Majkia Mines a Mountain

I did 30 this year, so I'll shoot for 40 next year. I've been so bad in 2012, I have a ton of new books to read and find gems amongst galore.




I'm going to count anything bought before Jan 1, 2013

Hi Jean - I'm still trying to decide on my number for 2013 - I might start with 30 I think, and then I can feel good if I beat it :-)

good plan, Susan.

Go, Jean, go!

Good luck to you too!

I'm with you on being bad in 2012, especially these last two months. I'm impressed by your goal of 40 and reaching 30 this year! I'm so easily sidelined by shiny new books.

Tanglewood, I like the pretty shinies too...sort of like a Magpie! ;)

I understand where you are coming from. I'll be good all year, then I'll get books for my birthday and Christmas so I never catch up. I think of it as stocking up for the next year. :-)

good luck in 2013 and the ticker works fine, after all we are trying to reduce our number of books. :-)

Good luck with your Challenge, Jean.

Huzzah, first ROOT:

The Amulet of Samarkand - Jonathan Stroud.

An audio book I purchased in 2011 so definitely glad to get that one checked off. Now I suppose I'll have to get the rest of the series.

And I really liked the narrator.

Second ROOT for the year:
When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman - quite the tome at 901 pages. Second half much more interesting and entertaining than the first, so glad I stuck with it.

Third ROOT of the year:

Gentleman, Liar, Thief? by Eleanor Updale.

Great progress, Jean, particularly with the Sharon Penman in there!

Wow, I agree with susan, nice job!

4. After the Armistice Ball - Catriona McPherson

Fun cozy with a heroine who appears ditzy and uses that well!

5. Case Histories - Kate Atkinson. Great mystery. This series has me hooked. REview posted on the book page if you're interested.

6. Moon Over Soho - Ben Aaronovich - as good as the first one
7. A Call for the Dead- - John le Carre - a good start to a spy series
8. A Talent for War - Jack McDevitt - Indiana Jones in space. :)
9. And Only to Deceive - Tasha Alexander - except for an unfortunate episode veering into romantic lunacy, the book was pretty good.

Great job, Majkia! You go!

Ahhh, I love Ben Aaronovitch's series! I thought the third was even better than the first two, so you're in for a treat whenever you get to it. :)

10th ROOT plucked, an ER book I won last year, Vale of Stars - Sean O'Brien. An okay book with some flaws but an interesting conceptual setting.

Excellent progress, Jean! I have really slipped back after a promising start :-)

Yeah, Susan, I can't believe I've read that much this month!

Kelsey, I loved book two of the Aaronovitch series. Looking forward to Whispers Underground.

First ROOT for February is an Early Reviewer book, A Cast of Stones by Patrick W Carr. I really enjoyed it and its magic system was very interesting.

Root number 12 - Zoo City. I abandoned the book but as it's coming off my TBR it's countable for me.

ROOT number 13 - The Neon Rain a great atmospheric New Orleans mystery.

You are putting the rest of us to shame. Congrats on 13 ROOTS.

Thanks, alpha. Only because I was sooooo bad last year and bought soooooo many books!

ROOT number 14 - Cold Granite - Stuart MacBride. If you like Noir and mysteries, this is a great one.

Have you also been reading non-ROOT books?

#31 - no, so far everything has been a ROOT. Not yet distracted by the new and shiny, but alas, that will happen.

lol. I go to the library every 3 weeks, so that's what gets me. But I'm doing good, so far 10 of 13 :D You're doing better though :P Congrats! hehe.

We live just round the corner from the library so we go almost every day. I will never get my tbr shelves cleared of all the dross.

when I first moved to this area, I was used to a great library system in northern Virginia. Here, with only tiny towns, there was no library system. A couple of towns had individual libraries, but they weren't connected and you had to pay to use them if you lived in the county but not inside the city limits (as we do). The AF base had a library but it too was very limited.

So I got out of the habit of libraries.

Now, for about 10 years, we've got a pretty good county wide library system and I can use it without the huge fee (as can anyone inside the county).

However, I'm now an ebook reader. And only within the last 6 months or so, have they been offering ebook listings. The listings are growing so maybe I'll get tempted back to the library, rather than buying what I want.

We'll see!

I'm envious. Not sure why, but when I read an ebook, I don't feel like I've read a book at all. And I have trouble remembering it for long.

