Author: ekkarn

April 2015 Reads and Reading Challenges Update!

  By

Update: April 2015 Reads and Reading Challenges 

 

It’s time to update my reading for the month of April and to look forward to next months reads. To say that as far as reading goes April was a good month is a vast understatement. It was an exceptional reading month, as I finished SEVEN books! That brings my total of 2015 up to  19! Way, way above the average over the last several years!! Now all I have to do is keep it going!!

Here are the books that I read in April 2015 – The big three are The Chessmen, Dreamless and Endangered. While the other were good these three were great!! I haven’t posted my review yet of C J Box’s Endangered but it will be coming soon!!

Books Read in April 2015
Title Challenge Source
When Gods Die – C.S. Harris Historical Fiction Library
The Chessmen – Peter May Cloak & Dagger Library
On Writing– Stephen King 2015 Nonfiction TBR Pile
Dreamless – Jorgen Brekke Cloak & Dagger Library
Island of the Sequined Love Nun – Moore Humor TBR Pile
The President’s War Nonfiction Library
Endangered – C J Box Cloak & Dagger Library

 

Here’s where I stand on my various Reading Challenges. Obviously, I am doing pretty damn well with three out of 5 of the challenges above 33% after the first third of the year and the other two not that far behind! Later today I will post my projected reads for May 2015!! I think I have them picked out, but maybe I may tweak the list a little.

 

Reading Challenge From TBR Pile Buy/Library Total Goal %complete
2015 Nonfiction Reading Challenge 0 3 3 11 27%
2015 Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge 4 7 11 23 48%
2015 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 1 1 2 5 40%
2015 Science Fiction/Fantasy Challenge 2 1 3 12 25%
Totals 7 12 19 51 37%
Currently Reading Challenge From Page Total %complete
n
What Then Must We Do-Gar Alperowitz Nonfiction Library 113 156 72%
Bowl of Heaven – Benford and Niven Science Fiction Library 128 412 31%
A Delicate Truth – John Le Carre Cloak & Dagger Library 4 310 1%
Dance of Death – Preston & Child Cloak & Dagger TBR Pile 0 451 0%
The Technologists – Matthew Pearl Historical Fiction TBR Pile 0 476 0%

Bangs Trimming Can You Relate??

  By ,

Can you relate to the above?? When were your bangs cut like these!

 

Yesterday my wife updated her Facebook status using the card featured above with the accompanying tag  “almost every woman I know who grew up in the 1950’s-1960’s can relate to this one lol” So the questions before house today is, was this phenomena restricted to the 50s and 60s or is bangs’ trimming   still going on today!! Did it go on in days before the 50s!

1557505_10152232623023273_270996901_n

This Karn family photo from the 1920s suggests that it may have been going on in years past!!’ And not just in the Karn family but also in the Ashton family

Helen suffers from bangs cutting

That’s my mother, Helen Ashton with her brothers John and Jim, cousin Billy Atz and their grandmother Charlotte Regars. The photograph below suggest that maybe young men have suffered from the phenomena in the past…..
Arthur and Edward Karn

 

That’s my father on the right with his brother Arthur!! Arthur does not look pleased – but I doubt that he is pouting about his bangs!!

And the reason is that his bangs are long, as are the bangs of the others in this post. My wife has just informed me that I have missed the point of the card (not a hard thing for me to do) The point is that my wife’s mother and women of the 50s and 60s when they trimmed the bangs the bangs would be crooked, and they would keep trimming until the bangs were almost non-existent! Is that correct now ladies!

So forget about the above as far as bangs go, and enjoy them just as a part of my family history!!  As for me, my mother did strange things with my hair, too Lucky I have no memory of it!!!

edwardmartie003

 

That’s me in the center with my cousins Marti Karn and Jimmy Ashton….

Anyway The question to you ladies is can you relate to the bangs’ trimming! When did it happen to you??

