 7: The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins, 390 pages, $3
2020-05-29 Beach Week 11: Skipped
2020-05-30 Mountain Cabin 18: Icy Clutches by Aaron Elkins, 277 pages, $3
2020-06-03 The Lake House 20: The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog by Elizabeth Peters, 497 pages, $5
2020-06-07 The Summer Blockbuster 27: Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein, 176 pages, $2
2020-06-10 Chance 34: Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis, 368 pages, $3
Pass go, $5
2020-06-15 School's out 4: Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? by Paul Cornell, 368 pages, $3
2020-06-19 Just Visiting Jail: Scorpions in Corinth by J M Alvey, 432 pages, $5 for bail fund
2020-06-24 Mountain Cabin 16
8
Scorpions in Corinth by J M Alvey
Series: Philocles #2
This is a murder mystery set in ancient Greece by author Juliet E Mckenna writing as J M Alvey. This time Philocles and his actors take his play to Corinth, where they end up with a dead Corinthian liaison (poisoned) and someone or someones actively trying to disrupt the play.
Reading progress update: I've read 55%.
Just when I think maybe Caleb will become disillusioned with his manic pixie dream girl, there's talk of him apologizing.
Reading progress update: I've read 50%.
This book would be far more interesting without the manic pixie dream girl vibe. Seriously, the "romance" in this just blech. Maybe it's wrong to even call it romance. It's not like these people love each other. They're just attracted to each other and kind of stupidly obsessed while not actually being obsessed because they manage to focus on other concerns too. I blame adrenaline.
It's unfortunate because the whole poisoned water supply with demons plotline is interesting.
2
