Why Connie Willis' The Doomsday Book Is Relevant Again In 2021

 

 

The Doomsday Book is nearly 30 years old now, and I read it the first time when it was new.  I loved it!  The characterization is so incredibly in-depth and realistic, even for the children and pre-teens in the story (so many “adult” writers have real problems writing believable young characters), for one thing.  And the plot structure is amazing.  Not only does Willis create parallel health crises in two separate time periods (the first half of the 14th Century and the middle of the 21st Century), but she also creates parallel characters who deal with these crises.  (For example, Lady Imeyne and “the Gallstone” are highly-irritating, bossy older women who love to criticize; Father Roche and Mr. Dunworthy are both father figures for Kivrin, who seems to have no parents of her own; and Gawyn and Badri seem to have all the answers which would solve the problems, yet each is inaccessible for most of the novel, badly frustrating Kivrin and Dunworthy, respectively.)
I got this book approved by the school district for which I work and used it as a sci-fi option for years with my 9-grade gifted classes.  In the ‘90s, kids loved it.  But, by about 2008, they began to complain.  Teens simply couldn’t get past the fact that Willis had not envisioned either the Internet or cell phones, and thus the fact that several major plot points hang on the lack of communication in the future (2054, to be exact) overshadowed for them all the fabulous writing.
By 2015 or so, I gave up.  I still loved the book (and its incredible sequels: To Say Nothing Of The Dog, Black Out, and All Clear), but it wasn’t worth listening to kids whine about the lack of cell phones.
 But it’s now 2021, and it’s time to look at The Doomsday Book again and be astounded at what Willis did predict -- entirely too well.
Of course, the historical plot, wherein Kivrin deals with a village devastated by the Plague, Willis did with research.  And she describes a realistic variety of suffering and death.  All this readers could appreciate from the time the book was published.
But Willis has a parallel plague: a flu epidemic in the Oxford area in 2054.  And she anticipates so very much about a 21st Century epidemic/pandemic that it’s well-past time readers stopped brushing off the book as somehow bad because she didn’t predict cell phones.  Let me list for you a few things Willis did predict:
1) In the book, there has been a deadly pandemic in 2014.  She was only 5 years off for the beginning of the real one.
2) In her 2054 epidemic in Oxford (which remains a localized epidemic because of lessons learned from the 2014 pandemic), Willis has the following happen, all of which eerily anticipate what actually occurred in the COVID-19 pandemic:
2a) Racism. Badri, a 3rd-generation Englishman of Pakistani descent, is the first-known victim of the disease. In various scenes, crowds protest, holding signs about the “Indian flu.”  This anticipates the “China virus” rants of RW Americans in 2020.
2b) Shortages.  Almost immediately, there is a shortage of toilet paper in Oxford, and this fact becomes almost a running gag throughout the story. However, it’s uncanny that Willis predicted what became the first major shortage of the real pandemic.  Other shortages in the novel which mirror real life include what we call PPE and masks, as well as fresh food items.
2c) Anti-maskers.  True, in Willis’ story, there aren’t groups protesting masks specifically, but many characters forget or refuse to wear them, which, of course, causes much faster spreading of the virus.
2d) Protestors.  Willis has several scenes which include people protesting government quarantines and ranting about their rights.  These characters always seem to feel that their own freedom to do whatever they want should not be even temporarily curtailed in the interest of their own health and that of others.  This is so very much like the anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers still ranting away well into 2021 that it’s almost scary.
2e)A leader who ignores science in order to gain popularity with a vocal minority.  In the novel, it is impossible for a virus to travel from the past to the future or vice versa if it would change the course of history.  In this fictional world, this piece of science has been repeatedly proven.  Yet, Gilchrist, the acting head of the Oxford University department running the time drop, loves his power so much that he takes up the anti-science position that the flu virus causing the epidemic in the city of Oxford somehow arrived in 2054 when Kivrin travelled to the past, so he closes down “the drop,” shutting off the computer system and stranding her in the past, because, by so doing, he can claim to have taken decisive action to “prevent” the worsening of the epidemic.  He happily sacrifices Kivrin’s safety in order to boost his power and role in the perception of an anti-science minority.

That’s a long list of predictions that Willis DID get right; it’s time for readers to get over their hang ups about her not envisioning cell phones (although she did envision Skyping, just on a dial-up desktop rather than a cellphone) and realize that she did a really great job with predicting other things in the midst of her fabulous plot and character skills.

Book Review: How To Behave Badly In Elizabethan England by Ruth Goodman

 

Like many people, I've been absolutely enthralled with the BBC historical videos featuring Ruth Goodman, Peter Ginn, and Alex Langlands living in historically recreated situations, generally for a full year at a time (Tales From The Green Valley, Victorian Farm, Edwardian Farm, Wartime Farm, etc.).  Once I realized that Goodman was the same "historian" from those videos, I couldn't wait to buy and read this book.

Note: I put "historian" in quotes for a reason.  Goodman presents herself as a historian and calls herself one, and she has a long list of ways in which she has been used as an "expert" on history, but, in a December 13, 2020, podcast on Everyday Life In Tudor England, she revealed that she is not actually a trained historian, but rather a person who has read a lot of history.  And the difference is quite apparent in this book.

First of all, there's the title. The book claims to be about Elizabethan England, but Goodman covers a period of time from Henry VIII to the Roundheads vs. the Cavaliers, in other words, not just the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, but a nearly 200-year period of time.   That's an odd mistake for a so-called historian to make.

I shrugged off the title at first, but then I began to notice little details in her assertions which did not agree with details about history I've read in numerous other books.  (Side note: Since I teach Shakespeare, I read A LOT about Tudor and Stewart history from a wide variety of authors.)  For example, when Goodman talks about customs regarding men's removing their hats when bowing, she  ignores/seems unaware of the importance of the TYPE of hat a man wore, which was a very important class distinction. (See, for example, Neil MacGregor's Shakespeare's Restless World.)  And when she talks about which different colors of dye in clothing were popular and how the wearers were viewed for choosing those colors, Goodman never even mentions Elizabethan sumptuary laws, which literally spell out who could wear what type of clothing.  How can a writer calling herself a historian omit such obvious and well-known information?

But what really irritated me was her errors on Shakespeare, possibly the easiest source to check.  When Goodman claims that all the sword fighting in Romeo and Juliet was done with rapiers because swashbuckling was out of style by the 1590s, she completely disregards research that's been around since the 1990s on the subject AND Shakespeare's own script.  Mercutio has lengthy speeches making fun of Tybalt's newfangled Italian rapier fighting; he clearly uses the older style, likely with a bastard sword and a buckler.  But Goodman seems unaware of this, as if she, a person who as been hired as a historical resource for the Globe Theatre in London, has not even bothered to read the play.  Then, later in the book, she refers to the duel between Cesario (really Viola) and Sir Andrew Aguecheeck in the play 12th Night, but claims that the fight is broken up by the arrival of Viola's brother.  Three minutes with a Wikipedia summary of the plot will tell a reader that the fight is broken up by the arrival of Antonio, Viola's brother's friend, who believes the cross-dressed Viola is actually her twin brother.  If Goodman cannot be bothered to check such an easy-to-find source and is that casual with details, I cannot really trust her on her other claims in the book.

Thus, while Goodman is a delightful presenter in the numerous videos and podcasts in which she appears and has a light, easy-to-read style in her writing, I question her claims now.  She has revealed her lack of training and her lack of attention to both others' research and details in the sources she does mention.  She gives a bibliography in this book, but she gives no endnotes, footnotes, or citations for the claims she makes.  I would suggest reading her work with caution, as she seems to write rather like a first-year university study who is confident s/he has ALL the information when, in reality, s/he has only scratched the surface.

My Favorite Mystery Genre Series

I read mysteries (historical, true crime, cozies) for fun. I like smart heroines, good research, plots that surprise me, realistic characters, and detailed settings. Here are some of my favorite authors and/or mystery series. I recommend ALL of these. :) 

Historical or set in the past because they're older books: 

 1. Pretty much anything Sherlock Holmes. OK, well, you can skip A Study in Scarlet because the plot structure stinks and Conan Doyle really screwed up geography and history. But The Sign of Four is fabulous, and nothing matches Hound of the Baskervilles. And, of course, the short stories are wonderful. If you only know Sherlock Holmes from movies or TV, it's time you picked up the originals.

 2. Anything by Agatha Christie. I particularly like Sleeping Murder, The Seven Dials Mystery, Murder on the Orient Express, and Mrs. McGuinty's Dead. 

 3. The Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear. These are set beginning in post-WWI England, and they are fabulous. Maisie is my favorite kind of female protagonist: smart and able to rescue herself. The research behind these books is meticulous as well. My favorite of the series is An Incomplete Revenge -- but don't start there; you need to read them in order.

 4. Not quite as good as the Maisie Dobbs series but still very good is Tasha Alexander's Lady Emily series. These have fine plots in various European locations and are well-researched, but Alexander is often forgetful about minor details from past books and has real trouble creating believable children or teen characters. Also, Lady Emily's husband is rather a male Mary Sue; he's just too perfect to be credible, and he almost comes off as a joke. 

5. An excellent self-published series of historical mysteries comes from M. Louisa Locke, who is a historican and sets her books in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. Each one focuses on a real scandal/social problem/political issue of the time and shows careful research. I know that many self-published books are sub-par, but these are not. In fact, they are far better than many books published by the big names of publishing. 

 6. Alan Bradley's Flavia DeLuce series. This is set beginning in 1950 in a fictional village in England. They are funny and tightly-plotted. Plus, they appeal to many ages, as Flavia is a pre-teen genius who has no trouble concocting a poison or looking at a corpse, yet who still believes in Father Christmas. 

7. The Veronica Speedwell mysteries by DeAnna Raybourn. These are very much action-aventure stories as well and aren't quite meant to be realistic, but the plots are great and the characterization is superb -- no Mary Sues or cardboard characters here! 

8. The Art Oveson series by Andrew Hunt. There are, sadly, only three of these. Oveson is a cop in Salt Lake City during the depression, and these feel very real. Occasionally, Hunt makes a historical blunder (he has Oveson's pregnant wife teaching school in one book, and I know that female teachers were fired if they were married -- so that a man could have their job -- in SLC at the time, and he also can't remember what subject the wife teaches from book to book), but overall, they're gritty and gripping. I do wish there were more of them.

 9. The Three Investigators series. These are MG novels, but they are far superior to Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew. Set in the early 1960s in a fictional suburb of Los Angeles, these tales are great for young readers and still good for adults who don't mind MG. Jupiter Jones is a realistic character: fat, very smart, from a non-traditional family (raised by his aunt and uncle), and determined. The main problem with these is that they are out-of-print and can be hard to find. It took me several months to track down copies of all the volumees when I decided to buy the whole series. 

 10. The Charles Lennox series by Charles Finch. The plots of these are good, but Finch is a bit sexist and into benevolent patriarchy, sooooo.... they're not my favorites. They are set in the mid-Victorian era, mostly in London. 

11. Also good but not fabulous for the same patriarchal reasons are the Tony Hillerman books about various cops on the Navajo Reservation in Utah/Arizona. Set in the 1990s, these are a wonderful introduction to Navajo culture and life. 

Cozy: 

 1. Paige Shelton's cozies. They're light, they're fluffy, but they're good. Some cozies --- and I read a LOT of cozies -- are just so very....nothing. But Shelton's feature excellent characterization and good plotting. I like her Dangerous Type series the best, but her Farmers' Market and Southern Cooking Class mysteries are good, too. And she's just started a new series, set in Alaska, that is less cozy and more true crime. 

 2. Also straddling the border of cozy and crime is The Bishop's Wife series by Mette Ivie Harrison. Harrison tackles BIG issues of Mormonism from an insider's POV: polygamy, homosexuality, women's equality, transpeople, etc. while penning tight mysteries. These are good. Really good. 

 Crime: 

1. Ian Rankin is hands-down my favorite crime writer. Technically, his genre is Tartan Noir, but the reader need not have been to Scotland to understand the books. I own an entire shelf of his books: all but the last two of the Rebus series and several of the others as well. There's a reason why Rankin is so well-liked in the City of Literature; he's just that good. 

There you go. These are my favorites. If you're in the market for a good mystery, you might give one of these series or authors a try.

What I Read And What I Rejected in 2019

And, once again, here are my lists!  (I've been doing this on various blogs since 2007.)
In 2019, I read 136 books. Cozy mystery: 27  Other mystery/crime: 44 Historical A/A: 4 Alternate History: 1 Realistic: 6  Shakespeare plays: 8 Other drama: 1  Fantasy: 7  NF travel: 4  NF History: 3  NF cookbooks: 11  NF Food/Cooking: 7  NF Crafts: 3  Other Non-Fiction: 7
Totally unsurprising: I read more mysteries than anything else. Again.
Totally surprising: I read no biographies, no sci-fi, and no steampunk.  Wow.  I hadn't realized that.

My list of books I began and then rejected follows the list of what I read.

2019
X Marks The Scot by Kaitlyn Dunnett *** cozy mystery 1/1/19
Mary Poppins by PL Travers **** MG fantasy 1/3/19
Mary Poppins Comes Back by PL Travers **** MG fantasy 1/5/19
Mary Poppins Opens The Door by PL Travers **** MG fantasy 1/6/19
Latino Cuisine & Its Influence On American Foods by Jean Ford non-fiction *** 1/10/19
Scrapbook of Secrets by Mollie Cox Bryan cozy mystery **** 1/13/19
Hungry Planet: What The World Eats by Menzel & D’Aluisio ***** non-fiction 1/19/19
Button Holed by Kylie Logan **** cozy 1/20/19
In A House of Lies by Ian Rankin ***** crime 1/22/19
 Images of America: Salt Lake City Cemetery by Mark E. Smith non-fiction **** 1/26/19
 Hot Button by Kylie Logan *** cozy 1/26/19
 The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley ***** historical mystery 2/1/19
 The Woman in the Camphor Trunk by Jennifer Kincheloe *** historical mystery 2/7/19
 The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook by  **** cookbook, non-fiction 2/8/19
 Easy Chinese Cooking by Betty Crocker **** cookbook, non-fiction 2/9/19
 Cloche and Dagger by Jenn McKinlay *** cozy 2/14/19
  52 Weeks of Trivia by Sharon Lindsay *** non-fiction 2/15/19
 12 Months of Trivia by Sharon Lindsay *** non-fiction 2/16/19
 Smash & Stash by Cindy Shepherd ** non-fiction, crafts 2/18/19
 I Can Make It With Chex **** cookbook 2/20/19
 Saints 1815-1846: The Standard of Truth. by various authors of the LDS Church *** non-fiction, history 3/3/2019
 Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman YA fantasy ***** 3/5/19
 Food That Harm; Foods That Heal by Readers’ Digest *** non-fiction 3/10/19
 Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson YA mystery ***** 3/12/19
 The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson YA mystery ***** 3/13/19
 The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hanna mystery **** 3/18/10
 Underground by Will Hunt *** non-fiction, urban exploring/spelunking 3/22/19
 Eggs on Ice by Laura Childs *** cozy mystery 3/24/19
 A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn YA/NA historical mystery ***** 3/27/19
 Cultured by Katherine Harmon Courage non-fiction, food **** 3/20/19
 The Wizard’s Cookbook by Aurelia Beaupommier non-fiction, cookbook *** 3/31/19
 Iced Under by Barbara Ross cozy *** 4/4/19
 Hunting Prince Dracula by Karri Maniscalco *** YA historical A/A 4/14/19
 Escaping Houdini by Karri Maniscalco *** YA historical A/A 4/19/19
 100 Things to Do in SLC Before You Die by Jeremy Pugh ** non-fiction, travel 4/20/19
 The American Agent by Jaqueline Winspear ***** historical mystery 4/23/19
 Language Visible by David Sacks **** non-fiction, linguistics 4/23/19
 MacBeth by Shakespeare (4A) ***** tragedy 4/25/19
 12th Night by Shakespeare (4B) ***** comedy 4/26/19
 MacBeth by Shakespeare (2A) ***** tragedy 4/29/19
 MacBeth by Shakespeare (4A) ***** tragedy 4/29/19
 12th Night by Shakespeare (1B) ***** comedy 4/30/19
 12th Night by Shakespeare (3A) ***** comedy 5/1/19
 Becoming Brigid by Lisa Shafer ***** YA paranormal 5/3/19
 Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman (again) YA historical fantasy 5/8/19
 Assault and Beret by Jenn McKinley *** cozy 5/19/19
 The Sherlock Holmes Handbook by Ransom Riggs *** non-fiction about fiction 5/27/19
 The Melted Coins by Franklin W. Dixon (original) **** MG mystery A/A 6/1/19
 Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez ***** non-fiction, women’s issues 6/3/19
 The Short Wave Mystery by Franklin W. Dixon (Original) MG mystery A/A **** 6/4/19
 The Twisted Claw by Franklin W. Dixon (original) MG mystery A/A *** 6/6/19
 The Nowhere Emporium by Ross MacKenzie MG fantasy *** 6/7/19
 The House on the Cliff by Franklin W. Dixon (original) MG mystery A/A***** 6/7/19
 Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor A/A time travel *** 6/9/19
 The Short Wave Mystery by Franklin W. Dixon MG A/A **** 6/11/10
 The Squad: Perfect Cover by Jennifer Lynn Barnes  *** YA spy/thriller 6/12/19
 The Yard by Alex Grecian historical crime **** 6/13/19
 Greenhaven Press Literary Companion to British Literature: Readings on Twelfth Night  **** essays 6/14/19
 The Black Country by Alex Grecian historical crime **** 6/14/19
 A Conspiracy in Belgravia by Sherry Thomas ***** historical mystery 6/19/19
 The Spook in the Stacks by Eva Gates *** cozy 6/20/19
 Murder Once Removed by SC Perkins **** cozy 6/24/19
 Thin Ice by Paige Shelton mystery **** 6/27/19
 By Book Or By Crook by Eva Gates **** cozy 6/28/19
 Reading Up A Storm by Eva Gates **** cozy 6/30/19
 The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas ***** historical mystery 7/1/19
 Worldwide Ward Cookbook by Diana Buxton non-fiction **** 7/3/19
 Past Perfect Life by Elizabeth Eulberg YA realistic  **** 7/8/19
  Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer YA realistic **** 7/9/19
 Panic Button by Kylie Logan **** cozy 7/13/19
 Wicked Stitch by Amanda Lee **** cozy 7/14/19
 Marriage, Monsters-in-Law, and Murder by Sara Rosett **** cozy 7/14/19
 Murder Knocks Twice by Susana Calkins **** historical mystery 7/18/19
 The Stitching Hour by Amanda Lee *** cozy 7/19/19
 Better Off Thread by Amanda Lee *** 7/20/19
 Buttoned Up by Kylie Logan **** cozy 7/22/19
 Murder At Rosamund Gate by Susana Calkins  historical mystery *** 7/23/19
 From The Charred Remains by Susana Calkins historical mystery *** 7/24/19
 The Masque of Murder by Susana Calkins historical mystery **** 7/24/19
 The Rosemary Spell  by Virginia Zimmerman *** YA fantasy **** 7/26/19
 The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (3rd or 4th time) mystery ***** 7/28/19
 The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (2nd time) mystery **** 7/30/19
 Death by the River Fleet by Susan Calkins historical mystery **** 7/31/19
 Lethal White by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) crime ***** 8/2/19
 The Beholder by Anna Bright YA A/A alternate history *** 8/5/19
 Murder At Archly Manor by Sara Rosett historical mystery **** 8/11/19
 And Then There Were Crumbs by Eve Calder cozy **** 8/17/19
 Murder At Blackburn Hall by Sara Rosett historical mystery **** 8/18/19
 The Egyptian Antiquities Murder by Sara Rosett **** historical mystery 8/19/19
 Milk: A 10,000-year Food Fracas by Mark Kurlansky non-fiction ***** 8/21/19
 Haunted Salt Lake City by  Laurie Allen et al  urban legends * 8/21/19
  The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxcman realistic fiction ***** 8/25/19
 How The Beatles Changed The World by Martin W. Standler *** non-fiction 8/27/19
 The Readaholics and The Gothic Gala by Laura DiSilverio *** cozy 9/6/19
Twelve Angry Men (again) drama ***** 9/6/19
 Sense and Sensibility (rewrite)( 2nd time) by Joanna Trollope ***** updated classic 9/7/19
 Eligible by Curtis Littenfeld (2nd time) ***** updated classic (P&P by Austen) 9/8/19
 Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid (2nd time) ***** updated classic 9/12/19
 Capturing The Devil by Kerri Maniscalco YA historical A/A **** 9/20/19
 The Hummingbird Dagger by Cindy Anstey YA historical mystery ***** 9/30/19
 Handmade Halloween by Country Living non-fiction, crafts * 10/2/19
  The Shadow of Death by Jane Willan cozy mystery **** 10/6/19
 The Hour of Death by Jane Willan cozy mystery **** 10/8/19
 A Different Kind of Evil by Andrew Wilson historical mystery ** 10/13/19
 A Midsummer Night’s Dream by W. Shakespeare (again) ***** drama (2A) 10/15/19
 Better Off Read by Nora Page cozy mystery **** 10/16/19
 The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger *** realistic fiction 10/17/19
 Molten Mud Murder by Sara Johnson *** mystery/crime  10/26/19
 Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power by D. Michael Quinn ***** non-fiction 10/31/19
 Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith (2nd time) ***** western historical mystery 11/2/19
 On The Wrong Track by Steve Hockensmith (2nd time) ***** western historical mystery 11/4/19
 The Conspiring Woman by Kate Parker *** historical mystery 11//8/19
 The Detecting Duchess by Kate Parker *** historical mystery 11/10/19
 Monument Park 4th Ward Cookbook (c. 1960) *** non-fiction 11/14/19
 Cooking Class Global Feast by DeAnna F. Cook *** MG non-fiction 11/16/10
 Oakhills Neighborhood Cookbook (c.1980) **** non-fiction 11/17/19
 Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare (again) ***** drama (2A) 11/20/19
 The Black Dove by Steve Hockensmith ***** (2nd time) western mystery 11/23/19
 Dear Mr. Holmes by Steve Hockensmith ***** (2nd time) western mystery 11/24/19
 A Crack in the Lens by Steve Hockensmith ***** (2nd time) western mystery 11/24/19
 World’s Greatest Sleuth by Steve Hockensmith *****(2nd time) western mystery 11/26/19
 Power Hungry: The Ultimate Energy Bar Cookbook by Camilla Saulsbury **** 11/27/19
 The Double-A Western Detective Agency by Steve Hockensmith ***** western mystery 11/29/19
 Food Of A Younger Land by David Kurlensky ***** non-fiction 12/4/19
  Oak Hills Neighborhood Cookbook II **** non-fiction 12/7/19
 The Food Explorer by David Stone **** non-fiction, biography 12/12/19
 In The Hall With The Knife by Diana Peterfreund YA mystery ** 12/16/19
 Farm Chicks Christmas by Serena Thompson (again) **** non-fiction, crafts 12/19/19
 Merry Market Murder by Paige Shelton (again) ***** cozy 12/21/19
 Julie Stories by Megan McDonald  MG realistic **** 12/22/19
  A Killer Maize  (again) by Paige Shelton cozy **** 12/22/19
 A Bushel Full of Murder by Paige Shelton (again) **** cozy 12/23/19
 Crops and Robbers by Paige Shelton (again) **** cozy 12/25/19
 Maisie Dobbs by Jaqueline Winspear **** historical mystery 12/28/19
 Death in St. Petersburg by Tasha Alexander **** historical mystery 12/30/19
 American Girl Character Encyclopedia *** MG non-fiction 12/31/19



Books I Rejected in 2019

2019
The Gilded Wolves by   Chokshi When reading a fantasy book, I like the author to ease the reader into the new world, not drop them in suddenly, with completely different systems left incomprehensible.  In other words, when an author introduces 3 plots in 10 pages, uses French in every paragraph, and does not explain or even hint as to the meaning of key ideas (“Forging”) used repeatedly, I cannot engage with the book.  And when I cannot engage, I toss it aside.  Life is too short to read poorly-written material.  I wonder how many people buy this merely because the cover is pretty. 2/3/19
 Ecological Imperialism by Alfred W. Crosby 17 pages ZZZZZZZ   mid-Feb, 2019
Dark, Witch, and Creamy by HY Hanna. About three chapters.  I was writing better stuff at age 11. 2/16/19
From Bad To Wurst by Maddy Hunter. 7 chapters in and still no mystery.  Not much of a cozy. 3/2/19
A Christmas Peril by JA Hennrikus 5 chapter, so much telling, so little showing.  All backstory, not mystery. bleah. 7/22/19
 Those Who Go By Night by Andrew Gaddes historical crime.  90 pages.  Poor research on food of the time period, likely poor research on everything else.  Also, the author clearly enjoys writing about men controlling, gaslighting, and punishing women.  He’s misogynistic and rather sadistic.  8/10/19
Have Yourself a Beary Little Murder by Meg Macy. Cozies aren’t supposed to be great literature, but this was soooo bad.. In 30 pages, I found numerous punctuation errors and just plain bad writing: the introduction of at least 20 characters! Ugh.  One chapter. 12/26/19

Book Review: Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor

If I had never read Connie Willis' Doomsday Book and its sequel To Say Nothing Of The Dog (there are two more sequels, Black Out and All Clear, but Taylor does not appear to have stolen much from those, at least in this first book), I might have thought this book was terrific.   The plot does trip along quite nicely, after all.
But reading this book after reading Willis' books is like reading Harry Potter spin-offs and expecting them to be as good as the real thing; it's just not going to happen.
Taylor steals Willis' whole concept of an English university in the not-too-distant-future having a time travel department, with the actual time travel done with computers instead of some type of magic (Rise and Fall of the DODO) or device (Dr. Who, Bill and Ted's, Back to the Future).   She also steals the whole concept of whether or not we "strand" someone in the past.   And, (SPOILER ALERT FOR TWO DIFFERENT AUTHORS) Taylor steals Willis' major plot idea of "we can take something from the past as long as it's something that is on the verge of being destroyed." In Taylor's case, this is a pine cone and a chunk of the Library of Alexandria.  For Willis, it's a cat and some kittens, which provide the catalyst for the entire plot of To Say Nothing Of The Dog.
Taylor also steals Willis' plot idea of "What if a disease travels forward in time?"
What Taylor DOESN'T have that Willis does is historical research.   Willis has so much detail in her historical settings that the reader almost feels the author must have lived through the events (clearly impossible), but Taylor picks vague settings and gives vague descriptions of all historical scenes.
Taylor's book isn't bad; it's fairly enjoyable as far as plot and character go.  But it lacks historical detail and certainly does not pull off Willis' parallel plot structure.
Thus, if you want a really good series about a university with a time-travel department which has people trying to cash in on commercializing it, find Connie Willis' books instead of these.



List of books in Connie Willis' time travel series:
The Doomsday Book
To Say Nothing of the Dog
Black Out
All Clear
The historical settings are 1348 Oxford, England, Victorian England, and WWII Oxford and London.
Connie Willis' books on goodreads and Amazon.

Book Review: Truly Devious and The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson

Warning:   This series of books is not yet complete, and the first two books (especially the first book!) end on cliff-hangers.  This is supremely annoying, so you may wish to wait until Book 3 in the series is published before even attempting to read this otherwise excellent series.

I'm going to review both Truly Devious and The Vanishing Stair as if they were one book --- because they essentially are one book split into two (well, three, really) parts.

This is a plot-driven, multi-layered, partly-historical YA mystery.
Stevie, a mystery lover, escapes her parents' enthrallment of a right-wing politician (who appears to be a combination of Sarumanian traits of several GOP politicians woven much like the wizard's robe of white-yet-not-white fabric) to a rather more realistic version of Hogwarts, a rich man's private school in Vermont, built in the 1930s.   Stevie wants to solve the mystery of the kidnapping and murder of the founder's wife, the kidnapping and possible murder of his daughter, and the murder of a student who accidentally saw the kidnapper(s).  However, very soon after she arrives, a modern student dies in what may be a murder or a very unlikely accident, and soon the mysteries begin to twist together.  Another student, one who may have had motive and opportunity to murder the dead boy, goes missing.  Stevie's parents want her home. The absolute jerk of a boy her hormones want continually uses her.  And the slimy politician gets way more involved than is necessary.
The plots intertwine and surprise.   It is a cracking good tale.
But book one end with NO ANSWERS, only "to be continued," and book two ends with only the identity of the first criminal revealed, but no real answers.  The reader is left wondering many things.
(And since book three doesn't even have a title as of the writing of this review, it will be a good year before I can learn the answers!)
The setting is good and quite clever.  It's very much a 1930s Hogwarts, only with multiple creaky old buildings connected by winding tunnels instead of a castle and with mechanical engineering instead of magic.  Yet it's a great little world, very snug.
Johnson does go on way too often about "the altitude," which is supposedly 4500 feet -- a height that does not even qualify as "foothills," let alone "mountains," in the western US, but it's not too bad.
I do feel like Johnson is trying too hard with the characters; they feel like stock characters with every latest trend thrown in.  Stevie, the protagonist, has a mental health issue: anxiety, but it feels tacked on, as it has not been crucial to the plot, and ordinary teen worries would suit just fine.  Instead of the traditional gay best friend, Stevie gets a lesbian best friend (who may be the most well-developed character in the book), but the lesbian best friend is in a relationship with a gender non-binary person who uses plural pronouns.  (This is SO FREAKIN' CONFUSING.  Johnson could've gone with one of the new, singular non-binary pronouns, like "xhe," or just had the romance a lesbian one, as, again, the non-binary person has no real need to be so in the plot and appears to be that way just because it's trendy to write about non-binary and trans folks right now.)  Then, the "nice guy" is a really bad stereotype of a novel writer who is almost a satire of himself, and the "bad boy" is not at all likeable, yet Stevie makes out with him whenever she can.  The youtube star is a self-centered manipulator, and the artists are all hippies.    Meh.   
No, the characters are not as multi-layered as the plot.
My advice?   This series is a must-read for mystery lovers; however, I recommend waiting until the full series has been published in order to avoid the agony of the cliff hanger.

What I Read And What I Rejected in 2017

In 2016, I read 137 books, which is above my average of 120 books per year.  A death in the family, a new curriculum at school, and some major life changes kept me way below average in 2017, and I read only 81 books, which is rather embarrassing.  Nevertheless, here is my list:

2017

Closed Casket by Sophie Hannah **** historical mystery a la Christie 1/2/17
Scarlett Undercover by Jennifer Latham ***** YA multicultural mystery a/a 1/5/17
MacBeth by Shakespeare (again) ***** tragedy 1/17/17
Inside the Magic: the Making of Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them by Ian Nathan **** 1/18/17
Encyclopedia of Herbs and Spices by Elizabeth Lambert Ortiz (again) ***** non-fiction, food 1/25/17
A Study In Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas **** NA mystery 1/27/17
The Bishop’s Wife by Mette Ivie Harrison (2nd time)***** LDS cozy mystery 1/28/17
 His Right Hand by Mette Ivie Harrison (2nd time) ***** LDS cozy mystery 1/29/17
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (again) ***** drama 1/30/17
 For Time And All Eternities by Mette Ivie Harrison **** LDS cozy mystery 1/30/17
 To Helvetica and Back by Paige Shelton (2nd time) ***** cozy 2/4/17
 Bookman Dead Style by Paige Shelton ***** cozy 2/6/17
 Blood by Blood by Ryan Graudin  **** YA alt history WWII 2/12/17
 Caraval by Stephanie Garber *** YA postmodernist fantasy 2/18/17
 Unmentionable by Therese Oneill ***** non-fiction, feminist, humor, Victorian 2/23/17
 Globe: Life in Shakespeare’s London by Catharine Arnold non-fiction, history    **** 2/28/17
 Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones YA fantasy *****(*!) 3/3/17
 All The Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation by Rebecca Traister ***** non-fiction, feminism 3/18/17.
 Daughter of the Pirate King by by Tricia Levenseller ***** YA a/a, fantasy (sirens) 3/19/17
 A Taste of History: 10,000 Years of Cooking in Britain by Peter Briers et al (again) ***** non-fiction, history, cooking. 3/25/17
 These Vicious Masks by Shanker and Zekas ***** (2nd time) YA a/a fantasy, alt history 3/26/17
 These Ruthless Deeds by Shanker and Zekas **** YA a/a fantasy, alt history 3/26/17
 The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman (2nd time) *****YA alt-historical fantasy 3/28/17
 The Dark Days Pact by Alison Goodman *****YA alt-historical fantasy 4/2/17
 Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly *** non-fiction, history, biography, space-race 4/10/17
 The Illusionist’s Apprentice by Kristy Cambron *** romance posing as historical mystery 4/12/17
 Acadia: The Complete Guide by James Kaiser **** non-fiction, travel 4/24/17
 MacBeth by William Shakespeare (2A) ***** drama 4/26/17
 Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (1A) ***** 4/26/17
 Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes for Two by Pam Ellgen **** non-fiction, cooking 4/28/17
 MacBeth by William Shakespeare (4B) ***** drama 5/1/17
 Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (3B) ***** 5/2/17
 Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (3A) ***** 5/3/17
 Celine by Peter Heller *** sort of a mystery 5/2/17
 MacBeth by William Shakespeare (4A) ***** drama 5/4/17
 MacBeth by William Shakespeare (1B) ***** drama 5/5/17
 Hunting Badger by Tony Hillerman ** crime, 5/26/17
 Bound: Over 20 Artful Handmade Books by Erica Ekrem *** non-fiction, crafts *** 6/2/17
 The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova **** realistic/historical adult fiction 6/4/17
 The Wailing Wind by Tony Hillerman **** mystery 6/7/17
 The Sinister Pig by Tony Hillerman **** mystery 6/9/17
 A House Full of Females by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich ***** non-fiction, history, feminism 6/21/17
 Rogue One by Alexander Freed **** sci-fi/StarWars 6/28/17
 A Gentleman’s Guide To Vice And Virtue by MacKenzi Lee ***** NA historical adventure 6/30/17
 Murder at Mistletoe Manner by Holly Tierney-Bedford *** cozy 7/9/17
 Long May She Reign by Rhiannon Thomas **** YA fantasy sans magic 7/11/17
 Hotel Ruby by Suzanne Young *** typical YA light horror 7/13/17
 Signs & Symbols by DK publishing ** non-fiction (tiny print, bad illustrations) 7/14/17
 The Lost City of Z by David Grann **** non-fiction 7/23/17
 York by Laura Ruby **** MG/YA historical fantasy 7/25/17
 Twelve Angry Men ***** drama, realistic 7/30/17
 Beauty Sick by Renee Engeln **** non-fiction, women’s issues 7/30/17
 The Crime Book (DK) (no author listed) ***** non-fiction 7/31/17
 Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom by Bradley Schenck ***** retro sci-fi 8/6/17
 The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss **** holmes/monster mash-up YA w/older characters 8/8/17
  Diabetic Cookbook by Diana Watson * non-fiction, cookbook 8/9/17
 The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell **** YA Fantasy 8/15/17
 Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories by Washington Irving ***** short stories 8/20/17
 Twelve Angry Men ***** drama, realistic 1A 8/31/17
 Twelve Angry Men ***** drama, realistic 4A 8/31/17
 Twelve Angry Men ***** drama, realistic 2B 0/1/17
 The Develin Diary by Christi Phillips **** historical mystery 9/8/17
 Southern Fried by Cathy Pickens **** cozy mystery 10/1/17
 Eat Fresh: Awesome Recipes for Teens by Rozanne Gold & Phil Mansfield **** cookbook 10/9/17
 A Spoonful of Murder by Connie Archer *** cozy 10/10/17
 Teeth: Oral Health in America by Mary Otto *** non-fiction, history, health 10/13/17
 Blood Sugar: The Family by Michael Moore *** non-fiction, cookbook 10/16/17
 That Inevitable Victorian Thing by EK Johnston *** YA alternate history 10/20/17
 The Doubleday Cookbook by Jean Hansen & Elaine Hanna ***** non-fiction, cookbook 10/20/17
 Rather Be The Devil by Ian Rankin ***** mystery/crime 11/17/17
 Larceny and Old Lace by Tamar Myers *** cozy 11/19/17
 The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen   Beckett ***** Austen/Bronte pastiche fantasy 11/22/17
 The Secret, Book, And Scone Society by Ellery Adams **** cozy 12/5/17
 Murder, Magic, and What We Wore by Kelly Jones ***** YA alt history, A/A fantasy 12/7/17
 Sherlock Holmes: Tangled Skeins by David Marcum **** mystery/pastiche 12/23/17
 Comic Sans Murder by Paige Shelton ***** cozy mystery 12/24/17
 The Power by Naomi Alderman ***** dystopia (adult) 12/28/17
 Steampunk Lego by Guy Himber *** non-fiction, art/crafts 12/28/17
 The Cozy Cookbook by various authors *** non-fiction, cookbook 12/29/17
 From Farm to Fork by Emerill Lagasse ** non-fiction, cookbook 12/30/17
 Snow Way Out by Christine Husom *** cozy mystery 12/31/17



And, as always, there were books I rejected.  Here's that list:

2017
Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. The main characters were distant, robotic, and unappealing.  about 36 pages. 2/8/17
Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel H Wilson all violence and weak females 80 pages 8/11/17
The Sacred Stone by the Medieval Murderers 15 pages, the story had a childish tone and did not catch my interest. 9/17/17
Golden Hill by Francis Spufford. It’s supposed to be a historical mystery, but in 25 pages all I’ve seen is an obnoxious protagonist who is merely secretive about where his money comes from.. It’s arguing and no action, and I don’t have the patience for it. 9/29/17
The Breath of God by Jeffery Small. This is Dan Brown pastiche, which would be OK except for a couple of things: 1) instead of having a physical reason (i.e. a clue hidden in a historical building) to travel, Small has his characters run around the world to meet up with people who might have just made a phone call or set a letter by registered mail, and 2) his characters are stupid, making the dumbest mistakes and assumptions.  I cannot abide stupid protagonists.  When I reached 220 pages, I tossed it aside near the end of September.
Love: The Psychology of Attraction by DK publishing. This was actually good, but my father’s illness and death prevented me from finishing it before I had to return it to the library. 16 pages. mid-October.
What Happened by Hillary Clinton.  This was very interesting but my father’s illness and death prevented me from finishing it before I had to return it to the library. I will either purchase it or else request it from the library again in a few months. 47 pages. mid-October.
Cross My Heart And Hope To Spy by Ally Carter. So dull.  So cliche -- even for a fluffy YA mystery.  It’s like a bad sit com. 52 pages.  mid-October.
One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake. I liked the first one, but it’s been too long since I read it, and I don’t recall the details.  This one lost my interest three chapters in. 12/15/17

Irony

As the school where I have taught for the last 28 years prepared to be absorbed into the local high school, there was a great deal of moving, and we teachers stacked unwanted items into our Large Group Instruction Room (Note: if you're older than 35, it's what a multi-purpose room is now called.).  We were allowed to scavenge out anything we wanted before the rest was sent to the DI (Deseret Industries, the LDS thrift stores).   Mounds of books were there for the taking, and I took plenty!
Among the books were some from our teachers' library, and I grabbed a large pile of crime novels by Tony Hillerman.  With the help of the local public library's filling in the gaps for the novels missing in the stack, I've now read the nearly the first 10 in the series, so I've got a good feel for the recurring characters and the setting, as well as Hillerman's style.
Overall, it's a pretty good series -- obviously, or I wouldn't still be reading it ten books in and prepared to read the rest.  But Hillerman, in trying to make Navajos always the heroes, goes a little overboard with racial stereotyping of every non-Native American race.
Mostly, whites are stereotyped.  The white characters in the books are usually either portrayed as foolish for their wannabe Indian ways or else angry and unappreciative of the desert or of other cultures.  This is forgivable, I suppose, as the whole purpose of the series is to make readers more aware of Navajo life and culture, so I guess making whites the "Other" works.
But one of the main things of which Hillerman makes fun in nearly every book is that white folks can't tell one tribe from another, that "all Indians look the same."  (OK, fair enough.  I'm not sure I could tell a Cherokee from an Iroquois, but Navajos are usually pretty easy to spot.  One gets to be familiar with their genetic traits when one sees them around in Southern Utah enough.) He really pounds this theme.
This is why I found it hilarious that Hillerman totally and completely misses his own stereotyping -- probably actually racism at this point -- of Latinos in book 9, Talking God.
In the story, a middle-aged man has been murdered and his body has been left in the brush near a train track.  All identification has been removed from the body -- even his dentures have been taken -- so that the murderer cannot be traced through the victim.
Hillerman's two protagonists, Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, are both working on the crime from separate angles.  Leaphorn learns from the Amtrack people that among the victim's possessions recovered from the sleeping compartment of the train were a couple of books in Spanish.  He also learns that the Amtrack employee who gathered up the victim's things is a man named Perez, who speaks Spanish and apparently had some conversation with the victim at a point or two before his murder.
Leaphorn, desperate for clues as to the victim's identity, grills Perez for two pages about everything the victim said or had in his room.  (Note: this book was written in the 1980s.  Apparently, it was not normal for people to have their names on their train tickets or to reserve sleeping compartments at the time, because Hillerman never has Leaphorn ask about that.)
Now, Leaphorn supposedly speaks some Spanish (later in the book he manages some fairly complex sentences, including the irregular formal command tense of the verb "to come"), but  he speaks only English to Perez.
Now, here's the irony: Hillerman, who for 9 novels has made fun of whites who think all Indians are the same, clearly thinks all Latinos (he calls them "Hispanos") are the same.  At no point does Hillerman have Leaphorn ask Perez or Perez volunteer his opinions as to where the murder victim is from.  Hillerman seems completely unaware that a Spaniard doesn't speak like a Mexican who doesn't speak like an Argentine who doesn't speak like a Cuban who doesn't speak like a Chilean (which is, incidentally, what the victim turns out to be, whereas Perez is likely to be Mexican if he's from the West or Puerto Rican or Cuban if he's from the East; either way, he'd have been able to tell by the victim's speech alone that the man was from Chile or Venezuela and from his looks that he was unlikely to be Peruvian -- as the victim was quite tall).  But Hillerman, he who makes fun of "all Indians are the same" clearly has "all 'Hispanos' are the same" in his own belief system.

What I Read And What I Rejected In 2015

Once again, mysteries are my favorite genre, coming in at 66/129 or 51%.  No surprises there.
My goal was to read 130 books this year.  If you just look at the main list, then I didn't quite make it.  But if you count my re-readings/revisions of my own manuscripts, then I passed my goal.

Here's the main list:

2015

1. Armoires and Arsenic by Cassie Page **** cozy 1/3/15
2. In the Wake of the Plague by Norman Cantor ** prejudiced, condescending non-fiction 1/4/15
3. 1603 by Christopher Lee *** non-fiction 1/12/15
4. As Chimney Sweepers Come To Dust by Alan Bradley **** cozy 1/14/15
5. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie **** mystery 1/16/15
6. Zero Tolerance by Claudia Mills **** MG realistic fiction 1/27/15
7. The Accidental Highwayman by Ben Tripp *** YA historical paranormal 1/30/15
8. Crafting a Meaningful Home by Meg Mateo Ilasco *** non-fiction, crafts 1/31/15
9. Crafty Chica’s Guide to Artful Sewing by Kathy Cano Murillo *** non-fiction, crafts 1/31/15
10. The Secret of Terror Castle by Robert Arthur *****MG mystery 2/6/15
11. Dorm Room Decor by Smith and Gonzalez ** non-fiction, crafts 2/6/15
12. The Christmas Book by Council Oak Books ** non-fiction, crafts 2/7/15
13. Recreative by Steve Dodds ** non-fiction, crafts 2/7/15
14. Bowled Over by Victoria Hamilton *** cozy mystery 2/8/15
15. Fabric Memory Books by Lesley Riley **** non-fiction, crafts 2/9/15
16. The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot by Robert Arthur *****MG mystery 2/10/15
17. The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy by Robert Arthur ***** MG mystery 2/11/15
18. The Mystery of the Green Ghost by Robert Arthur ***** MG mystery 2/12/15
19. The Case of the Vanishing Treasure by Robert Arthur ***** MG mystery 2/12/15
20. Prophet’s Prey by Sam Brower ***** non-fiction (FLDS) 2/13/15
21. The Secret of Phantom Lake by Robert Arthur ***** MG mystery 2/13/15
22. No Mallets Intended by Victoria Hamilton *** cozy mystery 2/15/15
23. Bran New Death by Victoria Hamilton *** cozy mystery 2/17/15
24. Muffin But Murder by Victoria Hamilton *** cozy mystery 2/18/15
25. The Bishop’s Wife by Mette Ivie Harrison ***** mystery 2/21/15
26. Unholy Night by Seth Grahame-Smith ***** paranormal A/A 3/2/15
27. Stitching Snow by RC Lewis *** YA sci-fi 3/8/15
28. The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black **** YA fantasy 3/9/15
29. A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas *** YA fantasy 3/11/15
30. Charisma by Jeanne Ryan *** sort of sci-fi YA romance 3/12/15
31. The Secret of Skull Island by Robert Arthur ***** MG mystery 3/12/15
32. Prudence by Gail Carriger more or less YA steampunk paranormal 3/21/15
33. The Mystery of the Fiery Eye by Robert Arthur *****MG mystery 3/23/15
34. A Lady of Devices by Shelley Adina **** self-pub YA steampunk 3/25/15
35. The Victorian Home by Judith Flanders ***** non-fiction 3/28/15
36. Pioneer Girl by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Pamela Hill Smith, ed) **** non-fiction 4/4/15
37. The Secret of the Silver Spider by Robert Arthur ***** MG mystery 4/8/15
38. The Mystery of the Purple Pirate by ?? ***** MG mystery 4/9/15
39. The Polygamous Wives Writing Club by Paula Kelly Harline *** non-fiction 4/11/15
40. The Secret of the Crooked Cat by ?? ***** MG mystery 4/12/15
41. The Mystery of the Magic Circle by Arden ***** MG mystery 4/14/15
42. The Mystery of the Shrinking House by William Arden ***** MG mystery 4/14/15
43. The Mystery of Monster Mountain by ***** MG mystery 4/16/15
44. The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints by MV Carey *****MG mystery 4/18/15
45. The Taking by Kimberly Derting *** YA sci-fi 4/20/15
46. The Mystery of the Dead Man’s Riddle by William Arden ***** MG mystery 4/20/15
47. The  Mystery of the Rogues’ Reunion by Marc Brandel ***** MG mystery 4/21/15
48. The Mystery of the Missing Mermaid by MV Carey ***** MG mystery 4/22/15
49. The Mystery of the Coughing Dragon by Nick West ***** MG mystery 4/23/15
50. The Mystery of the Talking Skull by Robert Arthur ***** MGmystery 4/26/15
51. The Mystery of Death Trap Mine by MV Carey ***** MG Mystery 4/27/15
52. The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs by   ***** MG mystery 4/27/15
53. The Mystery of the Two Toed Pigeon by Marc Brandel ***** MG mystery 4/28/15
54. The Mystery of the Smashing Glass by William Arden ***** MG mystery 4/29/15
55. The Mystery of the Scar Faced Beggar by MV Carey ***** MG mystery 4/30/15
56. The Mystery of the Sinister Scarecrow by MV Carey ***** MG mystery 5/1/15
57. All Four Stars by Tara Dairman ***** MG realistic 5/3/15
58. The Mystery of the Headless Horse by W. Arden ***** 5/5/15
59. The Mystery of the Kidnapped Whale by Marc Brandel ***** 5/6/15
60. The Mystery of the Moaning Cave by Willaim Ardn ***** 5/9/15
61. The Mystery of the Creep Show Crooks by MV Carey ***** 5/9/15
62. The Secret of Shark Reef by William Arden ***** 5/10/15
63. Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare ***** (1st period) drama 5/11/15
64. The Mystery of the Deadly Double by William Arden ***** 5/11/15
65. The Mystery of the Dancing Devil by William Arden 5/12/15
66. Time Travel Trailer by Karen Nortman *** chicklit 5/12/15
67. Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare ***** (3rd period) drama 5/13/14
68. The Mystery of Wreckers’ Rock by William Arden MG mystery ***** 5/14/15
69. Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare ***** (5th period) drama 5/14/15
70. Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare ***** (8th period) drama 5/14/15
71. The Mystery of the Wandering Caveman ***** by MV Carey MG mystery 5/15/15
72. The Murder Room by Michael Capuzzo **** non-fiction 5/18/15
73. The Mystery of the Trail of Terror by MV Carey *** MG mystery 5/19/15
74. The Mystery of the Nervous Lion by Nick West ***** MG mystery 5/21/15
75. The Mystery of the Cranky Collector by MV Carey ***** MG mystery 5/23/15
76. A Dollhouse To Die For by Cate Price *** cozy mystery 5/24/15
77. Green Living Can Be Deadly by Staci McLaughlin *** 5/26/15
78. The Jane Austen Handbook by Margaret Sullivan ***** non-fiction, humor 5/28/15
79. The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason *** YA steampunk paranormal time-travel 6/1/15
80. A Bushel Full of Murder by Paige Shelton ***** cozy 6/4/15
81. Dark Chocolate Demise by Jenn McKinlay *** cozy 6/6/15
82. Fundraising the Dead by Sheila Connolly **** cozy 6/8/15
83. Fire Engine Dead by Sheila Connolly **** cozy 6/11/15
84. Let’s Play Dead by Sheila Connolly **** cozy 6/13/15
85. The Vampire Book: the legends, the lore, the allure. *** non-fiction 6/15/15
86. How To Be A Vampire by Amy Gray *** non-fiction 6/16/15
87. Monument to the Dead by Sheila Connolly *** cozy 6/18/15
88. Razing the Dead by Sheila Connolly *** cozy 6/19/15
89. Frankenstein: A Cultural History by Susan Tyler Hitchcock ***** non-fiction 6/20/15
90. Thor Heyerdahl In Brief by ? ***** non-fiction 6/29/15
91. Bryggen Guide Book by ? ***** non-fiction 7/3/15
92. Santa Cruise by Mary Higgens Clark *** cozy 7/5/15
93. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee ***** (3rd? time -- at least) historical fiction 7/9/15
94. The Mystery of the Singing Serpent by MV Carey ***** MG mystery 7/17/15
95. The Mystery of the Invisible Dog by MV Carey *** MG mystery 7/19/15
96. How Shakespeare Changed Everything by Steven Marche *** non-fiction 7/15/15
97. Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudson **** YA paranormal 7/29/15
98. A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil McGregor non-fiction ***** 8/8/15
99. Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee ***** historical 8/10/15
100. Uprooted by Naomi Novik ***** YA Fantasy 8/15/15
101. The Stars of Summer by Tara Dairman ***** MG realistic 8/21/15
102. Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George ***** YA paranormal 8/24/15
103. The Agency: Rivals in the City by YS Lee MG/YA mystery **** 9/2/15
104. The Cracked Spine (ARC) by Paige Shelton **** cozy mystery 9/15/15
105. Emma by Jane Austen ***** romance 9/20/15
106. Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell ***** YA steampunk fantasy (fairytale retelling) 9/25/15
107. Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy **** YA realistic 9/27/15
108. The Poe Estate by Polly Shuman *** MG Horror/Paranormal. 10/3/15
109. The Cage of Deceit by Jennifer Anne Davis *** YA A/A 10/6/15
110. Into the Stone Circle by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel ***** YA ghost story 10/11/15
111. Generic Vampire Novel #937 Part 1: American Sexy *** action/adv/paranormal 10/28/15
112. A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis **** YA historical thriller 10/29/15
113. Jackaby by William Ritter **** humorous YA paranormal mystery 11/3/15
114. Ancient Appetites by Oisin McGann **** YA 14+ steampunk A/A 11/6/15
115. Manners and Mutiny by Gail Carriger ***** YA steampunk 11/8/15
116. When Books Went To War by Molly Guptill Manning 11/14/15
117. Wolf By Wolf by Ryan Graudin ***** YA paranormal alt. history 11/19/15
118. Soundless by Rachel Mead ***** YA fantasy 11/29/15
119. A Killing In Zion by Andrew Hunt ***** historical mystery (LDS) 12/5/15
120. His Right Hand by Mette Ivie Harrison ***** mystery (LDS) 12/6/15
121. Lethal Letters by Ellery Adams **** mystery 12/13/15
122. The Last Word by Ellery Adams **** mystery 12/14/15
123. To Helvetica and Back by Paige Shelton ***** cozy mystery 12/21/15
124. The Humbug Murders by LJ Oliver **** crime 12/22/15
125. Christmas Cottage by Samantha Chase ** romance 12/23/15
126. The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan ***** non-fiction 12/27/15
127. City of Saints by Andrew Hunt **** historical (LDS) mystery 12/28/15
128. Da Vinci’s Tiger by LM Elliot ***** YA historical fiction 12/30/15
129. Lord James Harrington and the Winter Mystery ***** cozy mystery 12/31/15

Here's the manuscript list:

2015

1. The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay 2/15/15
2. The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay 4/12/15
3. The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay 4/26/15
4. The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay 7/11/15
5. The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay 7/23/15
6. The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay 8/31/15
7. Nerissa MacKay and the Secrets of the Seventeen Scrolls 9/12/15
8. The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay 10/4/15
9. Nerissa MacKay and the Secrets of the Seventeen Scrolls 10/26/15

And, what usually ends up being people's favorite thing to read each year, here's the list of what I began but did not finish.  It's not a completely coherent list, as I just scribble down notes, either in anger or disgust, but here 'tis anyway:

2015

1. The Invention of Murder by Judith Flander.   Too slow moving.  I got bogged down about 100 pages in. early April
2. The Victorian City by Judith Flanders.  Again, I expected this to move like Victorian Home did, but it was just too much Dickens and not enough of non-fiction sources.  Parts were interesting, but parts were too preachy about the poor (just like Dickens).  I kept drifting off to read other things.  After about 250 pages, I just gave up.  4/26/15
3. The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy. Three plots in about 10 pages.  Forget it.  4/18/15
4. Nonna’s Book Of Mysteries by Mary Osborne.  It sounded so promising, but the pace is so slow!  And the protagonist is dumb and lacking personality!  Ugh.  50 pages. 5/7/15
5. Skeleton Crew by Halber.  about a chapter in.  It’s interesting, but far too gruesome for my mood. 5/15/15
6. Scrapped by Mollie Cox Bryan.  After 4 chapters of reading, I could not stand it anymore. The author tried to use 3rd person omniscient by switching the focus every chapter -- and it was a mess!
7. Time Salvager by Wesley Chu.  1st chapter.  Quite well-written, but life’s too short to waste it reading Ender’s Game spin-off set in claustrophobia-inducing space ships. 7/24/15
8. I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest.

I should have known better.  I threw aside her Boneshaker in disgust a couple of years ago when she tried to write for YA but focused all her attention on the mother in the story.  This is truly bad form.  I don't understand why her books are so popular when she has no clue who her audience is.  Of course, she's probably writing for adults who read YA and not for actual kids, but I still loathe it when authors say they've got a certain audience and then write for another.

X has the same problem from a different angle.  In this one, Priest talks to the reader as if s/he is a 9-year-old.  It's condescending.  I could not stand it after a couple of chapters.

This one's going back to the library unfinished. 7/28/15

9. The Princess Spy by Melanie Dickerson.

This one sounded really good, but it's so cliche that it's boring.  Also, the protagonist is exactly that sort of silly airhead that makes a terrific foil for a likable female protagonist but who makes a lousy protagonist.  I do not like dumb protagonists; I cannot relate to them and I have no patience with them.  This protagonist is a sweet, charming, stupid girl.  After 92 pages of this and a predictable plot, I gave up. 7/28/15

10. Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie.

Remember what I just said about hating stupid protagonists?  Well, this book is infinitely worse than Princess Spy.  This protagonist gives his passport and travel documents to a pretty girl who claims to be in danger.

Nope.  I do not waste my time with protagonists that dumb.

When I grabbed the book, I thought it would be a detective solving a mystery about an exceptionally dumb person, but no, the main character is the idiot.

I'm not wasting my time. 7/30/15

11. Tales of the South Pacific by James Mitchener. It’s actually pretty decent; I just don’t have the time right now. 7/31/15

12. The Watchmaker of Filigree St. by Natasha Pulley.  Great characterization, but it’s mixing the Irish Troubles of the 1980s with Victorian England, which I don’t like, and I read in a review that the action will move to Japan. Japan doesn’t interest me.  about 40 pages 8/3/15

13. Red Velvet Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke. This is clearly a book later on in a series and the author does NOTHING to explain to the reader who’s who among the NUMEROUS side characters and backstories.  So very confusing. four chapters 8/10/15

14. Ash and Bramble by Sarah Prineas. This is a fairytale dystopia which is not a particularly good mix.  It’s told in 1st person POV -- except when it switches to 3rd person limited to focus on the male love interest.  This is highly annoying.  Also, it’s told in present tense, which is always annoying.  I stopped reading when the characters were so incredibly stupid as not to realize they might be chased if they were to escape a locked compound wherein other people had been killed for even attempting to escape.  Stupid protagonist + 1st person POV is a recipe for nothing but anger on my part, so I quit reading.  9/26/15

15. Reawakened by Colleen Houck YA paranormal. I must say that a YA mummy book sounded good, as that’s the only traditional monster unexplored in the last few years.  But the characterization in this was so pathetic that I gave up in 24 pages. 10/2/15

16. Sherlock, Lupin, and Me: the soprano’s last song. by “Irene Adler” I like some Holmes adaptations, but this one took way too many liberties with Holmes’ basic personality.  Five chapters. October, 2015

17. Moving Target by Christina Diaz Gonzalez.  This is another book which everyone claims is good just because it has a non-white protagonist.  It does take more than that to make a book good, you know.  This book tries to be a Dan Brown novel for kids, but it just doesn’t work; it’s too unbelievable to have a girl watch her dad get shot and not freak out, to have her friend just happen to know a bunch of secret passages in Italy.  Nope.  This doesn’t work with kids.  four chapters. October, 2015

18. The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt. I guess I just don’t care about Venice that much. 17 pages. October, 2015

19. Walk On Earth A Stranger by Rae Carson.  I didn’t like the premise after just a few pages, which is weird, because I love her other books. October, 2015

20. The Story Spinner by Becky Wallace.  I’ve tried and tried to read this, but it jumps around so much that I can’t make myself care about any of the characters. October, 2015

21. Six of Crows by Leigh Barduga. I really, really wanted to like this, but it’s depressing and violent, and I don’t like the world.  134 pages. October, 2015

22. Lockwood & Co: the Screaming Staircase by Johnathan Stroud. 27 pages of silliness were all I could stomach. 11/13/15

23. Robbie Forester & the Outlaws of Sherwood Street by Peter Abrahams.  I guess I should’ve expected as much from a Robin Hood story, but the whole successful-business-people-are-evil/homeless-people-are-good thing was a bit too Socialist for me.  Gag. 45 pages. Nov. 2015.

24. Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch.  I guess it’s been too long since I read the first book in the series.  I’d totally lost the story and it was not worth the effort to find it again.  After 22 pages, I found I didn’t care at all about the characters anymore. Nove. 2015.

25. Stoneheart by Charlie Fletcher.  It sounded great, but the fantasy world made no sense and had way too much chasing arround with no plot.  52 pages. November, 2015

Review of the November Uppercase Box

I've been trying out bookish subscription boxes this fall.  In September, I got a LitCube and was underwhelmed.  In October, I got an OwlCrate and quite liked it -- except for the long delay in actually receiving the box.

This month, I have another OwlCrate coming (still waiting, probably will be for another 10 days), but today my Uppercase Box arrived:

The package -- which was not a box, but rather a cheap cotton bag holding everything except the print and stuffed into a bubble wrap envelope -- arrived only two days after I received the e-mail saying it had been shipped.  It contained the book Wolf By Wolf by Ryan Graudin, stuck through in 5 spots with post-it notes giving special codes to watch author videos explaining the book and giving extra content.  There was also a note (not a fancy one, just a regular paper, thus saving money) explaining what was in the bag; however, one item was different from those listed, and no explanation was given.  There was also a printed mini-poster for the book, a cute print of a quote supposedly by Oscar Wilde (although the print gives no citation whatsoever) in a cheap cardboard frame, a cheap-but-kind-of-cute plastic keychain which says "certified book addict," and a mini-notebook.  The mini-notebook was not listed on the notepaper, but it seems to replace a pin featuring the book.  (I had a look at some Instagram pics posted by folks who received the pin, and I'm glad I got the notebook instead.  However, it would've been nice to have an email stating that some people were getting different items.)

The pros:
The shipping speed was awesome.  I was very pleased to get the stuff so fast.
I rather like the little notebook, but then, I love notebooks.  No doubt, I will use it.
I like the fact that money was not wasted on fancy insert cards which are useless.
I rather like the little book bag.  Once it's washed, it will be great for socks when I'm traveling.
The book looks pretty good.  So far, I've only read one chapter and watched part of the first video.  It seems to be as if Uppercase subscribers get to go to a video version of an author reading, so that's rather nice.  (I'll review the book and the extras in a few days, after I've finished reading.)

The cons:
The packaging is NOT a box and it did not protect the framed print; it's bent and battered and looks like something one finds at a garage sale.  However, I will probably still hang it in my classroom.  I do wish it had the source of the quote on it somewhere.  I'll have to look it up to make sure it's not a misquote.
The keychain is cheap and childish.
Neither item lives up to the Uppercase claim of "1-2 high-quality items" in with the book.  Not even close.
The months aren't themed as they are with LitCube and Owlcrate, so it's hard to guess whether the box is one you'll enjoy or not.

Overall, while it looks like I'll enjoy the book and the mini-notebook which I may have received by mistake, there's no way this is worth the nearly $30.00 I paid for it.  The book itself is worth $9.90 on Amazon, where one can easily get free shipping.  The notebook is worth about a dollar, the keychain maybe 50 cents.  The bag is worth about a dollar.  The print is worth perhaps two dollars.  That means I paid roughly double what the items are worth.

I'm not too sure about Uppercase Box.  I am, as of yet, undecided if I'll try the December one or not.
In the meantime, however, I believe I'll enjoy Wolf By Wolf.

Read A Good Book In The Autumn Sunshine

Julie's picked a perfect porch spot to read The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay.  Where would YOU like to read it?

Get your copy right here.
And then send me a photo of yourself reading it.  I'll enter your name into the upcoming prize drawing.

Get Your Hands On A Great Book!

Traci's reading The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay.  Wouldn't you like to get your hands on a copy of it?

You can get a copy here.
Don't forget to send me a photo of yourself reading my book so I can enter your name into the big drawing for prizes!

Get Your Nose Into A Good Book.

Angie's reading The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay.  When are you going to read it?

You can get your copy here.
Be sure to send me a photo of yourself reading; those who do will have their names entered into an upcoming contest with lots of books and swag as prizes.

Kick Back And Read!

Kevin's reading The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay.
Isn't it time YOU got a copy?

Check it out right here on Amazon.
And once you get a copy, be sure to send me a photo of you with the book!  Everyone who lets me use their photo and/or reviews the book for me, gets her/his name entered into an upcoming contest with LOTS of prizes!

Disappear Into A Good Book

Susan's reading The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay.  How about you?

You can buy your copy here.
And once you get a copy, be sure to send me a photo of you with the book!  Everyone who lets me use their photo and/or reviews the book for me, gets her/his name entered into an upcoming contest with LOTS of prizes!

Get Excited About The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay

Michele and Mary are pretty excited about the book.  Are you?

You can get your copy here.

And once you get a copy, be sure to send me a photo of you with the book!  Everyone who lets me use their photo and/or reviews the book for me, gets her/his name entered into an upcoming contest with LOTS of prizes!

This And That.....

The weather is FINALLY not roasting hot!  I'm so excited.  I hate extreme heat (yeah, I know; I live in a desert.  I have to deal with it.).  Temperatures over 95 or so -- especially when they don't dip into the 60s at night -- give me headaches and body aches, make my hands and feet swell, and keep me from sleeping.
This is why autumn is my favorite season: warm days, cool nights, no snow to shovel, harvest holidays and foods, family, beautiful scenery.  It's just plain good.
School, on the other hand, is a bit tough this year.  Oh, I like my classes well enough (three classes of mixed-grade Spanish 1, two classes of 9th grade regular English, and one class of 9GT English), but we have 14 new teachers, a school that will cease to exist (as it is absorbed into the high school and the younger kids sent elsewhere) at the end of the school year, and a principal who wants to push through all kinds of new programs all at once.  Plus, the departure of our English department head left me with that position -- as well as my responsibilities as GT head, novels committee, leadership team, and the newly-created 9th grade team leader (although I'm hoping to share that one with the science department head to ease my load a bit).  With all the new changes being unpopular with 98% of the faculty, most of the teachers are having to be cajoled into doing the new stuff (which is a LOT more work), and it's exhausting.  There is, of course, the added uncertainty that none of us knows where we'll be teaching next year, and it's making the faculty much less at-ease than in the past.  It's just not going to be an easy year.
All this means I've had less time to read and to write.  I'd been packing in 12 or more books a month for reading, but now I'm only getting in about 5.  And I've often been too tired to edit or write.
The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay is just about ready to roll.  I'm also working on the first major revision of its sequel, Nerissa MacKay and the Secrets of the Seventeen Scrolls.  Plus, I have the barest of outlines ready for book 3 and book 4 in the series.
The Chocolate Smuggler's Notebook is on indefinite hold, although I did have a bizarre dream while I was in Norway last June, and that dream gave me an idea as to how I can fix the plot quicksand in which I'd gotten myself stuck.  I wrote out the dream and a new plot outline while on the train from Bergen to Oslo, but I've gotten no further.
My next steps are to finish up the 1st Nerissa book, get some folks to do a cover reveal and giveaways, create some ads to put on Pinterest, finish putting together prizes for contests, get some folks to do reviews, and finish the first overhaul of book 2 so that I can get it out (I hope) within the coming year and thus keep readers interested.