For a lot of years I barely ever went to the library. Not that I disliked it or it was bad, just I loved to own every book, haha. So I'd just buy everything. But here I'm quite limited in my English selection in stores (and the few that have larger are so expensive it kills me!), so I tend to go with both whatever I can find that's in very good shape & appeals to me for €4 or less from the 2nd-hand store, and the library. :P

Vivienne, if it was simpler to get to we'd go more often, but as it is we have to walk to the further stop ~7mins away and then ride the tram ~25mins (more in high traffic times). So a trip there takes at least 1.5hrs, if not 2. So since it's more of an ordeal, we get a handful of items and keep them the full 3 (or 6 with renewal) weeks before returning. Also I'm with you on the ebooks, it just doesn't seem real. Plus I hate not having a proper book in my hands. Haaate! hahaha. Oh and I will soooo never have my shelves cleared of TBRs, but I'm trying to make more of a dent! lol.

holding deadtree books is painful for me, with arthritis in my thumbs (pressing books open is the problem), so I'm very happy with ebooks. I think it is more getting used to the idea than anything else. I've been reading ebooks though since long before they became 'popular' on my little pda.

#37: I will never have my shelves cleared of TBRs. I would probably have an anxiety attack. Nothing to read - Aaaaagh!

#38: I can understand your reluctance to hold deadtrees, especially when some are so heavy or tightly bound. They can hurt even without the arthritis.

LOL, Vivienne. I love having a plethora of books to read. I'd be lost without a TBR as well.

17 for the year, 21 for my 2013 Category Challenge:

Death in the Stocks - Georgette Heyer



What a fun, interesting mystery. Although I'd guessed fairly early on who must have dunnit, still, the characterization of the suspects was truly deep and intriguing, and often quite funny. Dialogue was witty  and sparkling. I appreciate suspects fully fleshed out and multilayered.

I'll definitely continue this series.

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Category 11: Ferdinand Magellan's Astrolabe: Mysteries.

Also my 17th ROOT.

18 for the year, and 18th ROOT

Bruno, Chief of Police - Martin Walker



Bruno is the chief of police in a small French tourist town. He fits the town and it fits him. He’s happy and contented and has no dreams of moving upward in police ranks or back to the cities. He’s a former soldier who survived the horrors of Bosnia, so he’s had enough of misery.

But when an Arab man is found stabbed to death in his home in Bruno's beloved St Denis with a swastika carved into his stomach, Bruno must work with the city police to find the murderer.

This is a delightful cozy, despite the sound of the murder. I found it very French in that it pays as much attention to wine, cheese and pate as it does to the solving of the murder.

But if you like pat answers and clearly evil villains, perhaps you should give this a pass.

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This is a ROOT, an AlphaCAT, and I'm putting it in Category 11, Ferdinand Magellan's Astrolabe - Mysteries

Updating ROOT tickers.

19. Relic - Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child



When two children are found brutally murdered inside the Natural History Museum in New York, a rather mysterious fellow shows up who claims to have been working on similar murders in New Orleans.

More deaths, all equally grisly, bring on high-profile interest and contending interests turn the whole episode into a major disaster. Is it a maniac who is killing these people, or some sort of creature stalking the deep hidden areas of the museum?

Lots of science and tech talk throughout this which I really enjoyed. Especially that science was the true hero of the piece. Also liked the surprise ending!

I listened to the audio version and found it an exciting thriller, despite having seen the rather less fascinating movie. Definitely going to continue this series.

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19th Root and a 13 in 13.

February Stats, since I doubt I'll manage to finish the books I'm working on now:

A Cast of Stones - Patrick W. Carr an ER book (yay!), 13 in 13, ROOT, TIOLI, Fantasy February, Dead Tree

Neon Rain - James Lee Burke - Book 1 of a series, 13 in 13, ROOT, AlphaCAT, TIOLI, Audio Book

Cold Granite - Stuart MacBride - Book 1 of a Series, 13 in 13, ROOT, AlphaCAT, TIOLI, ebook

The Cardinal's Blades - Pierre Pavel - Book 1 of a series, 13 in 13, ROOT, Fantasy February, ebook

The Map of Time - Felix J. Palma - Book 1 of a series, 13 in 13, ROOT, TIOLI, Fantasy February, ebook

Death in the Stocks - Georgette Heyer - Book 1 of a series, 13 in 13, ROOT, ebook

Bruno, Chief of Police - Martin Walker - Book 1 of a series, 13 in 13, ROOT, AlphaCAT, audio book

Relic - Preston/Child - Book 1 of a series, 13 in 13 ROOT, audio book.

Zoo City Lauren Beukes - I abandoned this so it only counts as a ROOT. The writing was fine, the ideas interesting, but I really couldn't give a damn about any of the characters and didn't really care what happened to them. Nor did I find the mystery, such as it was, intriguing enough to want to resolve.
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9 ROOTS, 8 13 in 13, and 5 TIOLI

2 fantasy
4 mystery
1 sci fi
1 thriller

7 males, 2 female (an odd month for me)

1 Dead Tree
3 Audio Books
5 Ebooks

1 Abandoned

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I'm still reading two books, but won't finish either before the end of the month:

Fugitive Prince - Janny Wurts
White Mountain - Sophie Tallis

Loving Fugitive Prince of course, but struggling with White Mountain which is an ER book I really should try harder to read.

