Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[dreams]

Trying to be be good and catch up. So, I've been on an Egypt thing lately.
Bug Eyes and the Sacred Scrolls by Mark Forte - a YA cute/interesting mystery quest. Probably not high on a reread list, but I enjoyed it.

Spoiler:

Sir Frederick wants to mind his own business. His sister Gertie wants to mind everyone else’s, plunging them both into a bubbling stew of archaeologists, imposters and hoodlums, each plotting to take control of the Animal Kingdom. A frog could get hurt.

According to legend, all creatures once lived in harmony until some 7500 years ago when the human Pharaoh destroyed the ruling Council of Animal Elders. Legions of civilized Animals retreated into a world apart from humans, hoping someday to regain power - a hope all but buried by the sands of time.

In Egypt of 1939, the discovery of a papyrus kicks up that sand, creating an uproar that Sir Frederick would prefer to ignore. Gertie, however, an aspiring newspaper reporter, is not about to let this story get away.

All too familiar with her talent for trouble, Sir Frederick follows her propelling them both into an adventure whose final solution reveals an ancient treachery that has affected the lives of all living things forever after.

Imagine The Wind in the Willows co-authored by P. G. Wodehouse and Terry Pratchett, and you will have Bug Eyes and the Sacred Scrolls.

The God's Wife by Lynn Voedisch - I thought I figured out where the ending was going, but as it was happening, I began to rethink, then start to wonder if it could possibly be what I was beginning to think it looked like. I was surprised by the ending.

Spoiler:

The women of ancient Egypt were the freest of any civilization on earth, until the modern era. In several dynasties of ancient Egypt the God’s Wives of Amun stood tall, priestesses of wealth and power, who represented the pinnacle of female power in the Egyptian state. Many called The God’s Wife of Amun second only to the Pharaoh in dominance.

THE GOD’S WIFE follows the adventures of a 16-year-old girl, Neferet, who is thrust into the role of The Gods Wife of Amun without proper training. Surrounded by political intrigue and ensnared by sexual stalking, Neferet navigates the temple, doing her duties, while keeping her family name pristine and not ending up like her predecessor—dead.

Meanwhile, a modern-day Chicago dancer, Rebecca, is rehearsing for a role in an ancient Egyptian production and finds herself blacking out and experiencing realistic dreams about life in Egypt. It’s as if she’s coming in contact with Neferet’s world. Are the two parallel worlds on a collision course? They seem to be, for Neferet has just used an old spell to bring protection to her world, and Rebecca meets a mysterious Egyptian man who says he’ll whisk her away to Alexandria.

Magic and realism mix for a powerful ending in THE GOD’S WIFE.

Servant of the Gods by Valerie Douglas - I really enjoyed this story of ancient Egypt, the gods, and Irisi. The blurb doesn't do the story justice. Great entertainment.

Spoiler:

Orphaned as a child, Irisi became a mercenary to survive. Captured by the Egyptian army and made the spoils of war, she finds herself drawn to their commander. Though the attraction is mutual even he can't save her from enslavement and she's forced to fight in the ring for entertainment. In a desperate attempt to regain her freedom she throws herself on the mercy of the Gods, only to discover that her fate is written in prophecy...

Heart of the Gods by Valerie Douglas - The sequel and not as good as the first. The beginning takes too much time retelling the base story to catch up and the overall feel of the story is not the same. I think a good editor could have removed large chunks of the book and it would have been a much better story. I did like that I had questions about the characters from book one answered.

Spoiler:

Tales of the fabled Tomb of the Djinn and its Guardian have fascinated archaeologist Ky Farrar since a visit to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo when he was a boy. The story of the star-crossed lovers and their battle to save ancient Egypt from the Djinn made him choose his career. He believes he’s finally found it - only to discover the Tomb's Guardian is all too real. And she's as lovely as she is lethal.
Ky, however, isn't the only one searching. It's a race to reach the Tomb before the others accidentally unleash what lies within it in their effort to claim the ancient artifacts which lie within - the legendary Horn of the Djinn and the Heart of the Gods.

Napoleon's Pyramids by William Dietrich - another mystery adventure quest story and the second one of these that I am really enjoying. The story of Napoleon's campaign in Egypt along with the quest for what the medallion represents makes the story more believable. I'm 78% of the way through and hope the ending is just as good.

Spoiler:

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. At the start of Dietrich's superb historical thriller, his swashbuckling hero, American Ethan Gage, who's living in Paris during the waning days of the French Revolution and was once apprenticed to Benjamin Franklin, wins a curious Egyptian medallion in a card game. Soon after, he's set upon by thieves, chased by the police, attacked by bandits, befriended by Gypsies, saved by a British spy and then packed off to join Napoleon's army as it embarks on its ill-fated Egyptian campaign. There the story really heats up. Once in Egypt, Gage finds himself beset by evildoers bent on stealing the mysterious medallion. As in previous novels like Hadrian's Wall and Scourge of God, Dietrich combines a likable hero surrounded by a cast of fascinating historical characters. Riveting battle scenes, scantily clad women, mathematical puzzles, mysteries of the pharaohs, reckless heroism, hairsbreadth escapes and undaunted courage add up to unbeatable adventure rivaling the exploits of George Macdonald Fraser's Harry Flashman. Readers will cheer as the indomitable Gage floats off in a runaway hot-air balloon, hard on the trail of his next exotic undertaking. Author tour. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

I, also, was into the other side of the story of Mary Lincoln.
Mary Lincoln's Insanity: The Discovery of Her Lost Letters by Jason Emerson - mostly information, but not enough to really explain much of anything other than learning about aspects surrounding her commitment and later travels.

Spoiler:

Her son had her committed. He said it was for her health and protection. She said it was so he could get his hands on her money. Now, nearly 140 years after this bitter and controversial drama and with the discovery of her lost letters, Lincoln historian Jason Emerson sheds new light on the madness of Mary Todd Lincoln.

The Addiction of Mary Todd Lincoln by Anne Beidler - This felt and read more like a study with lots of information and commentary about her life. Mostly looking to show she was probably an addict and showing that era's culture of acceptance of taking all the new wonder drugs that were highly addictive and extremely available. The later part of the book read more like a study of addiction, her life, and her behavior that would match that of an addict. It was interesting to read of what she did and where she went in the years after Lincoln's death. I must admit that it does seem possible she was addicted.

Spoiler:

Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of the president we have immortalized, has *always been difficult for us to understand. She could appear poised and *brilliant one moment, yet rude and ugly the next. Sometimes competent and strong, able to entertain dignitaries from around the world, at other times she *appeared dependent and weak. At times she seemed utterly beside *herself with sobbing and screaming.
Historians have mostly avoided saying very much about Mary Todd *Lincoln except in reference to her husband, Abraham. To many it would seem that Mary Todd Lincoln is still an embarrassment in the tragic story of her martyred husband. But Mary Todd Lincoln lived her own tragic story even before Abraham was murdered. She was an addict, addicted to the opiates she needed for her migraine headaches.

Seeing Mary Todd Lincoln as an addict helps us understand her and give her the compassion and admiration she deserves. In her time there had been no courageous First Lady like Betty Ford to help people *understand the power of addiction. There was no treatment center. In Mary Todd Lincoln’s time there were many addicts at all levels of society, as there are now, but it was a more socially acceptable condition for men to have than for women. More importantly, addiction was not very well understood, and it was often mistreated.

Because Mary Todd Lincoln’s only surviving son, Robert Lincoln, made a great effort to protect his mother and his family from journalists and *historians, he intentionally destroyed most of Mary Todd Lincoln’s medical records and many of her letters. What he could not destroy, however, is the record of Mary Todd Lincoln’s pain and the record of how she behaved while living with this pain.

In The Addiction of Mary Todd Lincoln, we can see clearly, for the first time, what Mary Todd Lincoln had to live with and the courage it took for her to carry on.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next: Falcons of Narabedla by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

An interesting early work. But weak plotting, and one very inconsistent character.

Next: F&SF, August 2005. Another from my 'backlog'. My subscription lapsed for a year and a half, but I bought the missing issues in a big fictionwise sale last year.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Hmmm...guess I've not yet reached that one! I hope when I do it won't make me lose my enthusiasm.

Well, I stuck it out and was glad. The ones after picked back up and this last one was excellent. I really look forward to each new one. In much the same way I always look forward to a new Dana Stabenow book. In both author's series, there's really only been one weak book, and all the rest well worth the read. In Ms. King's case, I read through it, in Ms. Stabenow's case I deliberately skipped the book because it was just too violent. (Apparently the feedback to her on that book, Hunter's Moon, was such that she got the message, because the books after have toned the violence down to a more reasonable level. )

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by dreams

Trying to be be good and catch up. So, I've been on an Egypt thing lately.

