Reading anything?

[claws]

Ye-es!
6 of 1 or
6 mysteries and 1 non-fiction

Michael Pearce
Anglo-Sudanese ex-pat
The Women of the Souk
19th in the Mamur Zapt series
+ 7 more in 1 more series
Hero: Welsh ex-pat
Place: Egypt
Time: 1910s


Linda Castillo
American
award winner
Among the Dead
8th in the Kate Burkholder series
Heroine: American
Place: Ohio and New York (USA)
Time: present


Kate Saunders
Brit
award winner
The Secrets of Wish tide
1st in the Laetitia Rudd series
+ 3 more fiction + 1 juvenile fiction
Heroine: Brit
Place: England and Belgium
Time: 1850s


Craig Johnson
American
award winner
The Highwayman
12th in the Longmire series
now streaming on Netflix
+ 2 short story collections + 2 more fiction + 1 novella
Hero: American
Place: Wyoming (USA)
Time: Present


Emily Littlejohn
American
1st novelist
Inherit the Bones
Heroine: American
Place: Colorado (USA)
Time: Present


Andrew Hunt
American
award winner
Desolation Flats
3rd in the Art Oveson series
3 more non-fiction
Hero: American
Place: Utah (USA)
Time: 1930s

and 1 non-fiction
Reginald Grant, consultant editor
Brit
The History Book
104 of the greatest events in history + 44 of the greatest characters in history, from 200,000 BCE to 2015 CE, identified and explained.
12 more books in this series from . . . to . . .
business -- economics -- literature -- movies -- philosophy -- politics -- psychology -- religion -- science -- Shakespeare -- Sherlock Holmes -- sociology
A good intro to the subjects. Of course, if one wants more details on the specifics, then bibliographies are included.

Next time: and a half dozen graphic novels

Sorry for asking but, what exactly is this about? Is this a review of a book you read? or facts from books?

[316zombie]

kevin, i love your lists, now that  i think i figured out how to read them. have you heard anything about the new miss peregrine's children trilogy? wiki says it starts next year?

[BoyScoutKevin]

kevin, i love your lists, now that  i think i figured out how to read them. have you heard anything about the new miss peregrine's children trilogy? wiki says it starts next year?

My lists are nothing but lists of books I have read. When you say trilogy, are you talking about a trilogy of books, having read the 1st and 2nd in graphic format, I am looking forward to reading a 3rd in the same format as the others? Or, are you talking about a trilogy of films, as the 1st, I believe so underwhelmed the box office, I am surprised if there was a 2nd film. Which does not surprise me, as what little I saw of the film, it was so far off from the book that I read, no wonder it was considered something less than a success. Now for a list of a half dozen more  graphic novels.

Igort
Sardinian
The Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks
Published 2010-2011.
English translation published 2016.
13 more graphic novels.


Bendis and Deodato
Guardians of Know where : Warzones
collecting issues 1-4 of Secret Wars
+ Bendis and Reed
New Avengers : Illuminati (2007) #3


Leth, Williams, Allegri
Patsy Walker, a.k.a. Hellcat :
Hooked on a Feline
Heroine: American
Place: New York (New York)
Time: Present


Wilson, Alphonse, Miyazawa, Andolfo
Ms. Marvel
v.6. Civil War II
collecting issues #7-12


Liu, Brooks, Vines, O'Bache
Star Wars :
Han Solo
collecting issues #1-5


David and Slines
Secret Wars 2099
collecting issues #1-5

Next time: 6 of 1 or a list of 6 mysteries and 1 non-fiction book I have read.

[indianasmith]

I just finished reading CALIGULA: EMPEROR OF ROME by Arthur Ferrill.
A fairly slim volume - after all, Caligula was only Emperor for three years and nine months - but well-written and entertaining.
Ferrill's thesis is simple:  Forget the twentieth century revisionists who have desperately tried to rehabilitate the reputation of Rome's third Emperor.
Every available bit of evidence seems to indicate that Caligula was indeed depraved, insane, and wantonly cruel - a monster whose actions had no rhyme nor reason, and in fact often harmed the Empire and its ruler.  The last sentence sums it up nicely:
"Rarely has so little good been done by so powerful a figure . . ."

[ER]

I just finished reading CALIGULA: EMPEROR OF ROME by Arthur Ferrill.
A fairly slim volume - after all, Caligula was only Emperor for three years and nine months - but well-written and entertaining.
Ferrill's thesis is simple:  Forget the twentieth century revisionists who have desperately tried to rehabilitate the reputation of Rome's third Emperor.
Every available bit of evidence seems to indicate that Caligula was indeed depraved, insane, and wantonly cruel - a monster whose actions had no rhyme nor reason, and in fact often harmed the Empire and its ruler.  The last sentence sums it up nicely:
"Rarely has so little good been done by so powerful a figure . . ."

It seems like the modernist thrust in history is to tarnish the reputations of good people, and try to convince us the bad were only misrepresented. Margaret George has written some fine novels about Henry VIII,and Mary of Scotland, but her recent take on Nero as a slandered nice guy was hard to stomach.

I think you, personally, got Caligula right in your second novel, The Redemption of Pontius Pilate.

[indianasmith]

Thank you for that!

I will say that the interpretative pendulum now seems to be swinging the other way, finally.
The most recent biographies I have read tend to confirm the more traditional views of historical figures.
Example:  RICHARD AND JOHN: KINGS AT WAR blasts all the recent attempts to rehabilitate King John and vilify Richard as a warmongering, homosexual lightweight.  The author did exhaustive research and concluded that John really was an awful fellow, and that Richard's nickname of "Lionheart" was in fact, well-deserved.

[lester1/2jr]

[stine.greta]

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

I just hope that the movie adaptation will turn out fine.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es! 6 of 1 or 6 mysteries + 1 non-fiction

Anna Lee Huber
American
As Death Draws Near
5th in the Lady Darby series
Heroine: Scottish-Irish
Place: British Isles
Time: 1830s


Elsa Hart
American ex-pat
The White Mirror
2nd in the Li Du series
Hero: Chinese
Place: China
Time: 18th century

The Chinese Columbo of China in the 18th century.


D. A. Mishan
Israeli
award winner
The Man Who Wanted to Know Everything
3rd in the Avraham Avraham series
Hero: Israeli
Place: Israel
Time: Present


Vaseem Khan
Brit
The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown
2nd in the Baby Ganash Agency series
Hero: Indian
Place: India
Time: Present


David Casarett
American
Murder in the House of Rooster Happiness
1st in the Ethical Chiang Mai Detective Agency series
3 more non-fiction
Heroine: Thai
Place: Thailand
Time: Present


Keigo Higashno
Japanese
Under the Midnight Sun
translators, Alexander O. Smith and Joseph Reader
4 more fiction in 2 series
Published in Japanese in 1999
Published in English in the U.K. in 2015
Published in U.S. in 2016

Hero: Japanese
Place: Japan
Time: Present

+ 1 non-fiction

Gross and Altman
The Fifty-Year Mission :
the Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized History of Star Trek
v.1. the 1st 25 years

I actually found this more interesting than v.2. which covers the last 25 years. Maybe because I know less about the 1st 25 than the last 25.

Next time: a half dozen of the other. Probably a combination of non-fiction and fictional graphic novels.

[indianasmith]

I just re-read THE GREAT BIG BOOK OF HORRIBLE THINGS: THE DEFEINITIVE LIST OF THE 100 WORST ATROCITIES IN HUMAN HISTORY by Matthew White. This book is just absolutely fascinating; a terrible catalog of man's inhumanity to man, told with a level of sarcastic snarkiness that is brilliantly entertaining.

Who killed the most people?  Stalin, Hitler, or Mao?
Was Genghis Khan really that bad?
What is the whiny, unanswerable question that everyone always asks about World War One?
Has Communism or religion killed more people?

If these and other questions sound intriguing, you REALLY need to add this book to your library!

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es!
6 of 1 or 6 graphic novels + 1 non-fiction.
We'll take up the non-fiction now and the 6 graphic novels next time.

Jason Porath
1st book
Rejected princesses :
tales of the history's boldest, heroines, hellions, and heretics

Tales of 100 women from the pages of history, literature, and folklore.
From the 13th century B.C. to the 1st decade of the 21st century.

The surprise, for me, is in a time and place dominated by men, and was expected to be dominated by men, how many dominant women there were. Though, as interesting as this was, and it was interesting, more interesting to me, is in a time and place dominated by men and expected to be dominated by men, what makes a man/boy (we'll get to that later) become submissive, submit to a woman, and become her subordinate. And we can start with those who were married to the women who laid some claim to the throne of the U.K.

Matilda
married a Frenchman/boy, who was almost a decade younger than herself, but was himself already highly respected by his older peers.
And while they may not have loved each other, they did apparently respect each other.

Jane
married an Englishman/boy, who was almost the same age as her, and while thought typically to be older than her, there is now some thought, that he was younger than her, which would make him the youngest prisoner in the Tower of London ever to be executed in the Tower of London area.
And again, they may not have loved each other, but they did apparently have respect for each other, which is more than can be said for some royal couples.

1st Elizabeth
unmarried

1st Mary
married a Spaniard.
An unhappy marriage, as he ran into her mental illness, which ran in her family, and the xenophobia and anti-Catholicism of the British people, but, at least he tried, which again can not be said for every British royal couple.

2nd Mary
married a Dutchman.
And, apparently, had a happy marriage.

Anne
married a Dane.
And, apparently, had a happy marriage.

Victoria
married a German cousin.
And, apparently, had a happy marriage.

2nd Elizabeth
married a Greek, and yes, Philip is/was Greek and had claim not only to the throne of Greece, but also Denmark, from where his family originally came, but gave up both claims, when he married.
And had a questionable marriage. Some think that if the couple could have divorced, which they were forbidden to do, they would have divorced. Certainly, divorce runs in that immediate family.

What is a happy marriage? What is an unhappy marriage?

Thus, you not only have each marrying a husband of a different nationality, you have . . .

3 happy marriages
2 marriages where husband and wife apparently had respect for each other
1 marriage open to question
and 1 unhappy marriage.

And while I have not checked out each royal marriage, it seems to me, that a marriage is more likely to be happy, if the husband is subordinate to the wife, than if the wife is subordinate to the husband. This only applying to the British royal couples.

Someone ought to write a book about these men/boys and the others like them (IMHO.)

Next time: a half dozen graphic novels

[RCMerchant]

MANSON- IN HIS OWN WORDS as told to NUEL EMMONS

Also- a big stack of early '80's FANGORIA magazines that one of my Tumblr followers found in his attic and sent me!

[indianasmith]

BOSWORTH: THE BIRTH OF THE TUDORS by Chris Skidmore is a definitive history of the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, when Richard III was slain and Henry VII became king of England and the founder of the Tudor Dynasty.  A bit dry in places, but still interesting overall, there is a special bonus chapter on the discovery of King Richard III's body and the post-mortem done on it in 2013.  Overall a nice addition to my British history shelf.

[ER]

BOSWORTH: THE BIRTH OF THE TUDORS by Chris Skidmore is a definitive history of the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, when Richard III was slain and Henry VII became king of England and the founder of the Tudor Dynasty.  A bit dry in places, but still interesting overall, there is a special bonus chapter on the discovery of King Richard III's body and the post-mortem done on it in 2013.  Overall a nice addition to my British history shelf.

I still wish you'd read The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey. I think she makes a strong case that Richard III wasn't such a bad man after all.

[Alex]

BOSWORTH: THE BIRTH OF THE TUDORS by Chris Skidmore is a definitive history of the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, when Richard III was slain and Henry VII became king of England and the founder of the Tudor Dynasty.  A bit dry in places, but still interesting overall, there is a special bonus chapter on the discovery of King Richard III's body and the post-mortem done on it in 2013.  Overall a nice addition to my British history shelf.

I still wish you'd read The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey. I think she makes a strong case that Richard III wasn't such a bad man after all.

There is a totally accurate TV series that does cover the truth behind Richard III. Watch the first season of Blackadder.