I really really need to dredge up some discipline and concentrate on a few series to complete them rather than jumping into brand new ones!

My 20th ROOT: Fugitive Prince - Janny Wurts



The War of Light and Shadow Book 4.

Epic fantasy with a wide cast of characters in a sprawling landscape filled with pitfalls and betrayals and hopeless plights. Two half-brothers, both poisoned by their encounter with the Mistwraith, their gifts twisted and turned to destruction of everything they care about. Arithon, trained as a mage, at least knows what’s happening and has training enough to fight against it. Lysaer has no such protection and is totally under the Mistwraith’s spell.

By book 4, the spell has nearly consumed Lysaer. His natural sense of justice is so twisted he no longer seems himself, and is consumed with destroying Arithon.

Arithon is so harried and pursued across the world, he has no safe haven. All his allies are in deadly danger and under constant pressure from Lysaer armies of nearly fanatical believers. Only his natural bent toward brilliant tactics and subtle planning have given him any hope at all of surviving and of keeping his allies alive. He hopes to find a refuge for his people, where he can protect them from the Alliance of Light.

Intense emotions, depths of character, twisty plots and seemingly hopeless odds. All combine to make this book, as were the rest, compelling.

Ooh, you're at the halfway mark already! Excellent! :)

I'm glad you liked Relic! This is one of my favorite series; Pendergast is the best! You're right about the movie though; didn't even compare to the book...

I really did enjoy Relic. I've got the next one, Reliquary ready to go. Hope I can get to it soon!

21. Death of a Cozy Writer - G.M.Malliet



Obnoxious, wealthy father brings his clan together as he plans to marry again. Of course someone ends up dead.

Interesting characterizations, pretty good mystery. Nice setting. Nice debut book, so probably will continue the series.

I'd have liked a bit more about the detective, but I did like the care taken with all the suspects. They were all multilayered and interesting.

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This is another ROOT, a part of my 2013 Category Challenge and an AwardCat

22. Ragtime in Simla - Barbara Cleverly



The second book in the Joe Sandilands series, set, as was the first, in India, although this time in Simla, the summer capital of the British Raj. Set in 1922, shortly after the war, and with the backdrop of Indian independence just raising its head.

Joe is driving to Simla in a friend’s car. He offers a famous opera star a ride up the mountain, only to have the opera singer shot by a sniper before they can arrive. Joe takes it rather personally and determines to find the sniper and figure out why anyone would lie in wait for an opera singer. Or was he the target?

I loved the locale and the exotic backdrop. Characterizations were quite well developed and the mystery was convoluted enough that even if you figured out a part of it, there was more to the whole of the story to discover, up to the very end.

I adore stuff set during the British Raj so I was doubly pleased with this book.

This is a ROOT, part of my 2013 Category Challenge, an AlphaCAT, Mystery March, and a TIOLI.

23. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith



I sooo wanted to like this book more than I did. I love the setting, I love the way the characters take care of one another, I love the love of their country, but the main character, Precious, was way too precious for me. Not a single flaw, never a bad thought, never a step wrong, drove me a bit batty.

And it was also a bit sappy.

Okay, granted, I’m a gal who likes noir, so I’m probably prejudiced against one hundred percent good heroes, but still….. Glad I read it, glad I’m done with it, and it’s off my virtual shelf.

24. The Cater Street Hangman - Anne Perry




First in the Thomas Pitt series, it begins with a look at a well to do family living in the midst of violence and fear brought on by a killer of local women, both servants and their mistresses.

I like the atmosphere she invokes and the mystery is complex with a lot of red herrings thrown around.

This was a re-read for me, but from so long ago I’d forgotten most of it. Also I’d conflated it with a movie version I saw some time ago, the movie having altered major bits (to its detriment, I thought).

Re-reading so I can continue the series.

This is a ROOT, a TIOLI, a 13 in 13, an AlphaCAT, and a Mystery March.

Jean, you are really doing great on all your challenges. Very good work.

25. Doctor Thorne - Anthony Trollope





The third book of the Barsetshire chornicles, Trollope shows off his skills at poking fun at everyone: the gentry, the smug, the proud, the fools and even a time or two the angels.

It’s the 1850s with all its conventions and assumptions on full display.

I adore Trollope for his humor and his eye for absurdity.

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My 25th ROOT, 2013 Category Challenge, A Group Read, and a TIOLI

#53 - Thanks Connie! But I confess, I'm getting tempted by the new and shiny.... Very soon I'll veer off into the madness!

I'm there now, in the madness! Just reading a shiny new book (2012, so No ROOT) and a ebook that apeared on my reader. So no more ROOTS in march for me.

My 26th ROOT Outsider in Amsterdam - Janwillem van de Wetering




A man is found hung in his rooms. Is it murder, or is it suicide? Two Amsterdam cops investigate the possibilities and run into a lot of red herrings.

Told with utilitarian simplicity, and not a lot of psychologizing or depth of meaning, it’s strictly ‘the job.'

The style is quite different and gives the tale a totally different slant, which has pros and cons. I'm also not sure how much of what bothered me was due to translation issues (words badly selected).

But a pretty good tale over all.

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I received this as part of my Santa Thing gift package :)

It's a ROOT, a 2013 Cat challenge, an AlphaCAT, Mystery March, and a TIOLI

My 27th ROOT: Hounded - Kevin Hearne






Goddesses, a wolfhound who likes bangers and mash, the Tempe werewolf clan, and a troublesome coven of witches all make the life of one lone Druid interesting.

When his nemesis turns up to demand a Fae sword be returned, the same god who’s hounded him for millennia, and goes after his friends, well, this time Atticus decides to stand and fight and not to run.

Great series. Lots of humor, a joke cracking wolfhound and a bookselling Druid. What's not to like?

Oberon is a hoot, and Atticus is a pretty cool Druid. And the widow down the street is pretty neat too.

Sounds interesting :)

I've heard good things about the series.

First ROOT for April, and 28th ROOT for the year:

Darwin's Radio - Greg Bear





If the next evolutionary step happened, would we recognize it? Or would we think it a disease to destroy?

When a part of our genetic code suddenly activates, and women's pregnancies start go go wrong, it's a race to find the cause and cure it. Or is something else, entirely, happening?

Exciting and thought provoking look at how we react to change and what we might do to keep the status quo rather than take a step into the unknown. It's science vs politics and fear.

I listened to the audible edition narrated by George Guidall and thought it was an excellent narration especially given all the genetic and biological information in the text.
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A 2013 Category Challenge (Cat 8 - Altered States), an AlphaCAT, ROOT, and TIOLI

My 29th ROOT: The Devil You Know - Mike Carey





Felix (Fix) Castor is an exorcist. A not very happy one. He has no idea where he sends the ghosts he exorcises to, nor does he spend much time worrying about it. But he’s been avoiding his prime calling for awhile now for personal reasons, when he gets a call to exorcise the ghost from a business. He could use the money and it sounds like a simple enough job so he takes it. Well, naturally, he couldn’t have been more wrong.

It’s dark and noir, and Fix’s world isn’t for the faint of heart. Still, the story was interesting and the mystery surrounding the ghost is confusing enough so that even when you know a bit about what happened to her, you can’t quite figure it all out until the end.

I’ll be definitely continuing this series..

A ROOT, a 13 in 13 (#10 - Lovecraft's Silver Key - creepy), a TIOLI.

33. for the year, 30th ROOT

The Poet - Michael Connolly





Jack McAvoy, a reporter with the Rocky, finds it hard to believe that his twin, Sean, committed suicide. A detective, he’d seemed happy and although he was troubled by a child’s murder case, still, suicide seemed hard to take.

Jack begins looking into things when he decides to write an article about cops who suicide. What he finds leads him to a serial killer.

Fast paced, intricate, police procedural that keeps you guessing up to the very end. Great read!

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A ROOT, a 13 in 13 (category 1 - Minoan Trident - Thrillers), a TIOLI, and an AlphaCAT.

My 31st ROOT: The Damnation Affair - Lilith SaintCrow





Steampunk!

A Boston miss accepts a teaching post out in the Westron frontier in order to find out what’s happened to her brother. She lands in Damnation, the last place she’s heard from him. He’s not in town and she’s reluctant to ask about him given what she finds there. What she finds there is a bit unsettling for someone raised in civilization. Not to mention zombies, a Chinois sorcerer, and a Sheriff who is definitely more than he pretends to be.

I found Cat to be annoying because she’s depicted as so timid but she learns fast, as is necessary. Not much in the way of steampunk in town but lots of strange ‘mancy. Not to mention all those walking dead.

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A 13 in 13 (Cat 3 - Albert Einstein's Time Bridge), a ROOT, a TIOLI, and an AlphaCAT.

My 32nd ROOT:

Sandstorm - James Rollins




When a mysterious explosion rips apart a wing of the British Museum, a special force of scientist/soldiers is dispatched to the site. If their fears prove true, this explosion could be only a hint of what might happen if the forces that brought this about are triggered again.

Thriller that keeps you guessing from start to finish. Lots of archaeology and physics and a storm of action accompany the small group of scientists who race the clock to head off a possible disaster. Their task though, is complicated when it becomes apparent, they have not one, but two mysterious organizations also in pursuit of a scientific breakthrough of enormous potential.

And the women are just as kick-ass as the men.

Characterization, settings and plot combine to create a great read. I’ll definitely be continuing this series.

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Category Challenge (Category 1 Thrillers), a RandomCAT, a TIOLI, and a ROOT.

My 33rd ROOT:

The Keeper of Lost Causes - Jussi Adler-Olsen (Scandi Noir)





Carl Morck is just back to work with the detective bureau in Copenhagen. He was shot, one partner killed and another paralyzed from the neck down. To say he’s depressed and feeling guilty is no stretch of the imagination. He’s burned out, tired, and just wants out. Instead he finds himself promoted to head up a new division. He’s locked away in the basement, away from everyone and left to stew alone, with a pile of old unsolved cases.

His only employee, a naturalized citizen from Syria, who is supposed to have been hired to clean, ends up pushing Carl into picking up one of the cases, that of a missing female politician. Carl reluctantly begins to look at the case, but is drawn into it, more by the cleaners plan than by his own, until he begins to think he might have found out where the first investigation went wrong.

Very very noir mystery. Grim situation, horrible bad guys, and a detective who’s barely hanging on to his own sanity, all come together for a nail-biting conclusion.

Great characterization and a fascinating slow but steady build to the finale.

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A 2013 Category Challenge (#10 - Monsters), an AwardCAT, and a ROOT

38. Redshirts - John Scalzi





John Scalzi has written a paean to the original Star Trek series in Redshirts. It’s going to be far more meaningful to geeks and nerds who remember the surprise and fun on Star Trek when it delighted us as youngsters.

Away teams were almost always deadly for some anonymous extra wearing a red shirt. This story is about what happens when the guys and gals wearing those red shirts begin to realize that they are nearly always destined to die, or at least be horribly hurt during those away missions. And it’s about what they decide to do to stop the madness.

Great fun, but not so much laugh out loud funny, as smiling and remembering and cheering for the expendable ones who decide to take their fate in their own hands.

P.S. I listened to the audio version narrated by Wil Wheaton which just adds to the nerdly value of the book!

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This is a ROOT, a 13 in 13 (Category 3), a TIOLI, and an AlphaCAT

Something went wrong with the linking, Majkia!

fixed!

Very good ;-))

35th ROOT. Night Soldiers - Alan Furst





I won a book by Alan Furst from Library Thing and found it compelling so decided I’d read the entire series in the proper order. Night Soldiers is the first of the series. It takes place in the 1930s and follows the lives of a few young men who end up, by accident mostly, rather than design, as spies for different sides first in the Spanish Civil War, and then in Paris and Eastern Europe during the run-up and planning for World War II, and then during the war itself.

I love the style this book is written in. Frank, calm, plainly told, no dwelling on the horrors, just calm explanation of them.

You get an excellent sense of how these men’s lives are entirely at the mercy of the grand forces conspiring on all sides, and these men tricked or blackmailed or just accidentally ending up where they are. Also, how easily their lives are turned on end, or suddenly placed at risk because of suspicion or outright plotting by their ‘masters’ regarding their loyalties or competencies.

This is a far cry from 007. Gritty and suspenseful.

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Reading Thru Time (1930s), May Suspense etc, TIOLI, 2013 Category Challenge and a ROOT.

My 36th ROOT: Hamlet, Revenge! - Michael Innes





“Marry, this is miching mallecho; it means mischief.” – Shakespeare.

And so it was. And Inspector Appleby arrives to find a man dead on the stage of a private production of Hamlet. What does it mean? Why? Why in those circumstances. Is it spies or a very private sort of revenge?

I loved this book. It starts slow, and I wish I’d re-read Hamlet before hand, but when Appleby arrives en scene, the book becomes compelling.

This is my sort of mystery. Very cerebral, very puzzle driven, a smart, calculating, inventive bad guy, where the clues are scarce on the ground and the only way to solve it is by deep thinking.

Definitely continuing this series!

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A ROOT, a TIOLI, a 2013 Category Challenge, a May Mystery and Mayhem.

The Innes book is on a best-of mystery novel list I'm trying to complete. Hope I can track it down soon, based on your review.

My 37th ROOT:

The Rook - Daniel O'Malley





A young woman awakes and has no memory of who she is or what has happened to her. Then she finds a note in her pocket: ‘Dear You.” Thus begins her quest to find out who she is, what’s happened to her, and, along the way, to save the world.

What a fun read. Great feisty heroine with no sense of fashion, a secret spy agency charged with policing the supernatural, and pet bunny.

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A 2013 Category Challenge (Fantasy), a ROOT, a TIOLI, and great fun.

My 38th ROOT. Raven Black Ann Cleeves

First of the Shetland Island Trilogy





When a young woman is found dead in the snow, suspicion immediately focuses on the recluse and outsider of the island, a man suspected of killing a child many years before. In an effort to not jump to conclusions the local cops and the murder squad flown in to assist keep investigating. And the more they look into the locals, the less they know.

Nice use of atmosphere and geography, a varying and well drawn pool of suspects and twists and turns that keep you guessing as to just who did what to whom.

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A ROOT, a TIOLI, a 2013 Category Challenge (Category 1 Thriller), an AlphaCAT and a RandomCAT

My 39/40 ROOT for the year:

The Spiritualist - Megan Chance





It is 1857, New York City. A poor girl finds herself married to a man from the ‘upper 10’ of New York. He handsome, wealthy and she’s in love.

But he’s away a lot, and she is lonely, although to her surprise, Society has accepted her. Well, she thought they had. Until her husband is murdered and she finds herself the prime suspect.

Well drawn characters, an intriguing plot, with twists and enough surprises to keep me flipping the pages.

I’d have given it a better star rating, but it got a bit too bodice ripping a few times for my tastes, but not so badly that it distracted me from the storyline.

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A ROOT, a 2013 Category Challenge (Category 8 - Altered States), a TIOLI, and an AlphaCat

The 40th ROOT and the Completion of my Challenge!

Framley Parsonage - Anthony Trollope





Tollope continues his Barsetshire series depicting the foibles, frustrations and triumphs of the denizens of the county. Some characters from older novels reappear, some to frustrate us, some to delight us. And Mrs Proudie appears to make us grind our teeth!

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ROOT (the last one of my challenge!), a TIOLI, a 2013 Category Challenge, and an AlphaCat

Congratulations on finishing this challenge! I now realize that I haven't read any ROOTS in at least a month...I need to get my head back in the game!

Wow, that is a lot of books and you finished your challenge already – congratulations!

Congrats, majkia! I already congratulated you in the progress thread, but you deserve a 'Yeah!!' in your own thread too.

Woo hoo! Great work! :)

my 41st ROOT

Foreigner - C. J. Cherryh





How difficult would it be to actually meet aliens and understand them? Foreigner explores the difficulties in understanding aliens with different biological imperatives, different mental wiring and a different understanding of society and how it’s structured.

Bren is the interpreter for his human colleagues. They’ve been stranded on an alien planet and after a short and difficult war have been granted an island on which to live.

Bren is the only human living with the atevi (the natives). He’s the conduit from the human enclave to the atevi. The humans, more technologically advanced, have been feeding the atevi tech advances a bit at a time, naturally with their own agenda.

Things have been going well for a hundred or so years, when suddenly someone attempts to assassinate Bren, and he finds himself scooped up and taken away from the capitol and denied his mail and any access to any outside communication. What is going on? Is he in danger? Can he trust the atevi who say they are trying to protecting him? Or has he been attributing human emotions and motives to a species he just realizes he completely doesn’t understand?

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A ROOT, a TIOLI, a 2013 Category Challenge (Abby Normal's Brain), an AlphaCat.

My 42nd ROOT:

Still Life with Murder - P.B. Ryan





A murder at a brothel in Boston becomes less than routine when the man arrested for the murder is thought to have died in Andersonville. But his father bribes police and anyone else he can to ensure his son hangs for the murder. Why?

That’s the question that drives his mother and her accomplice, the governess, to do everything they can to understand why, and to prove the son’s innocence.

Interesting characters even if I found the original setup a bit hard to believe. Even so, the book definitely was intriguing enough to keep me turning pages, and to want to read more.

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A ROOT, a TIOLI, a 2013 Category Challenge (Category 2), and an AlphaCAT

My 43rd ROOT:

Don't Look Back - Karen Fossum

Konrad Sejer, book 1





The First translated book of the Konrad Sejer mystery series set in Norway. Complex plot points, interesting and varied characters, and cool location.

Will continue this series.

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A ROOT, a TIOLI, a 2013 Category Challenge (CAT 2 again), and an AlphaCAT

My 44th ROOT:

These Old Shades} - Georgette Heyer





It’s a typical Parisian night as Satan walks down a dark and dirty street. Suddenly an urchin lurches out of an alleyway and plows into him. He thinks he’s a target for a robbery, but instead finds himself grasping a quite remarkable young man.

A plot forms in his head immediately and when the urchin’s pursuer shows up, he buys the urchin.

Thus begins a tale of a rogue who plays the deep game and whose morals are non-existent. Or are they?

I do love a good rogue, and Alastair is definitely that!
Lots of fun and color and intrigue.

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A ROOT, a TIOLI, a 2013 Category (Cat 6 - Ancient Times) and an AlphaCat.

Can you imagine Satan as a father? Or do you already know Devil's Cub ?

have not yet read Devil's Cub but looking forward to it!

My 45th ROOT :

In the Woods Tana French





How do you put your life back together again when your childhood is shattered so badly you have no memories prior to the summer of your 11th year? And what happens when you managed to have a mostly normal life, but suddenly you find yourself drawn back into the mystery and horror of those lost years?

Those questions drive and define the world of Rob Ryan as he investigates the death of a little girl in the same town where his two best friends disappeared. Surely, in such a small town, there can't be two child murderers. Even if they are 25 or so years apart?

Intricate plotting, mysteries galore, and complex and convincing characterizations. No wonder it won an award.

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A ROOT, a TIOLI, 2013 Category Challenge (11- Contemporary Mysteries), an AlphaCAT and an AwardCAT

Sounds really good! Going to find a Dutch e-version -->

Found it!

Connie, I hope you find it as fabulous as I did!

I will let you know!

My 46th ROOT:

The Hunt for Atlantis - Andy McDermott




(Audiobook)

I love books about archaeological quests, so I’d hoped for a bit more from this book. There was lots of chases and gunfire but not enough archaeology for my tastes. Also, I found the ending a bit hard to believe, at least the plot denouement at any rate.

Still, I own book two and because I like one main character, and want to kick the other, I’ll probably listen to it as well.

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A ROOT, a 13 in 13 (cat 12), an AlphaCAT and a TIOLI

My 47th ROOT:

The Small House at Allington - Anthony Trollope





Not my favorite Trollope but very much the usual tale with lots of fun pokes at society and its peccadillos.

This was the audio version read by Simon Vance whom I greatly enjoy.

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This is a 13 in 13 (Cat 4 - Epic Tales), a ROOT, a TIOLI, a shared read.

63. Hexed - Kevin Hearne





Atticus, no longer able to keep a low profile, is forced to face down a bunch of bad witches. And discovers he has some new friends.

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A TIOLI, a ROOT, a 13 in 13 (Cat 9) and an AlphaCAT

49.Gateway - Frederik Pohl

50. The White Rhino Hotel - Bartle Bull









Gateway, a science fiction novel, is  about the discovery of a mysterious, uhm, gateway created by aliens long gone.

The White Rhino Hotel is a novel about a young man leaving England to try to make a life in Africa.

The two books are eerily similar in structure.

I didn’t plan to read the second one right after Gateway, but just picked it up, so this similarity was entirely unexpected.

Both go into detail about the strange worlds the people step into, and spend a lot of time dealing with the reactions, surprises and learning curves for each new world.

Both were wonderful reads, and eye-opening in multiple ways. Both are highly recommended.

51. Reliquary - Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child is the second book in the Pendergast thriller series. A wild ride as Pendergast and old friends find out that they didn’t really understand what happened in BOOK 1, and that things were going pear-shaped again. Very effective sequel.

52. What Angels Fear - C.S. Harris is a period mystery, set in London, just as the Regency is about to begin. A woman is found murdered and raped in a church and the clues point to Lord Devlin, the only remaining son of one of the Prince’s main advisers. I realized after I began this that I’d read it many years ago. I did remember whodunnit, but reread it entirely anyway. Quite a good period mystery with lots of grimy scenes of the poor sectors of London.

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Both are TIOLI, 13 in 13, ROOT. One is an AlphaCAT

53. Yendi - Steven Brust

54. House of Silk - Anthony Horowitz





Yendi is the second book in the Vlad Taltos series. Very funny assassin with a smartass tiny dragon who sits on his shoulder. Actually the dragon is funnier.

House of Silk is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche which I thought was excellently done. Very much evoked the originals, I thought.

55. Map of Bones - James Rollins

I had sooooo much fun reading this book, the second in the Sigma Force series. I got to look up lots of stuff and try to see what was real and what wasn’t.

Some stuff I looked up: m-state metals (monoatomic metals), the Order of Dragons, how many Magi were there?, heap-leach cyanide recovery method to extract precious metals , Meissner Fields and superconducting metals,Catharism, Thomas Chrstians, the Chinon Parchment.

There were more.

Non-stop action, believable storyline not going too far afield, fleshed out characters, hateable bad guys, and never sure who was on which side. What more can you want from a thriller!

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A ROOT, 13 in 13 and a TIOLI

That sounds good, majkia.

56. The Difference Engine - William Gibson and Bruce Sterling





Alternate history/cyberpunk tale of what happens when Charles Babbage creates computers during the Victorian Age. England has a distinct advantage and the world, as a result, is very different. Including some interesting changes as to who is Prime Minister and who isn’t.  As well as whose still a colony and who isn’t.

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Finished last day of August so it counted for August TIOLI. Also a ROOT and a 13 in 13 (Category 8 - Timothy Leary's Glasses)

59th ROOT:



The first in her current day mystery series.  Even so, the book is oddly gothic for a modern day story, with lots of atmosphere and terrific settings.

Told from a surprising POV and with creepy effectiveness.

Will definitely continue this series.

60. Initiate's Trial - Janny Wurts





I received this book through the Early Reviewer program. I decided not to just pick it up and read it but instead decided to read the entire series in order first. I'm very glad I did. This is not the sort of series you can jump around in. Each book builds upon the previous one, with consequences from earlier actions affecting not only the individuals but the overall course of the plot.

The characters are multi-layered and complex. They grow, they evolve, they make a LOT of mistakes, and then they have to live with those mistakes and, where possible, right wrongs done or at least try to mitigate the unfortunate fallout. But that isn't always possible. Sometimes you just have to accept.

The world is well-drawn and with many hidden, or little-understood or long-forgotten complexities. It's a fantasy world, but one with tightly drawn rules and when something surprises you, you can remember, far back in a previous book, there was a hint of this to come.

If you love fantasy, love your characters tricksy and smart, determined, sometimes nefarious, and you love a world you have to work at to get a grasp on, then this is a series for you.

Me, I'm loving it.

This sounds really interesting. I will post something on a Dutch Fantasy forum. A lot of the members read books in English and they might be very interested. Thanks Majkia.

great Connie! Glad to spread the word about this series!

61. Black Order - James Rollins





The third in Rollin’s Sigma series – scientists with guns – starts out with two seemingly harmless assignments. Gray Pierce is in Copenhagen looking into some weirdness regarding sales of expensive scientific treatises and a Darwin Bible. Meanwhile, Painter Crowe heads off to a Buddhist retreat where Gray had spent some time, when the head of the monastery asked for help regarding some mysterious illness and mysterious lights.

It isn’t long before both of them are under ferocious attacks by folks tattooed with runic characters.

Another compelling Sigma Force entry with lots of twists, turns and quantum physics.

62. Leviathan Wakes - James S.A. Corey




Fast plot and intriguing characterization.

The future isn’t all that terrific as humanity is stuck in our own star system, not having found an FTL solution as yet.

A faint SOS beacon brings a response from a passing transport ship, and when its shuttle  reaches the disabled ship, the crew watches in horror as a cloaked warship blows away their transport. Now stranded and hiding from this unknown enemy, they struggle to find a place to go, how to get there, and what to do then. They find some evidence that the culprits in attacking their ship are from the Mars federation. The disclosure of that evidence starts a shooting war between the Belters and Mars. Earth remains surprisingly quiescent. But how long will that last?

Two POVs which you know will mesh up eventually. Lots of action, interesting trying to piece together what the heck is going on.

Great read!

65. The Yard - Alex Grecian

An interesting look at The Yard attempting to rebuild itself and regain a city's trust in the wake of its failure to capture Jack the Ripper.

It also depicts the rise of forensic science and the first movement toward modern policing and murder investigations.

It's gory and gritty and depicts the miseries of the poor in London, but I found it fascinating. I enjoyed the noir flavor, and found the characters well, and deeply, drawn.

I listened to the audio version and thought the narrator, Toby Leonard Moore, did an excellent job.

66. Phoenix Rising - Pip Ballantine


Steampunk. World building is very intriguing, and the characters are well drawn, but the book is badly in need of an editor!

67. A Drink Before the War - Dennis Lehane

Excellent noir, gritty mystery set in Boston. The characterization is excellent. Will definitely read more of this series.

Hi! You've done some great reading here -- starting some of my favorite series! I especially love that series by Dennis Lehane. I've read them all, and was sorry to finish the last, but I'm also reading the series by Tana French, Ann Cleeves, and Susan Hill. I personally didn't like the second of the Tana French series much -- too implausible, IMO -- but the third and especially fourth in that series were great, so don't be put off from the series by it if you don't like The Likeness when you get to it. The books in that series are so loosely related that you don't need to read them all through, anyway.

A friend loaned me Bruno, Chief of Police, and I need to get to it! Relic, An Outsider in Amsterdam, and so many others from your thread are probably going to land on my already-too-long Ever-Expanding List of things I want to read. Yikes!

Happy Solstice!
Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season, whatever you celebrate.

What a beautiful image! Thank you, and a very happy solstice and other holidays to you too. :)

No more ROOTS pulled for me for 2013. See you in 2014 on my new thread:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/162131