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 Wine-Dark Sea

O'Brian, Patrick
Stephen gets to eat furry pets in Peru.

Read:

8/2012

The Yellow Admiral

O'Brian, Patrick
Jack gets assigned to a 74 blockading the French.

Words I Had To Look Up:

melanistic (pg. 11) -- All-black fur, skin, or feathers.

Read:

8/2012

Treaon's Harbour

O'Brian, Patrick
Jack and Stephen trek across the Sinai peninsula to capture a ship carrying French silver. Things go wrong. This book actually has a map! Whoops, I misspelled the title!

Read:

7/2012

Z For Zachariah

O'Brien, Robert C.
A teen girl survives nuclear war in a remote valley. She thinks she may be the last person until a man shows up. I read this a long time go, now I've read it again!

Read:

9/2012

July, July

O'Brien, Tim
A "31st" reunion of 1969 college graduates reveals pasts loves and conflicts, and how they have shaped peoples lives. I was reduced to tears at one point, but I'm not sure about the ending.

Words I Had To Look Up:

exigency (pg. 101) -- Requiring immediate action or remedy.
elisions (pg. 113) -- The act or an instance of omitting something.
abstemious (pg. 116) -- Characterized by abstinence or moderation.

Quote:

"Janice, he missed you," she said. "He wondered where you'd gone." (pg. 157) I was reduced to tears by this line, for personal reasons.

Read:

7/2011

The Nuclear Age

O'Brien, Tim
Former draft-dodger man digs hole in backyard. Funny in parts. Guess I didn't get it. Not as strange as the author's "Going After Cacciato", nor as fabulous as "In The Lake Of The Woods".

Read:

1/2002

Tomcat In Love

O'Brien, Tim
A professor of linguistics keeps trying to get his ex-wife back. Interesting, sometimes funny.

Read:

2/2005

Dead famous

O'Connell, Carol
Kathy Mallory is looking for "The Reaper" who is killing off a jury one-by-one.

Read:

7/2005

Shell game

O'Connell, Carol
Detective Kathleen (Don't call me Kathy!) Mallory investigates a group of old magicians who are covering up several murders, more or less.

Read:

6/2005

Gettin' old ain't for wimps

O'Conner, Karen
Mostly humorous stories showing getting old can be, well, humorous, with inspirational bible-stuff to go with each one. Nice stories.

Read:

12/2005

Sparrow Road

O'Connor, Sheila
Raine's mother moves her during the summer from St. Louis to an old mansion where artists do their art during the summer, and used to be an orphanage. Raine discovers a lot of secrets about the old mansion, and also the real reason her mother brought her to this place.

Read:

5/2011

The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt By Day

O'Dell, Scott
Historical fiction of William Tyndale's attempts to have English language Bibles smuggled into England. But what does the title mean?

Words I Had To Look Up:

learned from the beadle (pg. 7) -- A minor parish official whose duties include ushering and preserving order at services and sometimes civil functions.
pretty much of a dizzard (pg. 8) -- A nitwit or blockhead.
a drink of braggart (pg. 8) -- Possibly slang for alcoholic drink that makes one boastful?
somewhat of an airling (pg. 28) -- A young, light, thoughtless, gay person.
gixies (pg. 45) -- Maybe young women. Can't find a definition, but Tamora Pierce uses it in her Beka Cooper series.
fustylugs (pg. 45) -- A fat and slovenly person(s) especially a woman.
got them bousy (pg. 76) -- Intoxicated; drunk; boozy
the sacristan (pg. 78) -- The sexton of a parish church.
count the reeves (pg. 115) -- A local administrative agent of an Anglo-Saxon king
In Clink (pg. 132) -- Now we know where that term came from!
a hundredtuns (pg. 136) -- In olden days an English ship's capacity was measured by the number of tuns of wine it could hold. Which is explained in the text. But how does it relate to "tons"?
a pact with dizzards (pg. 155) -- Dizzards again!
sent them by wherry (pg. 186) -- A long light rowboat made sharp at both ends and used to transport passengers on rivers and about harbors
a whole pipe of these bibles (pg. 179) -- A large cask of varying capacity used especially for wine and oil. With the bibles carefully liquid-proofed, inside.
a prebend, perhaps? (pg. 211) -- A stipend drawn from the endowment or revenues of an Anglican cathedral or church by a presiding member of the clergy; a cathedral or church benefice. In this case, King Henry VIII is making a joke.

