Ariadne’s Legacy

I checked and I haven’t blogged about books since July 2008.  Oops.  I’ve been reading more than blogging since then, so I won’t mention everything I’ve read (don’t wanna bore you), but some highlights. 

I should mention that some things I read in print and some on audio.  I rarely buy books full price.  I usually get them from the library (duh), download from my Audible membership, or pick them up here and there really cheap.  We have a Half Price Books nearby now, so I’m thrilled about that.  I love the $1.00 clearance section!

Kid Stuff

• The Sisters Grimm: Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley:  Cute “mystery”/fantasy.
• Winter of Peril by Jan Andrews; Turned Away by Carol Matas; An Ocean Apart by Gillian Chan; A Trail of Broken Dreams by Barbara Haworth; With Nothing But Our Courage by Karleen Bradford; No Safe Harbour by Julie Lawson:  Who knew they had Dear Canada books as well as  Dear America?  I bought them for the library because some of our girls have pretty much been through all the Dear Americas.
• Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson:  How can you resist a book whose blurb includes the phrase “the cult of evil Librarians plotting to take over the world”?  It’s a hoot!
• A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban:  A quirky little gem about imperfect people that was in our book fair.
• The Mother-Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick:  “Chick lit light” for young adults.  Four teen girls are dragged into a book club against their will; of course they learn to get along and appreciate themselves and their families more, but the characters themselves are pretty fascinating.  

Mysteries

• The Widow’s Tale and others by Margaret Frazer:  Set in medieval England, they’re not as good as the Brother Cadfael ones by Ellis Peters, but they bring the period to life.
• The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie:  Typical English mystery; they’ve had Miss Marple on the local PBS station, motivating me to pick up a few of that series.
• The Eye of Jade by Diane Wei Liang: Set in today’s Beijing, an interesting look at current Chinese society along with a mystery.
• The Transcendental Murder by Jane Langton: The first in the Homer Kelly series, it is a bit dated, but extremely funny. [Note: Laura, you would probably like it as it is set in your old stomping ground and features an literature professor.]
• Thread of Deceit by Catherine Palmer: An “inspirational/Christian fiction” book; I could see the bad guy from a mile away, but the main characters are interesting and it’s a nice love story.
• The Bordeaux Betrayal by Ellen Crosby: Third in a series set in the wine country of Virginia, this one mixes in some history involving Thomas Jefferson.
• Sound Tracks by Marcia Simpson:  A mystery set in the panhandle of Alaska.  Well, the mystery part isn’t all that mysterious, but it’s got interesting characters and is very atmospheric.  I think I would have liked this one even better in print as I thought the narrator wasn’t the best.

History / Travel

• The Loyalists by Christopher Moore: More Nova Scotia / New Brunswick history.
• The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester: An interesting biography of Joseph Needham, who, as the title indicates, was a great adventurer and scholar of China.
• Shadow of the Silk Road by Colin Thubron: An intreped Brit treks along the route of the former Silk Road; bet you didn’t know much about Kyrgyzstan either.
• Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell: To say that the author traced the sites associated with three presidential assassinations sounds boring — in reality this book is an absolute hoot and packed with interesting anecdotes.  It’s best in audio as she has a unique voice and does her own narration (Sarah Vowell was also the voice of Violet in The Incredibles). 
• The Passport by Martin Lloyd: A history and anecdotal treatment of passports.  Again, it doesn’t sound like the most exciting book, but it pulls in the attempt to assassinate Napoleon III, Machiavelli, forgery, and spies.
• Inventing Niagara by Ginger Strand: A little heavy on the environmental message, but full of stuff you never knew about Niagara Falls.

I also read a couple of Brit Lit titles:  Starburst by Robin Pilcher (Rosamunde Pilcher’s son), which is set in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy, set in Ireland.

I have got to blog more frequently — catching up takes way too long!