Books I've Read

Welcome, Visitor
Display statistics
Books by Author
Log In

Books Listed by Author

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z All

The Sioux Spaceman

Norton, Andre
Kade Whitehawk is assigned as a Trader to a planet run by a bunch of oppressive aliens. He introduces horses so the slave race can free themselves from said aliens. SDHS discard.

Read:

3/2003

The Time Traders

Norton, Andre
Ross Murdock is offered choice: Go to prison, or participate in a government program. Roos chooses the government program, which turns out to be a SECRET government program, and involves POed Russians, POed alien, and time travel. Good story, I read it when I was a kid, this time it was the Project Gutenberg e-book edition.

Read:

7/2022

Voodoo Planet

Norton, Andre
Writing as Andrew North, Ms. Norton give us another exciting story in the Solar Queen series. This is #3. Dane Thorson gets involved in a conflict between apparent magic and poachers.

Read:

7/2022

Star Surgeon

Nourse, Alan
Reading this in my youth, now read the Project Gutenberg e-book edition. Pill pushers in space, to quote the text. Good story, very enjoyable.

Read:

7/2022

A Deadly Education

Novik, Naomi
Lesson one of The Scholomance. So Galadriel is a student at this place called, you guessed it, The Scholomance. It is a school for magicians. With no apparent staff. And no one can leave, mostly, until they graduate. Which isn't a given as there are tons of "mals" trying to kill them. I like the character, I'll be looking forward to the next book.

Read:

1/2021

Spinning Silver

Novik, Naomi
A Hugo nominee for 2019. Pretty good story, a version of Rumpelstiltskin. I got lost more than twice, 'cause sometimes I couldn't figure out which character was speaking for a few pages!

Read:

6/2019

Uprooted

Novik, Naomi
Hard to describe. A girl is unexpectedly selected to serve the magician "ruler" of their valley. But it's more complicated than that, and there are many twists and turns along the way. Great book, but didn't care for the smoochie parts. At least there were only a couple of those.

Read:

6/2016

Tijuana Straits

Nunn, Kem
Surf Noir crime novel. Gritty.

Read:

12/2004

21

O'Brian, Patrick
The last book of Patrick O'Brian. Only a few pages were written. I wish the publisher had typescript the last few hand-written pages, I was unable to read them!

Read:

8/2012

Blue At The Mizzen

O'Brian, Patrick
Well, here we are at the last book published during the author's lifetime. Things are looking up!

Words I Had To Look Up:

fritillaries (pg. 52) -- Well, it's a kind of plant. That's what I get from wikipedia.
Lammas (pg. 52) -- August 1st is Lammas Day, a festival of the wheat harvest.
distraints (pg. 53) -- The legal right of a landlord to obtain a court order and seize tenants'possessions to pay for back rent.
euphroes (pg. 234) -- A suspended batten or plate of wood or brass pierced with holes through which the cords of a crowfoot are rove to suspend an awning.

Read:

8/2012

Desolation Island

O'Brian, Patrick
Jack and Stephen get ponged by an Antarctic iceberg.

Words I Had To Look Up:

Clarissa Harlowe (pg. 164) -- The heroine of one of Richardson's novels, exhibiting a female character which, as described by him, is pronounced to be "one of the brightest triumphs in the whole range of imaginative literature," is described by Stopford Brooke "as the pure and ideal star of womanhood." Interesttingly, the famous nurse Clara Barton's real name is Clarissa Harlowe Barton.
vitiated air (pg. 267) -- To reduce the value or impair the quality of.

Quote:

"What's the buzz, Bob?" -- (pg. 157)

Quote:

...and she had read right through Clarissa Harlowe without hanging herself (although that was sometimes only for want of a convenient hook)... -- (pg. 164)

Read:

8/2012

H.M.S. Surprise

O'Brian, Patrick
Aubrey heads off to India.

Words I Had To Look Up:::

the ladies of the town had sequi me (pg. 107) -- "Follow me"

madder (pg. 149) -- A red dye made from Rubia tinctorum.

spirketing (pg. 204) -- The planking from the waterways up to the port sills.

ultima Thule (pg. 269) -- A distant unknown region; the extreme limit of travel and discovery.

Heautontimoroumenos (pg. 283) -- The title of a Latin play by Terence, an adaptation of an earlier Greek work.

Batavia (pg. 327) -- The name of Jakarta, Indonesia (formerly Dutch East Indies) during the colonial period.

...ast illi solvuntur frigore membra... (pg. 384) -- But the other's limbs are benumbed by cold, and injured life with a groan flees beneath the shadows.

Read:

6/2012

Master And Commander

O'Brian, Patrick
Jack Aubrey receives his first command, the sloop/brig Sophie, and sails around the Med during the 1800s. Reading the paperback edition with tiny little letters was a chore!

Words I Had To Look Up:

creta alba (pg. 229) -- Chalk or calcium carbonate. There's a web site for this stuff at Master and Commander medical terms

barca-Longa (pg. 253) -- A two or three-masted lugger found on the coasts of Spain and Portugal as well as more widely in the Mediterranean Sea. And here I thought it was some kind of reclining chair!

membrum virile (pg. 345) -- Uh, penis.

squills (pg. 348) -- Sea squill is a bulb which sends up a tall stalk topped by an inflorescence of small white flowers, followed by a rosette of large dull green leaves, that last until the following summer. The bulb can get quite large, reaching over five pounds in weight.