...The God's Wife by Lynn Voedisch - I thought I figured out where the ending was going, but as it was happening, I began to rethink, then start to wonder if it could possibly be what I was beginning to think it looked like. I was surprised by the ending.

Spoiler:

The women of ancient Egypt were the freest of any civilization on earth, until the modern era. In several dynasties of ancient Egypt the God’s Wives of Amun stood tall, priestesses of wealth and power, who represented the pinnacle of female power in the Egyptian state. Many called The God’s Wife of Amun second only to the Pharaoh in dominance.

THE GOD’S WIFE follows the adventures of a 16-year-old girl, Neferet, who is thrust into the role of The Gods Wife of Amun without proper training. Surrounded by political intrigue and ensnared by sexual stalking, Neferet navigates the temple, doing her duties, while keeping her family name pristine and not ending up like her predecessor—dead.

Meanwhile, a modern-day Chicago dancer, Rebecca, is rehearsing for a role in an ancient Egyptian production and finds herself blacking out and experiencing realistic dreams about life in Egypt. It’s as if she’s coming in contact with Neferet’s world. Are the two parallel worlds on a collision course? They seem to be, for Neferet has just used an old spell to bring protection to her world, and Rebecca meets a mysterious Egyptian man who says he’ll whisk her away to Alexandria.

Magic and realism mix for a powerful ending in THE GOD’S WIFE.

...Servant of the Gods by Valerie Douglas - I really enjoyed this story of ancient Egypt, the gods, and Irisi. The blurb doesn't do the story justice. Great entertainment.

Spoiler:

Orphaned as a child, Irisi became a mercenary to survive. Captured by the Egyptian army and made the spoils of war, she finds herself drawn to their commander. Though the attraction is mutual even he can't save her from enslavement and she's forced to fight in the ring for entertainment. In a desperate attempt to regain her freedom she throws herself on the mercy of the Gods, only to discover that her fate is written in prophecy...

...

The God's Wife by Lynn Voedisch and Servant of the Gods by Valerie Douglas sound interesting from your descriptions. I've downloaded samples of both, but I have no idea when I'll get to them.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next: F&SF, August 2005.

Well, actually, next was Song of Sorcery by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (also from my big fictionwise purchase last year).

It was a fantasy with witches and spells and gypsies and dragons. Fun stuff. There are more in the series, (although this is essentially stand-alone). I'm not sure if they'll be as good, as I do enjoy the revelation of the fantasy world and rules. But I've added them to a wish list. Alas, they don't seem to be at fictionwise, so I won't be getting a big discount there.

Now back to F&SF...

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Well, actually, next was Song of Sorcery by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (also from my big fictionwise purchase last year).

It was a fantasy with witches and spells and gypsies and dragons. Fun stuff. There are more in the series, (although this is essentially stand-alone). I'm not sure if they'll be as good, as I do enjoy the revelation of the fantasy world and rules.

I bought and read the lot last year and I'd say that the sequels build very nicely on the beginnings and that the 3rd book is at least as good as the 1st though they were all quite enjoyable and I wish the series had gone on longer.

I'm hoping Scarborough's other re-publisher will offer the Smashwords discount coupons during Read an E-Book Week next year again (they had them last year and skipped this year). But otherwise they're available at All Romance/OmniLit and you can get rebates on them there when they have the special offers (and have a regular buy 10 get 1 free thing).

As for me, I'm horribly behind on both my commenting and my list-updating, but I'm also reading a Fictionwise 60% off coupon purchase, Cary James' King and Raven, which is another one of those e-Reads backlist reprints.

This starts out as an Arthurian tale about a peasant boy seeking revenge for knightly outrages against his family using the aegis of serving the nobility to get access to his targets and has turned into, well, I don't really know where it's going, but it's getting quite interesting as it's kind of a mashup of both the courtly Arthurian legends and the Crusade-laden France vs England rivalry historical realism of the actual 11th or 12th century.

Anyway, thus far I'm quite liking the shifting and evolving perceptions of the main character and his personal journey of self-discovery to wherever his eventual destination, which apparently may or may not include the revenge he was originally seeking.

[lila55]

Originally Posted by dreams

Trying to be be good and catch up. So, I've been on an Egypt thing lately.

A couple of weeks ago I finished "The Curse of the Pharaos" by Elizabeth Peters, also taking place in Egypt for the most part. It reminds me of some Agatha Christie books and has a lovely, somewhat biting humor.

