Books I've Read
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Rule 34
I was afraid I had already read this, but it turned out I read a previous book. Edinburgh Detective Inspector Liz Kavanaugh runs a unit that specializes in finding criminals using the internet. I'm not quite sure how the book ended. I was not always able to decipher the author's mixture of computer jargon and Scottish accent.
Read:
3/2012
The Atrocity Archives
Bob Howard, UK investigator of the occult, goes to a lot of meetings in between saving the world incidents. Really hate the typeface used on chapter and sectional headings!
Read:
7/2020
The Clan Corporate
Book three in the The Merchant Princes series. Miriam gets in serious trouble, gets engaged for a few minutes, and is either a prisoner or on the run most of the book. Mike the DEA agent and former date of Miriam shows.
Read:
6/2009Read:
6/2010
The Family Trade
A sort of parallel world corporate science fiction import-export story. Pretty good stuff.
Words I Had To Look Up:
Aeron chairs (pg. 13) -- Never heard of them until my son mentioned the other day, and here they are in this book!
Demesne (pg. 95) -- manorial land actually possessed by the lord and not held by tenants.
Plaited (pg. 153) -- A braid, especially of hair. Or in this case, complicated family relationships.
Orangery (pg. 203) -- A sheltered place, especially a greenhouse, used for the cultivation of orange trees in cool climates. Quotes:
...discreetly holstered M-16s... (pg. 177) -- Big holster! But these were on horses, so maybe they are in scabbards.
...patented dumb-schoolgirl simper... (pg. 177) -- I just like that image.
...the locket from the chair around her neck...(pg. 202) -- I've heard of millstones around the neck, but a CHAIR?
...that a prince's wife wll not die of childbed fever... (pg. 127) -- semi-dup.
...some countess doesn't succumb to childbed fever... (pg. 247) -- semi-dup.Read:
5/2008
The Hidden Family
Miriam finds out stuff about her mother. Miriam starts up her business. Lots of people die, bloodily. More confusing Wu/Lee stuff.
Words I Had To Look Up:
hunting hide (pg.102 ) -- A camoflaged tent, used in hunting game.
electric shower (pg. 89) -- A mini water heater, located in the shower!
Ames rooms (pg. 123) -- A distorted room that is used to create an optical illusion.
nevergreen tree (pg. 178) -- "Deadly Nevergreen, that bears fruit all the year round". The gallows.
coves and queans (pg. 199) -- Men and desruptable women, i.e., prostitutes..
Quote:
... a Dahon mountain bike, built out of chromed aluminium tubes. (pg. 32) -- I see a red aluminium Dahon, and a Reynolds 631 steel Dahon, but I doon't see no chromed aluminium Dahon.
Quote:
Patricia Thorold-Hjorth and Alfredo Wu (pg. 248) -- So Miriam is a Wu? Where is this plotline going?
Read:
7/2009
The Merchants' War
Book four of the The Merchant Princes. Things just get more and more complicated. I'm losing track of the Wus and the Lees.
Quote:
It was like standing in that baseball court at the University Of Chicago i942, when they finished adding graphite blocks to the heap in the middle of the court... (pg. 115) Baseball? I thought it was a squash court.
Read:
6/2009Read:
6/2010
The Revolution Business
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
20 books displayed
[Saberhage - Scalzi] [Scalzi - Schonborg] [Schumacher - Scottoline] [Scottoline - Shames] [Shames - Sijie] [Silver - Smith] [Smith - Spencer] [Spiegelman - Stark] [Stark - Stephenson] [Stern - Stross] [Stross - Swanson] [Swee - Sweeney]