2014 reading, August
Wow, a new month already. I feel like it's still mid-July.
Total for the year so far: 202
New: Library = 72, mine = 94, loan from friend = 3, kindle unlimited = 1; fiction = 123, mysteries = 74, nf = 35, biography = 11
Rereads: total = 32, M = 31, L = 1
Selected new of 25 this month:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot 8/23/14 moving account of her life, medical discoveries from research on the cells taken from her body both during surgery for cervical cancer & during her autopsy, her family’s lack of information & understanding of the use of those cells.
Sejanus - David Wishart 8/22/14 more hist fic than myst Lots of deaths - Sejanus & his current wife Livilla engineered the poisoning of Tiberius’ son Drusus in order to get the throne for Sejanus, but Livia had a letter delivered to Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus (a real person, though not an historical detective) 2 years after her death to get action against Sejanus, who had faked treason evidence against most of the Julian heirs - only Gaius Calligula was left, then Claudius, then Nero.
A Flaw in the Blood - Stephanie Barron 8/20/14 FICTION Albert committed suicide by arsenic after figuring out where the hemophilia gene came from: Victoria’s mother slept with an equerry who carried the gene, perhaps with the knowledge of the Duke of Kent, whose mistress of 30 years never conceived. Albert had been in contact with a young female doctor, the ward of Dr John Snow, md & statistician who figured out that cholera & typhoid were water-borne & was instrumental in getting Bazalgette’s sewers going. Victoria found this intolerable/jealous, got a good friend of Albert’s, Graf von Stuven, to kill anyone who had any information: Patrick Fitzgerald & Miss (Dr) Armistead escaped. Princess Alice got her mother to stop the pursuit if they promised to stay quiet.
Eleven Pipers Piping - C. C. Benison 8/19/14 just realized my own notes complete spoiler, so not posting. Liked.
Murder on the Orient Espresso - Sandra Balzo 8/18/14 Maggy Thorsen & Jake (her lover & the local sheriff at home near Milwaukee) are in Florida - Jake has been invited as expert in methods of murder at a mystery writers’ conference. The night before the main panels, there is a mystery train into the Everglades: theme: Murder on the Orient Express, with participants to act the various Christie roles. The victim, who was to portray Poirot, is stabbed with the cake knife & pushed out the door. Then he is ¾ eaten by an African Rock Python then regurgitated - the knife impedes the swallowing - which now infest the ‘Glades & are disrupting the ecology. Victim was a reviewer known for nasty reviews > lots of suspects: his wife, a writer who had undertaken a book with him confidence undermined, young woman became his mistress but thought he’d ditch his wife & marry her, etc.
A Beautiful Blue Death - Charles Finch 8/17/14 merely okay, though no annoying errors. Charles Lenox is the younger brother of a baronet, occupying himself with Society and mild detection. His next-door neighbor, the widowed daughter of an earl who doesn’t wish to remarry, comes to him with the case of her former maid who took a new post in the house where her fiance works. The girl was killed, made to look like suicide, but was poisoned. Her employer is chief of the Mint, and all the coinage is just about to be exchanged for a new (unclipped) issue. Result: employer’s 2 nephews agreed with each other to kill her and a member of the board of the Pacific Trust, who had just voted to reinvest a very large sum instead of dispersing it to the stockholders, among whom they figure. Red herrings: the girl’s 2 other lovers, the supposed bankruptcy of the other victim (false, put about by the boys), other plots to steal the new coinage. Other real crime: the uncle had been stealing gradually from the Mint, & Charles is determined to Get Him, but not in this book.
Out of the Black Land - Kerry Greenwood 8/6/14 The days of Akhenaten. Mud(something), half-sister of Nefertiti, also daughter of Ay & Tey (Nefertiti is the daughter of one of Ay’s concubines), is one of the viewpoint characters, the Chief Scribe Ptah-Horeb is the other. In Greenwood’s view, Akhenaten is totally unable to perform with a woman & his father sired the 6 daughters on Nefertiti. Smenkare was Akhenaten’s catamite. Ay was driven by greed, not power, & sired the babies on the 2 eldest daughters. When Ay became Pharaoh, the only remaining daughter took refuge with the priestesses of Isis. 2 had already died of children’s diseases, so his original wife Tey became Great Royal Wife. Akhenaten had become just as great a miser as Ay & divorced all the widows of Atmosen (Akhenaten's father), forcing them to marry priests of the Aten in a rape like the Sabine Women. Viewpoint character Mudsomething is rescued by General Horemheb, who kills Ay 7 years later when Ay refuses to finance the army to defend the borders, & became the next Pharaoh. Childless, on his death another general becomes Pharaoh. Mudsomething dies in childbirth after a number of miscarriages.
The Lydian Baker - David Wishart 8/4/14 Marcus Corvinus (#4) is living in Athens with his wife Perilla, staying out of the way of the Emperor Tiberius & the heir apparent Gaius aka Caligula. His stepfather has put him on a mission to buy the statue of The Lydian Baker, sold gold & a gift to the Oracle of Delphi but missing for over 500 years. Someone sent him a letter saying the sender has it & offers it for sale. At least 5 deaths, very frustrating to Marcus, but the statue ends up at the bottom of Piraeus harbor deep in mud and with Marcus owing his life to Felix, Caligula’s henchman - not a comfortable situation. I hadn’t read any others in the series in over 8 years, Out Of Order - confusing.
Total for the year so far: 202
New: Library = 72, mine = 94, loan from friend = 3, kindle unlimited = 1; fiction = 123, mysteries = 74, nf = 35, biography = 11
Rereads: total = 32, M = 31, L = 1
Selected new of 25 this month:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot 8/23/14 moving account of her life, medical discoveries from research on the cells taken from her body both during surgery for cervical cancer & during her autopsy, her family’s lack of information & understanding of the use of those cells.
Sejanus - David Wishart 8/22/14 more hist fic than myst Lots of deaths - Sejanus & his current wife Livilla engineered the poisoning of Tiberius’ son Drusus in order to get the throne for Sejanus, but Livia had a letter delivered to Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus (a real person, though not an historical detective) 2 years after her death to get action against Sejanus, who had faked treason evidence against most of the Julian heirs - only Gaius Calligula was left, then Claudius, then Nero.
A Flaw in the Blood - Stephanie Barron 8/20/14 FICTION Albert committed suicide by arsenic after figuring out where the hemophilia gene came from: Victoria’s mother slept with an equerry who carried the gene, perhaps with the knowledge of the Duke of Kent, whose mistress of 30 years never conceived. Albert had been in contact with a young female doctor, the ward of Dr John Snow, md & statistician who figured out that cholera & typhoid were water-borne & was instrumental in getting Bazalgette’s sewers going. Victoria found this intolerable/jealous, got a good friend of Albert’s, Graf von Stuven, to kill anyone who had any information: Patrick Fitzgerald & Miss (Dr) Armistead escaped. Princess Alice got her mother to stop the pursuit if they promised to stay quiet.
Eleven Pipers Piping - C. C. Benison 8/19/14 just realized my own notes complete spoiler, so not posting. Liked.
Murder on the Orient Espresso - Sandra Balzo 8/18/14 Maggy Thorsen & Jake (her lover & the local sheriff at home near Milwaukee) are in Florida - Jake has been invited as expert in methods of murder at a mystery writers’ conference. The night before the main panels, there is a mystery train into the Everglades: theme: Murder on the Orient Express, with participants to act the various Christie roles. The victim, who was to portray Poirot, is stabbed with the cake knife & pushed out the door. Then he is ¾ eaten by an African Rock Python then regurgitated - the knife impedes the swallowing - which now infest the ‘Glades & are disrupting the ecology. Victim was a reviewer known for nasty reviews > lots of suspects: his wife, a writer who had undertaken a book with him confidence undermined, young woman became his mistress but thought he’d ditch his wife & marry her, etc.
A Beautiful Blue Death - Charles Finch 8/17/14 merely okay, though no annoying errors. Charles Lenox is the younger brother of a baronet, occupying himself with Society and mild detection. His next-door neighbor, the widowed daughter of an earl who doesn’t wish to remarry, comes to him with the case of her former maid who took a new post in the house where her fiance works. The girl was killed, made to look like suicide, but was poisoned. Her employer is chief of the Mint, and all the coinage is just about to be exchanged for a new (unclipped) issue. Result: employer’s 2 nephews agreed with each other to kill her and a member of the board of the Pacific Trust, who had just voted to reinvest a very large sum instead of dispersing it to the stockholders, among whom they figure. Red herrings: the girl’s 2 other lovers, the supposed bankruptcy of the other victim (false, put about by the boys), other plots to steal the new coinage. Other real crime: the uncle had been stealing gradually from the Mint, & Charles is determined to Get Him, but not in this book.
Out of the Black Land - Kerry Greenwood 8/6/14 The days of Akhenaten. Mud(something), half-sister of Nefertiti, also daughter of Ay & Tey (Nefertiti is the daughter of one of Ay’s concubines), is one of the viewpoint characters, the Chief Scribe Ptah-Horeb is the other. In Greenwood’s view, Akhenaten is totally unable to perform with a woman & his father sired the 6 daughters on Nefertiti. Smenkare was Akhenaten’s catamite. Ay was driven by greed, not power, & sired the babies on the 2 eldest daughters. When Ay became Pharaoh, the only remaining daughter took refuge with the priestesses of Isis. 2 had already died of children’s diseases, so his original wife Tey became Great Royal Wife. Akhenaten had become just as great a miser as Ay & divorced all the widows of Atmosen (Akhenaten's father), forcing them to marry priests of the Aten in a rape like the Sabine Women. Viewpoint character Mudsomething is rescued by General Horemheb, who kills Ay 7 years later when Ay refuses to finance the army to defend the borders, & became the next Pharaoh. Childless, on his death another general becomes Pharaoh. Mudsomething dies in childbirth after a number of miscarriages.
The Lydian Baker - David Wishart 8/4/14 Marcus Corvinus (#4) is living in Athens with his wife Perilla, staying out of the way of the Emperor Tiberius & the heir apparent Gaius aka Caligula. His stepfather has put him on a mission to buy the statue of The Lydian Baker, sold gold & a gift to the Oracle of Delphi but missing for over 500 years. Someone sent him a letter saying the sender has it & offers it for sale. At least 5 deaths, very frustrating to Marcus, but the statue ends up at the bottom of Piraeus harbor deep in mud and with Marcus owing his life to Felix, Caligula’s henchman - not a comfortable situation. I hadn’t read any others in the series in over 8 years, Out Of Order - confusing.