[DiapDealer]

I finished up Paul Kearney's Kings of Morning... which concludes the Macht Trilogy. I love Kearney's writing and I enjoyed this series—but this was probably my least favorite of the three (not that it wasn't a worthy read). It just seemed odd for him to be glossing over battle scenes like he did. Particularly the battle that could arguably be considered the most important in the entire series (the fictional equivalent of Alexander's Battle of Gaugamela). Detail is one of Kearney's strongest suits, and he seemed to go entirely "big picture" here for some puzzling reason. Plus, the book just seemed to start too late, climax too early, and all plots work out a little too quaintly for my tastes. Corvus was a great book, where this one was just OK for me. My biggest complaint was...

!!Big, big spoiler!!

Spoiler:

not having Rictus of Isca die with a drepana in his hand and the Paean on his lips. That's a grave injustice to a great character if you ask me.

I'm starting The Waters of Eternity... a collection of short stories starring scholar Dabir ibn Khalil and swordsman Asim el Abbas by Howard Andrew Jones. Jones is a Harold Lamb scholar and fan, and these short stories are very reminiscent of Lamb's exotic adventures (especially those starring Abdul Dost) and R.E. Howard's Sword and Sorcery style.

[maianhvk]

I just finished Of Mice and Men and since it was so good I think I'm reading The Grapes of Wrath next.

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by lila55

A couple of weeks ago I finished "The Curse of the Pharaos" by Elizabeth Peters, also taking place in Egypt for the most part. It reminds me of some Agatha Christie books and has a lovely, somewhat biting humor.

Thanks for the review. I just bought an omnibus of the first 4 books (Pharaohs is the second book I think) for an insanely low price. I'll move this up my to-be-read-in-front-of-a-fire-on-a-rainy-spring-day list.

I, and most of my bookclub, gave up halfway on The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. It was a skimfest and felt like being trapped by that long-winded guy at a party who tells the same boring stories over and over. I did better with A Tale of Two Cities, but Dickens isn't my cup of tea. Going Bovine by Libba Bray is our next selection and so far it's an amusing YA tale and the voice of the aimless teenage boy who tells the story is pitch perfect.

I finished listening to Defending Jacob by William Landay, a slow paced novel set in the courtroom that reminded me of Perry Mason and was almost as predictable (not all bad, since I like Perry Mason). Next up on my iPod Touch is Watchers by Dean Koontz, loving the dog so far.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

I just finished Of Mice and Men and since it was so good I think I'm reading The Grapes of Wrath next.

I haven't read a classic in a while, and this is one that has been on my list. Perhaps after I'm done with my current read I'll give it a go.

Have you read The Count of Monte Cristo? Great read.

BOb

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Next up: back to Elegy for Edie, which I am enjoying quite a bit.

Finished. Rather disappointed, frankly. I've enjoyed every book in the series, most getting a 5 out of 5, a couple a 4 out of 5. The most I can give this one is a 3 out of 5, though. There's just entirely too much navel contemplation, frankly. Overall, I wanted her to "get on with it".

The good news is that I think she's moved the characters to somewhere they needed to get to. The bad news is, it took her way too many pages to do so.

If you're a fan of the series, yes, you will want to read it. But definitely do NOT start the series with this book. And if you've got a lot on your TBR? Wait for the price to come down.

Next up: Rusalka by C. J. Cherryh, or Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I haven't decided yet.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

I just finished Of Mice and Men and since it was so good I think I'm reading The Grapes of Wrath next.

I read an audio book version of The Grapes of Wrath last summer. Powerful and extremely well written. (And a good narrator as well.) But not by any means "light" reading -- overall a pretty depressing book. Especially given what is happening in US agriculture these days.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

I just finished Of Mice and Men and since it was so good I think I'm reading The Grapes of Wrath next.

Don't forget 'Cannery Row', my favorite.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

I just finished Of Mice and Men and since it was so good I think I'm reading The Grapes of Wrath next.

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I haven't read a classic in a while, and this is one that has been on my list. Perhaps after I'm done with my current read I'll give it a go.


BOb

The Grapes of Wrath is one of my favourite books of all time. I heartily recommend it

As CRussell said though, it's not a bundle of laughs, but may be more relevant now than it has been for some time.

Just noticed Alansplace's recommendation for Cannery Row as well. It's a very different read to The Grapes of Wrath, much lighter and easier to read, but certainly none the worse for that.