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The Revolution Business

Stross, Charles
Book Five in the Merchant Princes series. Those backpack nuclear weapons were clearly a bad idea. And who knew the v.p. was such a bad guy?

Words I Had To Look Up:

perotation (pg. 196) -- 1 : the concluding part of a discourse and especially an oration. 2 : a highly rhetorical speech.
solecism (pg. 196) -- A violation of etiquette.
inchoate (pg. 198) -- 1. In an initial or early stage; incipient. 2. Imperfectly formed or developed.
toiles (pg. 274) -- A mock-up model of a garment.

Read:

6/2010

The Trade Of Queens

Stross, Charles
The sixth and final book of the Merchant Princes series. Things are finally wound up in the last thirty pages, with a boom. And I was wondering how he was gonna end it up. Awesome description of nuclear carpet bombing.

Read:

6/2010

Ptolemy's Gate

Stroud, Jonathan
Book three in the Bartimaeus Trilogy. A tremendous battle is the climax, with a stunning ending. I haven't wept yet, I'm a bit in shock, still.

Words I Had To Look Up:

buxom caryatids (page 23) -- A sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column.
estuary Egyptian slang (page 60) -- A semi-enclosed body of water flowing into the sea. On reflection, it is obviously referring to the slang used by the peoples of the Nile estuary, since this scene takes places in Alexandria.
anthropophagi (pg. 258) -- Cannibals.

Read:

11/2014

The Amulet of Samarkand

Stroud, Jonathan
Bartimaeus #1 series. A boy with magical abilities is sold to the British government by his parents. In this the first book we learn about the early years of his apprenticeship, but mostly the circumstances of Big Insult and the Subsequent Revenge.

Read:

11/2014

The Golem's Eye

Stroud, Jonathan
A golem is roaming London destroying buildings, and the resistance is blamed. Book two of the Bartimaeus trilogy.

Read:

11/2014

The Ring Of Solomon

Stroud, Jonathan
In this prequel to the Bartemaeus trilogy Asmira, a Hereditary Guard of the Queen of Sheba, travels to Jerusalem on a secret assignment.

Words I Had To Look Up:

tumuli (pg.9) -- A mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves.
gout (pg. 27) -- A mass or splash, as of blood; spurt. Or in this case, lightning. I think.

Read:

12/2014

The Screaming Staircase

Stroud, Jonathan
The first book in what looks like it is going to be the Lockwood & Company series, I bet. I enjoyed reading this adventure of young investigators in the business of riding London of paranormal beings. I hope the author fleshes out the characters more.

Read:

4/2014

The Whispering Skull

Stroud, Jonathan
And whisper it does, in this the second book in the Lockwood & Co. series. Look into the mirror, you know you want to!

Read:

10/2015

Olive Kitteridge

Strout, Elizabeth
I really enjoyed reading this book about Olive and the people in her town in Maine. Lots to think about.

Quote:

Who, who does not have their basket of trips? It isn't right. Molly Collins said that today, standing out the by the church. It isn't right. Well. It isn't. -- Pg. 180

Read:

11/2015

The Elements Of Style

Strunk, William
Not that it will do my writing much good, but I did read the book, and rather interesting it was, to say the least, as it were.

Read:

3/2009

More Than Human

Sturgeon, Theodore
It is kind of hard to describe. Five (or maybe six) diverse people (except two are twins) form a sort of super-human. Better than it might sound. It's pretty much a classic.

Read:

9/2015

Midnight At The Bright Ideas Bookstore

Sullivan, Matthew
Very nicely written. Lydia works at a bookstore where one of the patrons hangs himself.

Quote:

And just a few weeks ago in catechism class, one of the kinder nuns had lauded Carol for how original she was in her sinfulness.

Quote:

"That was weird."
"Really weird. I'm never watching television again."

Read:

6/2024

I So Don't Do Mysteries

Summy, Barrie
Sherry gets sent off to San Diego while her father goes on his honeymoon, which works out well because her ghost mother needs her help to solve the mystery of who wants to kill a rhino at the Wild Animal Park. Certainly written for middle school girls, I wanted to quit at page fourteen, but I FORCED myself to finish it. Big raves on Amazon, though. I think the author must live in the San Diego area as there is a lot of local details in the book, and a lot of local details on her website.

Read:

10/2010

Chasing Lincoln's Killer

Swanson, James L.
Biographical account of Booth shooting Lincoln and his escape, and capture. Learned a few things. Lots of pictures. The image Of Powell is riveting.

Read:

12/2009

Life Liberty And The Pursuit Of Murder

Swee, Karen
A murder mystery taking place during the Revolutionary War. Language a bit stilted, lovely flirting, decent mystery. Would read another! EDIT: I found out, sadly, that the author died in 2009.

Read:

12/2012

Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking

Sweeney, Aoibheann
A girl who grew up motherless on an island in Maine is sent to New York by her father to do data entry in the library he created.

Not the kind of story I would usually read, there not being any spaceships involved, but I liked it enough to finish.

The author is also mildly well known for having a baby in a taxi in Times Square. That is, giving birth in a taxi. In Times Square. New York City.

