Tannat

The attitude of Robert West to the modern young woman was typical of that of a very young man. He preferred the intelligent woman. He liked to be seen about with one who was making a name for herself. But while he was interested in her he expected her to put her own affairs into the background, and devote herself to his. When she was no longer needed she might be permitted to pick up her own threads again, but she must not trouble him. This he called allowing a woman to live her own life.

Finished chapter 1! lol

I have to agree that this was just an extended introduction/prologue. Actually, this is probably why we had that prologue the way we did, to try to convince the reader that yes, there was going to be action beyond almost getting run over by coaches and getting your only socks splashed by street "mud". (Ok, he had another pair of socks, but he was saving them).

My impression was that the first half of the chapter was drier and then it got more readable, so I'm hopeful that I'll start getting more into it once something actually starts happening.

As always, the sound of his own rich, confident baritone pleased and soothed him. 

I think I've found the victim...

I made another modification to the board...is it too much?

Bank: $23

With MR's new every day is a roll day rule, I get to roll again since I passed on reading for my last square. I decided to use one of the snakes to mark a "skipped" square.

And I land on square 18:

Well, I do have a short mystery set in Alaska, so that would probably fit. The only question is whether to try to read at the same time as my Snakes and Ladders book, or after. Hmm...

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

Et on est parti!

Alright, I've only managed to get through the prologue so far, but the weather matched the weather outside so I felt compelled to comment. It's not so dark though.

One thing that is bugging me is that the prologue takes place after the first chapter, so is it really a prologue when it happens later?

And why were they rolling barrels that must have contained a corpse?

Bank: $23

11. Read a book set in a coastal/beach region that you love, or would love to visit, or a book that has a beach or ocean on the cover.

Eek. Suggestions, anyone?

Rolls:

2020-05-26 Stay-cation 7: The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins, 390 pages, $3

2020-05-29 Beach Week 11: TBD

(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

41. Characters involved in politics

This one may be tricky...suggestions?

I was tempted to abandon this book after the first chapter, but I didn’t want to pick another book for the square I was reading it for. A lot of animals and a lot of people die in this book, and I don’t feel that the payoff of the story is worth the suffering. There’s also rape, and insane levels of child abuse. What is almost worse is the way that the children come to devalue their own lives as a result. I was rooting against the main character for most of it. In retrospect, I’m not even sure the story makes sense when you start to think it through. I mean, I don’t actually see why all the cruelty was supposedly necessary given the ending.

I debated between one and two stars but I’ve rated books that I’ve enjoyed more at two stars, so…

Previous updates:

56 %

An Excellent Mystery by Ellis Peters

Series: Cadfael #11

This is an unusual Cadfael in that the mystery is in the form of a missing person rather than a body that someone stumbles across. I wasn’t sure what to rate it because although I did figure it out fairly early on, I wasn’t sure how my theory could work, and I didn’t know if I was right. Overall I did enjoy the read but I’m not sure if my figuring it out so early was expected or a good thing. I mean, it’s fun when you can guess or try to guess the solution to the mystery rather just having the solution handed to you at a platter at the end, but I’m not sure whether I was supposed to figure it out so soon. Things did work out rather neatly but that’s the way Ellis Peters liked to write these. They’re basically cozy historical mysteries.

Previous updates:

25 %

I'm really not crazy about this book but I was amused by these lines:

“Ow! I’m not a two-by-four!”

 

“Don’t be such a baby. I don’t have time to suture.”

Themis-Athena, onnurtilraun, and I are planning to start a buddy read this weekend and we'd like you to invite you to join us. Sorry for the late notice but we were wavering on which book to pick. I definitely mean to spread this read amongst other books so feel free to join in whenever.

We're planning to read L'Enigme des Blancs-Manteaux by Jean-François Parot because we're trying to encourage ourselves to read more French books, but it's been translated into English as The Châtelet Apprentice, so feel free to join us even if French isn't your thing.

Later on, we're thinking about reading L'homme aux cercles bleus by Fred Vargas (English: The Chalk Circle Man) if you can't join in this time.

Hopefully I'll be able to use this for one of my game squares at some point.

Suggested tag: French buddy read

Bank: $20

So let's see if I can play two games at once...

If for some reason you fancy this board, the unmarked version is at my original post.

Roll 1:

7. Read a book that has a house on the cover, or that is related to something unique about your community (for example, if your community has a strawberry festival, read a book with strawberries on the cover).

Hmm...I have a few choices for this, although I couldn't find any that had also won an award (see my Snakes & Ladders post).

I think those are all houses. Suggestions, anyone?

I was also tempted by this one:

Does a house of cards count?

(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]

37. Has won an award

Probably won't end up reading for that one.

Alright, I couldn't resist. I took MR's fancy board and PM's pandemic idea and made this (for those of us who are still playing Snakes & Ladders):

Feel free to use it if it strikes your fancy.

I have a suspicious about this Julian Cruce...