Unholy Ghosts
This is one of those stories that starts in the middle of the action and just speeds up.
Climbing Mount TBR
Just me reading books, reviewing books, occasionally explaining why I just threw the book across the room.
This is one of those stories that starts in the middle of the action and just speeds up.
50 Ways to Hex Your Lover
Got this because it looked entertaining. By the end of book I was hoping it was the first of a series and it is oh joy!
Ghostwalk
I really enjoyed this book. I picked it up in a used bookstore because I was intrigued by the premise of 17th century murders tied to the 21st century. The story was compelling and I enjoyed the book within a book feel to it.
SPOILER ALERT!
The Devil You Know
I was looking for a new series and I found it. Felix Castro (Fix if you're a friend) is an exorcist in a future London where the ghosts have risen in earnest. Some are your typical haunts, others come back and reanimate their own bodies or those of animals. In this world a loup garrou is an animal animated by a human ghost.Felix has been taking a sabbatical due to an exorcism that did not go as expected. But a man has to earn money. He takes what looks like a straight forward exorcism to rid a government building of a spectral woman. All he needs to do is get in contact with the ghost enough to release her to wherever ghosts go. But things are not straight forward as expected and unfortunately Felix has both a curiosity problem and a tendency to justice at all costs. His simple exorcism turns up a murder, a thief and a sex trafficking ring, not necessarily in that order.
Felix prevails, not without some damage, and ends up with a succubus as an intern at the end.
Dear Life: Stories
Read this book as part of a challenge to read things you usually wouldn't. This definitely qualifies. How to put this, I enjoy the author's writing but not her stories. The stories are very much about life, but life when it doesn't turn out quite like you had planned. If I were to choose a favorite story it would be "In Sight of the Lake", a story about a woman's descent into dementia.
Cecilia
I enjoyed this book more than I anticipated. Cecilia is a young heiress who can only receive her fortune if she marries a man who will take her name. Considering the era this is almost insurmountable unless she marries "beneath" her. The book begins with her still under age and her uncle her guardian has died. He appoints three guardians and she must live with one of the three until her majority, in less than a year. The guardians are caricatures of the family/title proud with insufficient income, miser (out Scrooges Scrooge) and young man of means who happens to be married to her childhood friend. She moves to London where you get to meet the charming dilettante, the dissipated noble, gossiping ladies, scheming family friend and money lenders (who are of course always Jews). This is the short list of characters.
Fanny Burney tends to give relatively short descriptions of characters and then let the dialogue do the rest of the work. Of course for this to be a romance you have to have small misunderstandings and missed communications that keep our heiress and her intended apart. It was at times breathless but Cecilia while being perfect and charming is not so perfect or charming that she isn't likable.
Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
This book was a fascinating read, first is finding out that attempting to find the weight of a soul was actually considered scientific. Then the various "studies" to prove or debunk the spirit world or figure out when a soul entered the fetus. (after 14 days because before then you could have identical twins and each couldn't have 1/2 a soul) I was astounded to find that reputable universities have a paranormal studies divisions. They are named somewhat differently but when you're trying to prove or disprove spirits they're paranormal. The writing style is informative and tongue in cheek.
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)
I read this as an audio book as part of the 2015 Book Riot Read Harder challenge. First I don't like audio books. I could tolerate this one because it was read by Mindy Kaling and I listened to it as if it was an extended comedy sketch. Mindy falls into the category of people I would like to have at a house party, I will just be prepared when she pulls an Irish exit.
 - Mindy Kaling)
The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women
Overall I like this book and found it thought provoking. The standard of beauty promoted in the west is invariably young, dangerously thin and pretty much unattainable by all but a very few. The images of what is judged to be beautiful are pervasive and these can be damaging. These images also tend to create adversarial roles for women and put a wall between the generations. Calling women ugly or mannish is used in pretty much any instance where women are trying to get equal treatment outside the domestic sphere. The concept of beauty or lack of it is used frequently as a weapon against women's progress. The author did a very good job of laying out those ideas. Where the author loses me is the conspiratorial tone she takes for the beauty myth. Cosmetics companies aren't just reacting to market pressures to sell by using more and more sexualized images, they're part of a plan to keep women oppressed.
SPOILER ALERT!
The Monk
I'm surprised I haven't heard of this book previously. It has all the required elements of the 18th century romance. The monk who is without compare, complete in all virtues who you know is doomed to fall from grace. Multiple star crossed lovers, ghosts and sorcery.
Dissolution
This is one where I wish Goodreads had 1/2 stars. The time period was incredibly well drawn to the point where I want to go back and re-read some of the history to see if similar events happened. The only thing that keeps it from being 4 stars is I found the main character disappointing. I wanted to love him I really did. Shardlake had many of the elements I find compelling, someone trying to do the right thing who has human flaws. But I found him so unsympathetic. I will read other books by the author. I don't know if I'll continue with this series.
Vegan Planet: 400 Irresistible Recipes with Fantastic Flavors from Home and Around the World
Bought this cookbook because my oldest is vegetarian and prefers vegan. The recipes I've tried in this cookbook have all been easy to prepare and tasty.
Of Darkness, Light, and Fire
Had this on to be read for a challenge and discovered I'd already read it. In fact its probably the first Tanya Huff that I read. In my defense it is repackaged with another book (that I also have read) so no longer part of the challenge reading but I now have a copy in my library.This was my intro to Huff I particularly like the worlds she creates and the female characters are heroic while still being very human.
Currently reading
Beneath the Tamarind Tree: A Story of Courage, Family, and the Lost Schoolgirls of Boko Haram
My Name is Red
Something Like Love
Soul Mountain
Evil Genius
Mary Anne
Dream Palace of the Arabs: A Generation's Odyssey
Last Words
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
The Portable Dorothy Parker