Read:

5/2013

The Finest Stories Of Sean O'Faolain

O'Faolain, Sean
These are probably perfectly good stories. After all, the guy is famous! They were interesting, but most didn't seem to have a conclusion. New York kind of stories, if ya folla me.

Words I Had To Look Up:

adumbrated (pg. 53) -- To foreshadow, suggest, disclose, or outline partially.
refulgence (pg. 53) -- Shining radiantly; resplendent.
bastable (pg. 75) -- An Irish cooking pot, comprising an iron pot with a lid, handles and three short legs, suspended by chains - Used in (for making bread) or over a turf fire.
presbytery (pg. 83) -- The house of a Roman Catholic parish priest.
sinecure (pg. 95) -- A position or office that requires little or no work but provides a salary.
assizes (-pg. 95) -- One of the periodic court sessions formerly held in each of the counties of England and Wales for the trial of civil or criminal cases.(and Ireland?
jakes (pg. 96) -- A latrine; a privy.
krall (pg. 96) -- A rural village, typically consisting of huts surrounded by a stockade.
sacristan (pg. 107 -- One who is in charge of a sacristy. A sexton.
sigillum (pg. 107) -- A seal. Not the animal kind!.
biretta (pg. 115) -- A stiff cap with ridges across the crown; worn by Roman Catholic clergy.
uremic fits (pg. 160) -- Uremia is a term used to loosely describe the illness accompanying kidney failure.
uncial (pg. 173) -- a style of orthography characterized by somewhat rounded capital letters; found especially in Greek and Latin manuscripts of the 4th to 8th centuries.
rath (pg. 199) -- A walled enclosure in Irish antiquity. A hill or mound (Ireland).
autorail (pg. 215) -- A French railroad vehicle, powered, capable of carrying passengers.
she saw a vis-à-vis crawling shiningly across the place (pg. 217) -- A small horse-drawn carriage for two people sitting facing each other, best I can figure.
Andrew Martins (pg. 225) -- Also andramartins. Irish slang for jokes and tricks, fooling around.
suspiration (pg. 225) -- A long deep breath, maybe a sigh.
scabrous (pg. 298) -- Dealing with scandalous or salacious material.
solus contra mundum (pg. 332) -- Latin, alone against the world.
a` fleur de tête (pg. 343) -- Goggle or cow's eyes.
Crawthumping (pg. 345) -- In Ireland, self-righteous public beating of the breast in a holier-than-thou type of way. An insult.
dolmen (pg. 360) -- A prehistoric megalithic tomb typically having two large upright stones and a capstone.

Quote:

"She has great titties, John," said Stevey coarsely, and she slapped his face for that... (pg. 13)

Quote:

"I believe Lady Godiva rode down Broadway wan time in her skin and everbody ran out in wild exictement to see the white horse. But if that be so what's this I hear about the bishops not wanting to see girls wearing cycling shorts?"
"Who would?" cackled Golden, and they went hard at it. (pg. 338)

Read:

4/2009

Emily, Alone

O'Nan, Stewart
I enjoyed reading this recounting of the daily life of an elderly woman. There were no spaceships or battles, (it is not science-fiction!) just an old lady, a classy lady, examining the meaning of her life as events unfold. To be published March 2011, read the advance uncorrected proof.

Read:

1/2011

Snow Angels

O'Nan, Stewart
Small town lives intertwine, and relationships go bad. Very moving, but the end was unsatisfying, to me. Sounds like the movie is a lot different from the book, but still good. I find I have already read another book by this author, so had to delete original post and add it again under the original author entry. If that makes sense!

Read:

5/2013

Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut

O'Rourke, P.J.
A collection of O'Rourke's writings, from the 70s to the 90s. Lot's of very funny stuff I would like to remember. Especially liked the lacquer amphibians in Mexico story.

Read:

7/2008

Freaky green eyes

Oates, Joyce Carol
Murder mystery story about Franky, a teen girl whose parents are not getting along. Her dad is abusive, but she does not let her self realize this until it is too late. A a bit of coarse language and such. A YA book.

Read:

11/2009

The Imposition Of Unnecessary Obstacles

Older, Malka Ann
The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti #2. A number of people are missing from the university and Mossa is assigned to check it out.

Quote:

The father of Strevan lived in a type of construction known as a hobbit house...and the door, I was disgusted to see, wasn't even round.