Read:

7/2013

On Secret Service

Taft, William Nelson
"Mystery Stories Based on Real Cases Solved By Government Agents". Good stories, a small amount of "negro" dialog that I found...embarrassing. Except for that tiny bit I enjoyed reading this old-timey book a lot. I read the Project Gutenberg e-book version.

Quote:

"A slip of oiled paper," he muttered. "By the Lord Harry! here it is!" and he produced a pencil which his trained fingers told him was lighter than it should be.-- A hollow pencil!!

Read:

8/2022

A Void In Hearts

Tapply, William G.
Lawyer Brady Coyne investigates the murder of his sometime private investigator.

Read:

1/2000

Client Priviledge

Tapply, William G.
Attorney Brady Coyne finds out who killed the judges black- mailer. Second time I read it!

Read:

1/2000

Close To The Bone

Tapply, William G.
Lawyer Brady Coyne figures out what happened to his fishing buddy Paul Cizek. Has a bicycling drunk in the story, and everybody gets pretty much what they deserve! Pretty good!

QUOTE:

"You got lipstick all over you. It's not mine." "It was this guy's wife. She attacked me." ... "I don't blame her."

Read:

2/1999
20 books displayed
[Abadzis - Aiken] [Aiken - Allinghamc] [Alvarez - Angelou] [Anthony - Atkins] [Atkinson - Backman] [Backman - Balliett] [Balliett - Barnard] [Barnard - Barnes] [Barnhill - Barr] [Barr - Beanton] [Bear - Beaton] [Beaton - Beaton] [Beaton - Berendt] [Berger - Block] [Block - Block] [Block - Bonham] [Bonner - Boyle] [Brackenbury - Bruchac] [Brucker - Bujold] [Bujold - Bujold] [Bujold - Cannell] [Cannell - Card] [Card - Caunitz] [Caunitz - Charles] [Chavarria - Clancy] [Clancy - Coben] [Coben - Coleman] [Colfer - Collins] [Collins - Connelly] [Connelly - Connelly] [Connelly - Cook] [Cooper - Cornish] [Cornwell - Crais] [Crais - Crew] [Crew - Crusie] [Crusie - Cussler] [Cussler - Davidson] [Davidson - Dickinson] [Dickson - Dorsey] [Dorsey - Dorsey] [Dorsey - Duane] [Duane - Elkins] [Elkins - Evanovich] [Evanovich - Fairstein] [Fairstein - Ferber] [Ferris - Flanagan] [Flanagan - Flint] [Flint - Fournier] [Fournier - Francis] [Francis - Francis] [Francis - Freedman] [Freedman - Gaiman] [Gaiman - Geist] [Geist - Goldman] [Goldstone - Gramazio] [Granger - Graves] [Gray - Griffin] [Grimes - Grimes] [Grisham - Haddix] [Haddix - Hall] [Hall - Hallinan] [Hallinan - Harrison] [Hart - Heinlein] [Heinlein - Heley] [Heley - Henry] [Henry - Hess] [Hess - Hiaasen] [Hiaasen - Hines] [Hirahara - Holman] [Holmes - Howe] [Howe - Iversen] [Ives - Johansen] [Johansen - Kaminsky] [Kaminsky - Karr] [Karst - Kienzle] [Kienzle - Kingsolver] [Kinney - Korman] [Korman - L'Amour] [L'Engle - latham] [Laughlin - Leckie] [Leckie - Leonard] [Leonard - Lewis] [Lewis - Little] [Lobel - Lowry] [Lowry - Lynn] [M.W. - Maguire] [Maguire - Marsh] [Marshall - Mass] [Mass - McBain] [McBain - McCrumb] [McCrumb - Mcmanus] [Mcmanus - MiĆ©ville] [Mikaelsen - Moon] [Moon - Morden] [Moriarty - Muller] [Mulligan - Nimmo] [Nimmo - Norton] [Norton - O'Brian] [O'Brian - O'Nan] [O'Nan - Palmer] [Palmer - Paretsky] [Pargin - Parker] [Parker - Parker] [Parker - Patterson] [Patterson - Pears] [Pears - Perry] [Perry - Platt] [Pohl - Poyer] [Poyer - Pratchett] [Pratchett - Pratchett] [Pratchett - Pronzini] [Pronzini - Queenan] [Quinn - Raskin] [Rawlings - Reynolds] [Reynolds - Roanhorse] [Roberts - Rose] [Rose - Russell] [Russell - Sacks] [Sagan - Scalzi] [Scalzi - Scithers] [Scott - Scottoline] [Scottoline - Sheinkin] [Shelton - Silverberg] [Simak - Smith] [Smith - Spinelli] [Spinelli - Steinbeck] [Steinberg - Stracher] [Strahan - Stross] [Stross - Tapply] [Tapply - Thurber] [Thuy - Turtledove] [Turtledove - Van Draanen] [Van Draanen - Varley] [Veglahn - Watson] [Watson - Weir] [Weir - Werlin] [West - Westlake] [Westlake - Wiles] [Wiles - Wister] [Wodehouse - Woodruff] [Woods - Zevin] [Zevin - Zusak] 

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