Read:

1/2012

Post Captain

O'Brian, Patrick
Jack gets promoted.

Words I Had To Look Up:

to lie in such a dismal plash (pg. 176) -- A heavy rain.
No Gretna Green (pg. 199) -- A village in Scottland where many eloping couples are married.
coxcombery (pg. 300) -- Behavior that is characteristic of a coxcomb : foppery.
fanfaronade (pg. 300) -- Empty boasting.
sharks are mostly gammon (pg. 300) -- Misleading or nonsensical talk; humbug.
an unrivalled cholagogue (pg. 332) -- A cholagogue is a medicinal agent which promotes the discharge of bile from the system, purging it downward..

Quote:

...a thunderous, long, long fart.
"I beg your pardon," said the midshipman in the silence.
"Oh, that's all right," said Diana coldly. "I thought it was the horse." -- pg. 46

Read:

1/2012

The Commodore

O'Brian, Patrick
Jack and Stephen head off to Africa to harry some slavers, then up to Ireland to thwart the French. Tears of joy at the end.

Read:

8/2012

The Far Side Of The World

O'Brian, Patrick
Jack and Steven go off to the Pacific chasing an American warship.

Words I Had To Look Up:

Quo me rapis (pg. 52) -- Interpetations abound. From Horace, "where are you carrying me off to?"

deodands (pg. 52) -- An object or instrument which becomes forfeit because it has caused a person's death.

empiric (pg. 54) -- One who is guided by practical experience rather than precepts or theory, or, an unqualified or dishonest practitioner; a charlatan. Well, that clears it up!

Cadmus (pg. 66) -- When he sowed the dragon's teeth armed men sprang up.

portable soup (pg. 66) -- A precursor to boullion.

she was in kindle (pg. 222) -- To give birth to young.

Marquesas (pg. 235) -- Islands in French Polynesia.

volto sciolto pensieri stretti (pg. 249) -- Open face, concealed thoughts.

il faut souffrir pour être beau (pg. 298) -- One must suffer in order to be beautiful.

Old Sodbury's Island (pg. 330) -- Fictional island.

Juan Fernández (pg. 351) -- Island chain off the coast of Chile.

Read:

7/2012

The Fortune Of War

O'Brian, Patrick
Jack and Stephen are captured by the Americans and held in Boston.

Words I Had To Look Up:

titivated (pg. 42) -- To make decorative additions to; spruce up.
drabogues (pg.224) -- Slut, whores, trollops.
hussif (pg. 234) -- Case for needles, thread etc.
vinolent (pg. 252) -- Given to wine; drunken; intemperate.
kevel (pg. 272) -- A strong bitt, cleat, or bollard for securing heavy hawsers.

Read:

8/2012

The Hundred Days

O'Brian, Patrick
Jack and Stephen thwart the Frenchie's plans in the Med. Why oh why did the author feel it necessary to kill off my favorite character, even though my least-favorite character died too?

Read:

8/2012

The Ionian Mission

O'Brian, Patrick
Jack and Stephen end up back on the Surprise in Greece.

Words I Had To Look Up:

barge-pole (pg. 18) -- A long pole used to propel or guide a barge. Also called a quant pole.

Jew-man from Mogador (pg. 85) -- Portuguese name for city of Essaouira in Morroco. What's this got to do with birds? I don't know.

puddings (pg. 76) -- Puddening: A quantity of rope-yarn, or the like, placed, as a fender, on the bow of a boat, or, a bunch of soft material to prevent chafing between spars, or the like. Also called pudding.

pinnace (pg. 87) -- Small boat, could be rowed or sailed.

Bonhomme Richard (pg. 280) -- Can't be John Paul Jones' ship, that was sunk in 1779. Maybe a fictional "what if it wasn't sunk" scenario.

struck down by a levinflash (pg. 302) -- Lightning flash. "Levin" is an archaic term for lightning, from Middle English.

weather-helm (pg. 306) -- The tendency of a sailing vessel to turn up into the wind. In general having a slight weather helm is considered a good characteristic since it gives the boat tight steering and stops the vessel when the helm is left untended.

hartshorn (pg. 329) -- An aqueous ammonia solution used as smelling salts, formerly prepared from the horns of deer.

fearnought screens (pg. 355) -- A covering for the hatches of thick felt. moistened with water.

Shiver the foretopsail (pg. 357) -- To cause (a sail) to flutter by sailing too close to the wind.

Quote:

For me tobacco is the crown of the meal, the best opening to a day, a great enhancer of the quality of life. (pg. 212)

Read:

7/2012

The Letter Of Marque

O'Brian, Patrick
Aubrey goes off a'privateering in the Surprise.

Words I Had To Look Up:

Papin's digester (pg. 610) -- A high-pressure cooker, precursor to the domestic pressure cooker.

beck (pg. 109) -- A gesture requesting attention, such as a nod or wave.

Quote:

"...otherwise it [laudanum] is no more injurious than smoking tobacco." (pg. 56)

Read:

7/2012
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 - Miéville] [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] 

:
: