Bibliophile. Reading mysteries, with a bit of UF, Science and History to keep things interesting.
The CorinthianAn amusing, highly improbable adventure with a tolerable touch of silliness. Heyer’s romances are always entertaining (unless they’re the badly written ones) because she writes romance with her tongue firmly in her cheek, and this one was truly tongue in cheek. A nice in-between read that was easily finished in a day.
The Enchanted AprilMrs Wilkins and Mrs Arbuthnot, cowed and neglected by their husbands, make a daring plan: they will have a holiday. Leaving a drab and rainy London one April and arriving on the shores of the Mediterranean, they discover a flower-filled paradise of beauty, warmth and leisure. Joined by the beautiful Lady Caroline and domineering Mrs Fisher, also in flight from the burdens of their daily lives, the four women proceed to transform themselves and their prospects.
I liked this book way more than I should have. Arnim’s ability to write a single moment right into the ground is admirable in a contrary sort of way – I mean, entire pages dedicated to describing one brief span of time, and it’s very stream-of-consciousness at times as well. And Lotty, who starts off realistic if a bit pathetic, opens her eyes her first morning in Italy and turns into a character Disney himself would envy. The only thing missing was somebody singing Zip-a-dee-doo-dah. And the ending is the shallowest, basest, most unrealistic Happily Ever After I’ve ever read. How is Frederick going to explain that unopened letter when he and Rose go home?
But in spite of all of this, the book was as enchanting as its title. Were I but rich and idle, instead of just temporarily idle, I’d have jumped a plane for Italy before I got so much as 100 pages in. Arnim wrote such a backdrop for these women that it was hard not to smell the wisteria as it dropped its accumulated rain drops on your head. Even the castle, which Arnim spent little time describing overall, felt lived in. And in spite of all the faffing stream-of-consciousness and Lotty’s Disney-esque departure from reality-land, I found myself liking, or at least sympathising with, all four women. The men … not so much. Even though they were supposed to have been ‘saved by love’ (ugh!), I still found Wilkins a condescending, pompous ass, Frederick pathetic, and Briggs a massive disappointment. Somebody should have slapped that boy upside his head.
Arnim was a gifted writer, creating characters with a lot of character, so to speak, but she really shines – is absolutely brilliant – when it comes to writing about gardens, so I suspect that when I remember The Enchanted April it will be the gardens of San Salvatore that come through best and most vividly.
NB: I read the Folio Society Edition from 2002, and it included the most charming colour illustrations; they perfectly complemented the text.
VenomA fully illustrated guide to venom, its evolution in different animal groups, its effects and its treatments.
When we enter the world of venom, we enter the realm of one of the most diverse, versatile, sophisticated and deadly biological adaptations ever to have evolved on Earth.Since it first appeared in ancient jellyfish and sea anemones, venom has proved so effective that it has since evolved independently in dozens of different animal groups. The authors reveal the many unique methods by which venomous animals deliver their cocktail of toxins and how these disrupt the physiology of the victims.
Jenner and Undheim also consider how humans have learnt to neutralise venom’s devastating effects, as well as exploit the power of venom in innovative ways to create new drugs to treat a variety of serious conditions. Fully illustrated throughout, this illuminating guide will appeal to all those with an interest in the wondrous world of venom.
This was not quite the book I was expecting, proving you can’t always judge a book by its cover and full colour photos. I originally thought it would be a fast-ish read. I should have known better though because it’s published by CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research.
33 days and two nightmares later, (seriously – first time EVER a book has given me nightmares) and I can say I’d happily recommend that @elentarri check this book out if she can find it. For anyone else out there that finds science, and especially natural sciences, fun and fascinating, and is happy to tackle a densely written narrative that falls closer to academic research paper than it does to popular science in writing style, you too should see if you can find this book.
Only 7 chapters and less than 200 pages long and filled with full colour illustrations, photos (warning: some of them are graphic) and charts, but don’t let this fool you: there’s a lot of hard science here. As I was reading it, I got the impression that it’s mean to be a primer or introduction for science students and hard-core amateurs. Chapter 1 discusses the definitive differences between a poison and a venom, luring the reader into a sense that this is definitely aimed at armchair scientists. By the time Chapter 5 rolls around, though, the writers are saying things like:
Not all enzymes conserve their ancestral activity while evolving into molecular killers, however. Some snake venom PLA2 enzymes, for example, have lot their enzymatic activity but they can still exert their toxic roles.
(Quote take at random from chapter 5 “Evolving Venoms”). By chapter 3 I had learned a lot but the authors were making me work for it. While I can say, how that I’m done, that I now have a good overall understanding of the concepts presented, it’s only a very thin veneer of all that this book offers. This is a book I’d have to re-read several times, slowly, before I could say I had an immersive understanding of the text.
While chapter 5 is, I’d say, the densest chapter, the authors do wrap the book up with two lighter chapters that were akin to a nice after-dinner sorbet. Chapter 6 discusses how venoms are used for traditional healing, cosmetics, recreational drug use (I can’t imagine ever thinking that smoking dried scorpions sounded like a viable option), rites of passage, spiritual vision quests, and modern medicines. I found this chapter fascinating from an anthropological perspective. Chapter 7 is a summary chapter that uses the honeybee as a microcosm example of all the concepts of venom relevant across the microcosm.
I have never been afraid of snakes and have always been one of the first to volunteer to interact with one, and while I’ve never been stupid about venomous ones, giving them a wide berth at all times, I’ve got to say reading this, especially Chapter 4 “Dissecting the power of venom”, planted a tiny seed of fear in me about ever running across them in any context. What few anecdotes the authors offer are chilling and I’ve been wondering if, when I can walk again, I could feasibly bush walk in thigh-high thick rubber waders. Maybe with some good insoles…
There are, of course, a lot of other animals covered in this book – as the authors point out, 25% of all phyla are venomous (mosquitoes are considered venomous). I have a whole new respect for the male platypus during breeding season (must look up when that is), and the slow loris?, well all I can say is if it puts its arms up to hug you, run away – fast. But the snakes are what leave the most indelible impression, making even the spiders look like the lesser evil.
All in all, a good book for those genuinely interested.
The first half of my re-reading binge was inspired by Moonlight Reader’s comment in her posts about wanting to get back to reading Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily series. This is a series I’d gotten caught up in years ago, but abandoned for reasons I couldn’t remember. She put the series back on my radar, and I got to wondering whether I could get caught up in it again, or if I should just mark that series as abandoned, so I had MT pull the 9 books I have down from the shelves and buried myself in 19th century England.
Rather than try to review all of the books again here, I’m just going to list the book and include a thought or two about each one. Because this is still going to make for a physically long post, I put it behind a ‘read more’. Suffice it to say that the series was very hit and miss for me up through book 9. I remember the qualities that drove me to set the series aside originally, but there is also a lot to like about them (most of them, anyway). Will I continue? I’m still not sure. Maybe. At least, I might try one more.
I don’t even know how long it’s been. While my leg continues to improve – and noticeably – the stress levels have gone up because of office politics.
Everybody – and there are a stupid number of people involved in my health at the moment – has been just fine about everything except one person, and she oversees safety/workplace injuries for my company. She’s gotten a bug up her ass, trying to insist that I be taxied into the corporate office 4 days a week, so I can sit and do exactly the same thing I’m doing from home. The list of reasons this is wholly impractical is long, and everybody agrees, but she won’t let it go, trying to do end-runs around everybody to get it approved, because she thinks it will be better for me both mentally and physically. 🙄 The surgeon officially shot it down yesterday, in writing, so hopefully, that’s the end of that.
The stress, along with the mind numbing effects of Cisco networking training (what I’m doing from home), have driven me into a massive binge of re-reading. 14 books, read back to back the way a chain-smoker lights his next one with his last, with a mid-binge whiplash from historical mystery into alternate reality fantasy.
I think I’m done now – MT really wants me to be done, because he has 14 books he has to re-shelve, all requiring the ladder, and he’d be happier not to have to fetch any others. For the record: I married the perfect man. (For me) Last night, there was an audible sigh of relieve when I pulled The Book of Forgotten Authors off my TBR shelf.
The second half of my binge was re-reading – again – The Others series by Anne Bishop. These never, ever, get old for me, and while they are easily the most violent, and at times, goriest books I own, they relax me in a way no other books have. At my core there’s a very angry misanthrope, and she is soothed by the way justice is always served, usually with a very satisfactory and bloody finality.
I’ve added all the books in the series to the book database, but I won’t do more than add the covers here, as my feelings about each book remain the same as my original reviews.
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CrowbonesNote: While this is book 3 in the series called The World of the Others, it’s a direct sequel to book 1, Lake Silence. Book 2, Wild Country, is set in a different location in the same world.
4 stars is the lowest I’ve rated any of the books in Bishop’s Others or World of the Others series. Crowbones was good – really good – but not as nearly as compelling as most of the titles.
In part, this might have been because I’d read the jacket flap, which has never been an issue before. But this time it left me with the impression that this story was going to have a locked-room mystery vibe to it, and it didn’t, at all. That’s not a bad thing, and there are murders to be solved, but it jarred with my expectations for the first third of the book. I’d have been better off reading it blind, so to speak.
This book also felt more human-centric in focus than any of the previous books. I can’t actually say it was, I’m just not left with the usual feeling I get from these books: that I’ve visited another reality where humans are only bit players with big ambitions. The others didn’t seem to exude their usual air of menace and, hardly ever had to fight the urge not to eat the annoying humans. I don’t know a thing about Anne Bishop – I’m not the type to research my authors, or visit fan sites, but I get an impression that the MC, Vicki, has a touch of the autobiographical about her. I have less than nothing to base that on; she just reads as though she comes from a very personal place. Whether that’s good or bad depends on your perspective, I guess. I liked that she had no problem laughing at herself, and that she recognised where her anxiety stemmed from, but she also made me roll my eyes more than a few times.
Neither of those things are complaints, really, although I’d have liked to see more large-scale smackdowns. Given that I’ve re-read every one of the other books in both series and every time found something more to like, it may be that once I re-read this one I’ll pick up different nuances I missed this time. Whether I do or not, I really enjoyed Crowbones and my brief holiday in the world of the Others. Call me crazy, but this is a world I’d happily live in.
Our Lady of Immaculate DeceptionThis is the first book in a spin-off series, of sorts, from the Blackbird Sisters; it involves a completely different member of the crime family Michael is the heir apparent to, and takes place in Pittsburgh, rather than Philly.
It’s also a much rougher, seedier flavour of cozy mystery, set in a low income area with a high crime rate. Roxy owns an architectural salvage company, trying to support her daughter and avoid working for her uncle Carmine in the family business.
Martin created Roxy as a deeply flawed, broken woman who uses an active sex life as a weapon, but seems to enjoy it not at all. She obviously cares a great deal, as she goes out of her way to shelter abused women, support her daughter, and keep her dim-witted friend from violating his parole, but her uber defensiveness is grating and her inability to connect with anyone makes it difficult for the reader to connect with her. It’s a very different take from the Blackbird Sisters, which didn’t shy away from dysfunction, but still managed to engage the reader.
Different too is this story’s multiple POVs. When it works, it works brilliantly, offering an ending that might not be expected, but when it doesn’t it leaves the reader wondering why Martin bothered, or at least wondering why certain POVs were included.
The parts were there for a very excellent read, but they just didn’t come together in a way that left me caring at all about any of the characters. I have the second book of what ended up being a 2 book series, but when I finished my re-read of this one, I found that I just didn’t have it in me to dip into this kind of dysfunction a second time. Maybe someday.
Murder Melts in Your MouthDown-to-earth debutante Nora Blackbird is having a meltdown. A noted Philly philanthropist has taken a swan dive from an office balcony and Nora’s friend Lexie stands accused of the murder. Then her scheming parents reappear, sending all three Blackbird sisters into a panic. Now Nora must uncover her parents’ scandalous high jinks before she winds up taking the heat.
This was a gut wrencher; again, Martin touches on edgy subjects but this time in a more seductive way. Nora’s best friend’s business partner is found dead on the sidewalk minutes after his exposure for serious financial crimes has been made public.
Nora’s efforts to clear her friend of any suspicion are clouded by a number of factors involving her own family and the cloudiness of the victim’s family life, both of which reveal some rather startling revelations for everybody.
I remember reading this the first time and the feelings of dread and shock I felt as answers to the myriad questions were discovered; there were no happy endings for anyone in this book, although there were some hilarious moments along the way.
Having read the entire series, I think I’d say this is the best entry of the 10.
A Crazy Little Thing Called DeathABOUT A CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED DEATH
Nora Blackbird has made the society pages yet again. The impoverished Philadelphia heiress has agreed to wed Mick Abruzzo, son of New Jersey’s most notorious mobster. Now Nora has to help him survive the Blackbird curse: Every time a Blackbird sister marries, the groom is bound to die.
But Nora’s superstitions are eclipsed by some ominous news. Penny Devine, ex-Hollywood starlet and daughter of the Philadelphia Devines, has disappeared, and strangely, her family is very eager to have her declared dead. When it’s revealed that Nora has inherited Penny’s extensive couture wardrobe, eyebrows rise even higher. The only way for Nora to keep her name clear and save her sanity is to snoop among the snooty…until she sniffs out the truth.
While things have settled down for the characters, relatively speaking, Martin digs down again to present another unpleasant but well crafted murder plot: remains of a once famous actor are found on the family grounds during a polo match. This time Nora’s search for journalistic truth unravels animal hoarding, and some pretty extreme psychological abuse along with the usual bevy of hidden family secrets.
Michael is a more active participant this time around which conveniently feeds into the whole Blackbird curse mythology that’s part of the series: all Blackbird women who marry are doomed to be widowed young. Michael survives, of course, but a series of maybe accidents provides a convenient of angst for the romance angle.
The ending is well done, but a hot mess; nobody comes out unscathed by the end, with the exception of one person, who tries to offer Nora some perspective on her own life. It’s a slightly more uplifting ending than perhaps this story deserves but it leaves the reader feeling at least a little lighter hearted.
Have Your Cake and Kill Him TooWhen the tycoon owner of a spectacularly tacky sports bar is killed, Nora Blackbird suspects a secretive politician, a shady former rock star doubling as a pastry chef, and a dangerous aristo-brat on the verge of stardom.
This one was sort of weird, with Martin juggling a lot of balls in the air at once. There’s Nora’s on-again-off-again relationship with Michael and the constant tension his ties to the mafia brings; a new suitor half-heartedly trying to woo her away; her sister Emma’s continued uneasy relationship with sobriety; the bizarre behaviour of her party-planning friend, and the dead owner of the Fitch estate and a new hot-wing sports bar called Cupcakes.
Martin continues to weave uneasy topics into her plots – this one involving the disreputable dead man and his step-daughter – but mostly this felt like a transition book; more about the character development and overall arc than its own murder mystery.
From a plotting perspective, it was well done – even on re-reading I hadn’t remembered how it ended, but the result was a story that felt more than a little seedy and dissatisfying. Good but with an unpleasant after-taste.