Read:

9/2024

The Mimicking of Known Successes

Older, Malka Ann
Mossa & Pleiti, #1. Hugo award nominee for best novella 2024. From the goodreads description, a "cozy Holmesian murder mystery and sapphic romance". Oh, I thought the romantic interest was a guy. Ha ha on me! I don't know about the "Holmesian" part, though. I enjoyed it, will read more.

Read:

8/2024

Delirium

Oliver, Lauren
Love is illegal in future America, and Lena finds she has caught the disease. Recommended for middle school by a parent, I find too many f-bombs, and unnecessary ones at that. Otherwise I would add it to the collection, as it has some good messages.

Read:

5/2013
20 books displayed
[Abadzis - Aiken] [Aiken - Allinghamc] [Alvarez - Angelou] [Anthony - Atkins] [Atkinson - Backman] [Baen Publishing Enterprises - Balliett] [Balliett - Barnard] [Barnard - Barr] [Barr - Barrows] [Barry - Bear] [Bear - Beaton] [Beaton - Beaton] [Beaton - Bester] [Bingle - Block] [Block - Block] [Block - Bosch] [Bosch - Brashares] [Breathed - Bryson] [Bryson - Bujold] [Bujold - Bujold] [Bujold - Card] [Card - Card] [Card - Caunitz] [Caunitz - Cheaney] [Chesterton - Clancy] [Clare - Coben] [Coben - Colfer] [Colfer - Collins] [Collins - Connelly] [Connelly - Conroy] [Constantine - Cooper] [Corbett - Cornwell] [Cornwell - Crais] [Crais - Crichton] [Crichton - Crusie] [Curry - Cussler] [Cussler - Davis] [Davis - Dilloway] [Dionne - Dorsey] [Dorsey - Dowell] [Dowell - Duncan] [Duncan - Elkins] [Elkins - Evanovich] [Evanovich - Fairstein] [Fairstein - Ferris] [Fforde - Flanagan] [Flanagan - Ford] [Forester - Francis] [Francis - Francis] [Francis - Francis] [Francis - Frey] [Frey - Gantos] [Gantos - Gibson] [Gibson - Gores] [Gores - Granger] [Granger - Greenberg] [Greenfield - Grimes] [Grimes - Grisham] [Grisham - Haddix] [Haddix - Hall] [Hall - Hallinan] [Halpern - Haugaard] [Hautman - Heinlein] [Heinlein - Heller] [Heller - Herbert] [Herman - Hess] [Hess - Hiaasen] [Hiaasen - Hobb] [Hobb - Hoose] [Hopkinson - Hudson] [Huff - Jacobs] [James - Jones] [Jones - Kaminsky] [Kaminsky - Kellog] [Kellog - King] [King - Kline] [Klise - Kowal] [Kowal - Lamott] [Lampman - Lawrence] [Lawrence - Lee] [Lee - Lescroart] [Lescroart - Liebster] [Lindsay - London] [Long - Lubar] [Luna - MacLachlan] [Maclean - Mandel] [Mankell - Martin] [Martin - Mass] [Mass - McBain] [McCaffrey - McCrumb] [McCrumb - Medwed] [Meier - Millard] [Miller - Moon] [Moon - Morrison] [Mortimer - Mysterious Press] [Nance - Nimmo] [Niven - Novik] [Novik - O'Brian] [O'Brian - Oliver] [Oppel - Paretsky] [Paretsky - Parker] [Parker - Parker] [Parker - Paterson] [Paterson - Paulsen] [Paulsen - Peck] [Peck - Phelan] [Philbrick - Posey] [Powell - Poyer] [Poyer - Pratchett] [Pratchett - Prineas] [Pronzini - Pullman] [Pullman - Quinn] [Quinn - Reeve] [Reeve - Ringo] [Ringo - Robinson] [Robinson - Rowling] [Rowling - Russo] [Rust - Scalzi] [Scalzi - Schmidt] [Schmidt - Scottoline] [Scottoline - Seranella] [Setterfield - Shusterman] [Shusterman - Smith] [Smith - Soto] [Sparks - Stark] [Stark - Stephenson] [Stephenson - Stroke] [Stroke - Strunk] [Sturgeon - Taylor] [Taylor - Townsend] [Tracy - Updale] [Urban - Van Name] [van Vogt - Walsh] [Walsh - Weber] [Weber - Wells] [Wells - Westlake] [Westlake - Westlake] [Westlake - Willis] [Willis - Wodehouse] [Wodehouse - Yep] [Yep - Zusak] 

:
: