Sunday Summary: 28 September 2014

As before I'm linking up with The Sunday Post, hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Where I've been reading

I was away from home all week. I started out on Monday afternoon, flying to Omaha for meetings with several customers. I returned to Dallas on the early morning flight on Thursday. Of course, I used the in-flight time to read on my Kindle. When hubby picked me up at the terminal, we started our annual road trip to Auburn for Homecoming. We drove from the DFW airport to Meridian, MS, on Thursday and then finished the trip on Friday morning. Friday was also the first day of the Fall into Autumn Read-a-thon hosted over at BookObsessed. It was nice to have just over three hours of uninterrupted reading time in the car.

What I've been reading

Format: Hardback
Source: Denton Public Library

Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well is the latest (nineteenth) in Nancy Atherton's charming mystery series with a supernatural twist. I've been waiting for this book for months and months and finally was able to get it from a nearby library. I started it last Sunday and continued to read during Monday's drive to the airport, but didn't finish it before we got there. So, I left it in the car and then completed reading it on Thursday afternoon. This catches me up with the series and helps me meet my series reading goal for 2014.

Format: Kindle
Source: Purchased in September 2013 from Amazon

The Shift Omnibus was a carry-over from last week. I finished reading Second Shift and then went right on to Third Shift. I had started reading the omnibus right after I purchased it in 2013 and set it aside part of the way through Second Shift. I'll occasionally do this and it's hard to remember later why I abandoned the book ... because I find myself enjoying it very much when I do pick it up again. I have enjoyed all the books in Howey's Silo Saga and I have the next one on hand—and after that one, there are many fan fiction books to explore.

Format: Kindle
Source: Purchased in May 2014 from Amazon

After reading A Lady of Resources last week, I was looking forward to reading A Lady of Spirit, the most recent book in Shelley Adina's Magnificent Devices steampunk series. Although a couple of the story lines are now resolved, there's every indication that there will be another book in the series and that makes me really glad.

Format: Kindle
Source: Review copy from NetGalley

In this week's books from NetGalley, I received a copy of Nancy Kress's Yesterday's Kin. Since the publication date had already passed, I decided to start reading it right away so that I can get a review published as soon as possible. I've loved every book by Kress that I've ever read—the most memorable being her Beggars in Spain trilogy, maybe because those were the first of her books that I ever read. Yesterday's Kin was a new take on a first contact theme and I enjoyed it very much. Tune back in later this week for a review.

These two books are unfinished and carrying over to next week. I'm listening to My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares on audio CD. When I returned my rental car at the Omaha airport, I was on track 11 of disk 3. It will probably be a couple of weeks before I listen to it again—certainly not next week since I won't be driving at all. And, on my BeBook reader, I'm reading Monk's Hood by Ellis Peters, the third in her Brother Cadfael mystery series. I borrowed this one from the library through their subscription to the Freading service, so I need to finish it quickly.

This Week on the Blog

I didn't have much time to post to the blog this week. After the Tackle Your TBR read-a-thon, I slowed down just a bit from the frenzy of reading and posting. I did manage to put together a Top Ten Tuesday post and the weekly Stacking the Shelves meme.

1. Tackle Your TBR: Wrapping Up the Read-a-thon
2. Top Ten Tuesday: 23 September 2014
3. Stacking the Shelves (5)

Stacking the Shelves (5)

I'm so glad that my week was busy—it kept me from shopping for books. I know I'm on a book-buying moratorium, but I do have some money left from a birthday gift card. More important, I didn't get any books from the library. My TBR list is so long and at least if I avoid the library, I have fewer deadlines to worry about.

I did pick up a couple of freebies from Amazon that looked interesting. I really don't consider all the freebies as part of my TBR list. They're simply books that I might read if the mood strikes me. Most of the time the freebie is the first of a series, so if I start hearing good things about the series, I may pull out the freebie and sample it for myself. But I really don't pay them much attention overall.

I did, however, pick up two new books at NetGalley. Tachyon Publication approved my request to review Yesterday's Kin by Nancy Kress. The publication date was 9 September, so this is moving up very close to the top of my TBR list. The other book I received is The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord, courtesy of Del Rey Spectra.

So how about you? Did you get any new books this week? You're invited to join the fun at Stacking the Shelves. According to the reviewers at Tynga's Reviews who host the meme:

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Top Ten Tuesday: 23 September 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they provide a prompt and other book lovers join in with their own top ten list.

This week's theme is “Top Ten Books On My Fall To-Be-Read list”.

The last Top Ten Tuesday I posted asked about the Top Ten Books I Really Want To Read But Don't Own Yet. I'm happy to report that I've already read three of these, all borrowed from the library. This week's Top Ten list will draw from the books on hand:

1. Monk's Hood is the third book in Ellis Peters' series of mysteries set in a monastery in Medieval England. I was very happy when this series became available to borrow in electronic format from my local library through their subscription to Freading. I plan to work my way straight through the Brother Cadfael series through the fall.

    

2. At the beginning of the year, I identified three series that I wanted to complete in 2014. One of these was David Weber's Honor Harrington series of military science fiction. A Rising Thunder is the 13th book in the main series. Like the other books in the series, it is well over 800 pages long, so it will take me a week or more to finish it. And then, I have one more book to read to complete my personal challenge.

    

3. And Shadow of Freedom is the last book in my personal series challenge. I purchased the electronic version of this book late last year from Baen eBooks. I did discover that in March, David Weber released yet another book in the Honorverse. It wasn't part of my challenge, but I'll go ahead and read it before the end of the year if time permits.

    

4. Netgalley sent me a free copy of The Oblate's Confession for review. This novel by William Peak is scheduled to be released in early December. Set in an English monastery, I expect to find some synergy between the Brother Cadfael mysteries of Eliis Peters and this novel, although it is set several hundred years earlier. I sampled the first chapter of this book as soon as I downloaded it, and I found myself engaged right away.

    

5. One advantage to owning a Kindle is getting introduced to a number of independent authors who are taking advantage of Amazon's own publishing platform. Earlier this year, I picked up the omnibus edition containing the first four books of David Simpson's Post-Human series and quickly read through them during June. Inhuman is the fifth book in the series and according to reviews on the Amazon site, it ties the original stories together.

    

6. I'm a fan of Kinsey Millhone, the private-eye brought to live by Sue Grafton in her Alphabet Mysteries. V is for Vengeance is the 22nd offering in the series, which so far goes up to “W”. I can't imagine the series ending, but I wonder if Grafton will keep it going when she runs out of the alphabet.

    

7. I'm just heartbroken that Kim Harrison has ended her supernatural Hollows series starring Rachel Morgan. The Undead Pool is the next-to-last book in the series. I'll be borrowing both from the local library, and there's quite a waiting list for them. That's OK by me since I don't want to rush through these last two books.

    

8. Zondervan, an imprint of HarperCollins, offered a free copy of Murder Tightly Knit by Vanetta Chapman on Netgalley in exchange for a review. I was attracted to the cover and since I had enjoyed other books set in Amish communities, I thought I'd request it for review. So, I need to read and review before its publication date of December 16th.

    

9. My niece introduced me to Shelley Adina's Magnificent Devices series earlier this year. I had picked up an omnibus of the first four books when it was on sale last Fall, but hadn't gotten around to reading them. She was so excited about the books that as soon as she completed the omnibus, we ordered the next two books right away. I have had a wonderful time reading all the previous books and I will soon start reading A Lady of Spirit, the most recent book in this YA steampunk series. I certainly hope it won't be the last.

    

10. I have had Skinwalker on my “want to read“ list for quite a while. I received the eBook last month, moving it off my Wish List to the active TBR stack. Since I've really enjoyed reading most of the paranormal fiction that has been recommended to me, I'm looking forward to reading this book as soon as I can.

     

Tackle Your TBR: Wrapping up the read-a-thon

This was my first time to participate in the Tackle Your TBR read-a-thon, and it was a great experience. Thanks so much to Tressa for organizing it and actively communicating with all the participants. I was so relieved to finish two books on Friday. Mission of Honor was an awfully thick book—880 pages—and it took me much longer to finish it than I had thought. Next time I participate in the Tackle Your TBR read-a-thon, I'm going to pick shorter books so that I can tick more of them off the list! Also, since I was alone in my rental car this past week, I was able to finish listening to Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World just minutes before I returned the rental car to the Little Rock airport.

Having finished those two books, I started another book on my Kindle, A Lady of Resources, fifth in Shelley Adina's Magnificent Devices steampunk series. I read during the entire flight from Little Rock to Dallas on Friday, during supper, and even took my Kindle to bed with me. I finished the book on Saturday afternoon and then pulled out another Kindle book, Shift, that I had started last year but set aside without finishing it. And, on Saturday, when I headed down to my son's house to spend the day with my grandchildren, I tossed a CD into the player and started listening to My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares.

Overall, I'm still pleased with my participation in the read-a-thon. I read over 1200 pages in the 13 days of the event, finished three books, and visited several blogs. Tressa has announced next year's read-a-thon to run from 14-26 September. I plan to be there.

Statistics

Friday, 19 September

Number of books I've read today: 3
Number of pages I've read today: 238
Total number of pages read: 1057
Number of books completed today: 2
Total number of books completed: 2

Saturday, 20 September

Number of books I've read today: 3
Number of pages I've read today: 147
Total number of pages read: 1204
Number of books completed today: 1
Total number of books completed: 3

Completed Books

Currently Reading

Sunday Summary, 2014-09-21

I'm really enjoying the weekly summary of what's been going on with my reading life and here on the blog. I'm linking up with The Sunday Post, hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Where I've been reading

This week was the second and final week of the Tackle your TBR read-a-thon. I took advantage of flights on Wednesday and Friday to spend a lot of time reading. In fact, I finally finished reading Mission of Honor on Friday afternoon sitting in the airport. While in Little Rock, I listened to Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World in the rental car as I drove from airport to hotel to customer location and back. That allowed me to finish this book on Friday as well. I read from several different books over the weekend, completing one more, A Lady of Resources by Shelley Adina.

What I've been reading

Format: Kindle
Source: purchased in 2010 from Baen eBooks

I loved how several threads began to come together in this series. It amazes me how the author set up things in this book several years ago in earlier books in the series. In a change from previous books, Honor Harrington isn't engaged in battle. Instead, she steps into the role of ambassador to the Haven Republic. Now, there's plenty of space warfare, but this time the Manticoran Navy is taking on the Solarian League instead of their long-time enemies. I'm quite eager to get going with the next in the series.

Format: Audio download
Source: purchased from Audible in February 2014

This was every bit as good as I was hoping. I read very few non-fiction books, but have become fond of Simon Winchester's books on history, geography, and geology. So, when I was looking for another book, I stumbled across Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. It takes me at least a month to listen to an audio book, but that actually worked to sustain the enjoyment. Everytime I stepped into a rental car this past month, I looked forward to another half-hour or more of this recounting of Genghis Khan's own life and the tremendous positive contribution that he and his people have had on the entire world.

Format: Kindle
Source: purchased from Amazon in May 2014

Now that I had finally finished Mission of Honor, I picked up this fifth entry in Shelley Adina's Magnificent Devices steampunk series. A Lady of Resources is set six years in the future from the first four books. Lady Claire has moved to Germany, taking the orphaned Mopsies with her to attend school. As the novel begins, the twins Lizzie and Maggie are graduating from school at the same time that Lady Claire graduates from university. With the summer break in front of them, they return to England where an adventure unfolds along with a revelation of the family into which the girls had been born.

Format: Kindle
Source: purchased in September 2013 from Amazon

Since the Tackle Your TBR read-a-thon was still going on, I decided to pull out a book that I had started last year but set aside unfinished. Shift by Hugh Howey is a set of stories which serve as a prequel to his highly rated Wool. I couldn't remember exactly where I stopped reading, so I started at the beginning of the second novella, “Second Shift”. Some of it was quite familiar as I was re-reading, but I'm now in an unread portion and looking forward to finishing at least this story if not the entire book.

Format: Audio CD
Source: purchased September 2014 in a close-out sale at Cracker Barrel

The other book I have not yet finished is My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares. I selected this audio book to listen to during my commute on Saturday to and from my son's house. This novel takes an interesting tack on the story of time-crossed lovers. Daniel is in his umteenth incarnation since his earliest memories in Sixth Century Carthage. In each lifetime, he meets his soul mate, Sophia. The big difference between Daniel and Sophia (now named Lucy in her 20th Century US incarnation) is that he remembers all of his past lives and she does not. So when Daniel tries to tell Lucy that he has loved her for more than 1000 years, she freaks out. I'm only a little bit more than an hour into this 10 hour recording, and looking forward t more time alone in the car so I can continue listening.

This Week on the Blog

I posted the first review of a book received from Netgalley . I really enjoyed reading The Dancer and the Raja by Javier Moro and was pleased to provide a review for the publisher, Open Road Media. The rest of the posts were mostly status updates for the Tackle Your TBR read-a-thon. And on Saturday, I posted the weekly Stacking the Shelves update about the new books I received the past week.

1. Tackle Your TBR: Status Update 3
2. Review: The Dancer and the Raja
3. Tackle Your TBR: Status Update 4
4. Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves (4)

How was your week? Did you get any new books this week? Leave a comment or join the fun at Stacking the Shelves.

This past week the only books I acquired came from the used book sale at my local public library. In the Spring, the fire-suppression sprinkler system sprung a leak and flooded the library. During the major (near-total) renovation, the library staff culled the collection of books which had not been circulated in a long time. Along with donations from the community, all these books were placed on sale on the second weekend of September. I took advantage of the bulk pricing that allowed me to fill up a paper sack with paper-back books and pay only $5.00 for the sackful.

Most of what I picked up are science fiction and fantasy, but I also scored a couple of titles which I thought my mother-in-law would enjoy. I've already given those to her, so the list of new books is not complete.

Oh yeah—I almost forgot...I did check one book out of the library as well. My name finally came to the top of the reserve list and I was able to bring home a copy of Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well by Nancy Atherton. This is the 19th and most recently published book in the series and completing it finishes the series (so far). That will leave me with only two more books to complete the series challenge I set for myself in 2014.

Borrowed from the library:

Purchased at the library's book sale:

• Gabriel's Ghost by Linnea Sinclair
• Tangled Up in Blue by Joan D Vinge
• Hands Up, Miss Seeton by Hamilton Crane
• Whiplash by Catherine Coulter
• Quentins by Maeve Binchy
• Meg: Hell's Aquarium by Steve Alten
• Hidden Empire by Kevin J Anderson
• Manta's Gift by Timothy Zahn
• Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb
• Wife of Moon by Margaret Coel
• Mama Pursues Murderous Shadows by Nora DeLoach
• Ghost by John Ringo
• Inherit the Earth by Brian Stableford
• The Engineer Reconditioned by Neal Asher
• Quest for Lost Heroes by David Gemmell
• Winter Warriors by David Gemmell

According to the reviewers at Tynga's Reviews who host the meme:

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Tackle Your TBR: Status Update 4

It's been almost a week since my last update for the Tackle Your TBR read-a-thon. There's just today and tomorrow and then the whole thing is over, so it's definitely time for another update.

This was another busy week at work. I did manage to get a lot of reading done on Wednesday as I had a flight to Little Rock for work. I read all the way from home to the airport, while I waited in the terminal, and on the airplane—not only the short, hour-long flight, but the hour and a half we sat on the plane while they fixed a mechanical problem. All the other days, I managed a steady average of 70 pages per day.

I continued to read Mission of Honor by David Weber. As I mentioned, it's over 800 pages long and I wasn't able to read it as fast as I had hoped. I also listened to a couple of hours of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. At the end of the day on Thursday, I was about 50 pages from the end of Mission of Honor and an hour from the end of the audiobook.

Statistics

Sunday, 14 September

Number of books I've read today: 1
Number of pages I've read today: 70
Total number of pages read: 400
Number of books completed today: 0
Total number of books completed: 0

Monday, 15 September

Number of books I've read today: 1
Number of pages I've read today: 77
Total number of pages read: 477
Number of books completed today: 0
Total number of books completed: 0

Tuesday, 16 September

Number of books I've read today: 1
Number of pages I've read today: 60
Total number of pages read: 537
Number of books completed today: 0
Total number of books completed: 0

Wednesday, 17 September

Number of books I've read today: 2
Number of pages I've read today: 215
Total number of pages read: 742
Number of books completed today: 0
Total number of books completed: 0

Thursday, 18 September

Number of books I've read today: 2
Number of pages I've read today: 77
Total number of pages read: 819
Number of books completed today: 0
Total number of books completed: 0

Currently Reading

Review: The Dancer and the Raja

The Dancer and the Raja by Javier Moro
Published September 23, 2014
by Open Road Integrated Media
Source: Netgalley

On January 28th, 1908, a young Spanish woman sitting astride a luxuriously bejeweled elephant enters a small city in northern India. The streets are packed with curious locals, anxious to pay homage to their new princess with skin as white as the snows of the Himalayas.

This is the beginning of the story, based on real events, of the wedding of Anita Delgado and the wealthy maharajah of Kapurthala, a grand story of love and betrayal that took place during almost two decades in the heart of an India that was on the verge of disappearing.

Ana Delgado Briones, Anita to family and friends, married a charming maharaja. Almost overnight she was transformed from a cabaret performer to a queen of a remote Indian kingdom in the Punjab. Javier Moro tells her story, based on actual events, transporting the reader to the India of the Maharajas. Along the way, he shows the conflict between traditions centuries old and the lure of European lifestyles. The story of Anita and the maharaja of Kapurthala is not just a love story, but also one that shows the clash of cultures, especially the growing tension between the British and the Indian Maharajas.

Right there on the cover it says “A Novel”, but this book has the feel of a scholarly text, complete with footnotes. The author has delivered an appealing work, combining information from a number of historical sources including Anita's own diaries to tell the story of a teen-aged girl who fell in love with a king, only to discover that her life as a queen turns out quite differently from her day dreams.

As I mentioned in my quick summary a couple of weeks ago, ultimately this is an impressive story about the end of an era in Indian history. For the first time, I had been shown the withdrawal of the British from India through the eyes of a ruler of an Indian state. I heartily recommend this book to readers who are interested in the human side of world events.

Note that I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Open Road Media via NetGalley.

★★★★☆

Tackle Your TBR: Status Update 3

Saturday marked the mid-point of the Tackle Your TBR read-a-thon. It's time for another update. Friday was a normal workday rather than the intense schedule from earlier in the week. That allowed me to read as many pages as I had read on Thursday and moved me even further into Mission of Honor. And that was even though I entertained two four year olds with a sleepover at Nana's house on Friday night.

On Saturday, I had a number of errands to run, so I plugged my iPhone into the car stereo and listened to Gengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. Listening for about an hour in total counts for about 25 pages. The rest of my reading time was in Mission of Honor. When the read-a-thon began, I had really expected to finish Mission of Honor by Saturday, but it became obvious that wasn't going to happen when I had so many days early in the week with very little reading taking place.

Statistics

Friday, 12 September

Number of books I've read today: 1
Number of pages I've read today: 95
Total number of pages read: 281
Number of books completed today: 0
Total number of books completed: 0

Saturday, 13 September

Number of books I've read today: 2
Number of pages I've read today: 49
Total number of pages read: 330
Number of books completed today: 0
Total number of books completed: 0

Currently Reading

Sunday Summary: 2014-09-14

Another week and time to stop and look back at the past week's reading. I'm linking up with The Sunday Post, hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Where I've been reading

On Sunday, I determined to finish One Corpse Too Many which had been checked out of the library because Monday was the first day of the Tackle your TBR read-a-thon. Obviously, I should be reading from my TBR stack for the rest of the week. Monday morning started with an early drive to the airport to catch a flight to Florida where I would be working all week. I was so sleepy that I dozed most of the flight instead of getting in two hours of reading as I had planned. We immediately went to work after landing, so I didn't have time to dig out my Kindle until after supper. That's how the week went until Thursday's flight home; work started early and ended late. The weekend was spent at home—although the two grandchildren (both 4 years old) spent the night over on Friday evening, further cutting into time to read.

What I've been reading

Format: ePub
Source: library via Freading

I finished reading One Corpse Too Many on Sunday afternoon. This is the second book in Ellis Peters' medieval mystery series set in a Benedictine monastery in eastern England near the border with Wales. In this episode, 94 rebels were executed at Shrewsbury, but when the monks laid them out for burial, there were 95 bodies. Brother Cadfael sets out to discover who the 95th man was and why he had been murdered. As I said last week, I'm really enjoying this series and will get back to it as soon as the Tackle Your TBR read-a-thon is over.

Format: Kindle
Source: purchased in 2010 from Baen eBooks

Other than completing One Corpse Too Many, practically the only book I read this week was David Weber's Mission of Honor. Twelfth in Weber's Honor Harrington military Science Fiction series. I put this series on the list for my 2014 Series Challenge and have two more novels to read by the end of the year to catch up with the author. (I strongly suspect there will be more in the series over the next couple of years.) It's a very thick book, 880 pages in all, and with all the distractions from reading this week, I only completed 327 pages. I'm putting in extra reading time this next week to be able to finish it and move on to at least one more TBR before the read-a-thon is over.

Format: Audio book
Source: purchased in 2014 from Audible

I've been listening to the unabridged recording of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World for about one month now. I only listen when I'm alone in the car, so weeks can go by without making any progress in the book. I only have about 3 more hours to listen to, and with a business trip to Arkansas at the end of next week, I may actually finish this book. I've found it extremely interesting and may choose to pick up a similar book about some historical personality in the near future.

This week on the blog

Most of my posts this week were status updates for the Tackle Your TBR read-a-thon. I also posted the weekly Stacking the Shelves post listing the new books I received this week.

1. Tackle Your TBR: Kickoff Post
2. Tackle Your TBR: Status Update 1
3. Tackle Your TBR: Status Update 2
4. Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves (3)

According to the reviewers at Tynga's Reviews who host the meme:

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

This week I resisted all temptation and not only didn't purchase any books, I didn't check any out from the library. This is primarily because I'm participating in the Tackle Your TBR read-a-thon whose goal is to read books on hand rather than getting new ones.

I did, however, receive a gift of eBooks from my Kindle wishlist. My reading pal, Kiri, sent me 5 books in Mark Schweizer's Liturgical Mysteries series. I've read the first 6 books and this allows me to just about finish the series. She also sent Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan and A Play of Knaves fourth in the Joliffe mysteries by Margaret Frazer.

How was your week? What new books have you acquired? Leave a comment or join the fun at Stacking the Shelves.