ADD Sidetrack excursion…….ok so I have a plugin on my site from Zemanta that provides links and related articles for what you are writing about one of the links provided for this post was for a Helen Ashton. The link is to an article at Wikipedia. While ‘I know that it is not an article about my mother I thought the I would check it out…… here’s what I found out

Helen Rosaline Ashton (18 October 1891 – 27 June 1958) was a British novelist, literary biographer and physician….

Born in Kensington, London, Helen Ashton was the daughter of Emma Burnie and Arthur Jacob Ashton, KC, Recorder of Manchester. Her brother was Sir Leigh Ashton, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum

After her marriage, Ashton retired from medicine but continued to write. Over 43 years she published 26 books, which included several literary biographies, such as I Had A Sister (written with Katharine Davies in 1937 – a study of Mary Lamb, Dorothy Wordsworth, Caroline Herschel and Cassandra Austen), William and Dorothy (1938), and Parson Austen’s Daughter (1949) amongst others. Her first major fictional success was Doctor Serocold (1930) in which she was able to draw upon her medical knowledge. Also included amongst her fictional works were Bricks and Mortar (1932), republished in 2004 by Persephone Books, and Yeoman’s Hospital (1944), on which the 1951 film White Corridors was based. Read More

Now I wondered could their be a family connection between the Helen Ashtons’ families. My mother’s family originates as far a I know in the Holbeach, England. The farthest back I have been able to trace the line is the late 1700. early 1800s From Ancestry.com I have found a family tree for Arthur Jacob Ashton and his family in the early 1800s were living in Ashton-Under-Lyne about 120 northwest of Holbeach. No connection yet, but maybe??? Who Knows!!

The Presidents’ War – Chris DeRose

  By

The Presidents’ War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them       Chris DeRose (Book 18 of 2015)

 

Through the years,I have read many books about the Civil War. Most of those books center around the battles and the Generals. Until I saw the book The Presidents’ War I never thought or knew about the former Presidents who were alive during the conflict. As a matter of fact, the book’s author Chris DeRose writes in the Acknowledgments of the book

….I had never known of the former presidents who lived to see the Civil War until a visit to Seattle in 2012 and a conversation with my friend.

It was that friend Rob Peck, who inspired the book! Anyway, the point is if Mr DeRose author of two previous Congressman Lincoln: The Making of America’s Greatest President(2013) and Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, the Bill of Rights, and the Election That Saved a Nation ( 2011) and  a visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Arizona Summit Law School, where he teaching Constitutional Law, International Law, and Election Law/Voting Rights hadn’t heard about the presidents alive during the Civil War until 2012, I don’t feel so bad about not thinking about them until after reading his book!!

The five living ex-President’s alive at the start of the Civil War were John Tyler, Martin Van Buren, Millard Filllmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan.  Each of those Presidents faced the underlying causes of the War and did little to avoid the coming conflict. Here’s a little about each of those Presidents from DeRose’s website….

* John Tyler engaged in shuttle diplomacy between President Buchanan and the new Confederate Government. He chaired the Peace Convention of 1861, the last great hope for a political resolution to the crisis. When it failed, Tyler joined the Virginia Secession Convention, voted to leave the Union, and won election to the Confederate Congress.
* Van Buren, who had schemed to deny Lincoln the presidency, supported him in his efforts after Fort Sumter, and thwarted Franklin Pierce’s attempt at a meeting of the ex-Presidents to undermine Lincoln.
* Millard Fillmore hosted Lincoln and Mary Todd on their way to Washington, initially supported the war effort, offered critical advice to keep Britain at bay, but turned on Lincoln over emancipation.
* Franklin Pierce, talked about as a Democratic candidate in 1860 and ’64, was openly hostile to Lincoln and supportive of the South, an outspoken critic of Lincoln especially on civil liberties. After Vicksburg, when Jefferson Davis’s home was raided, a secret correspondence between Pierce and the Confederate President was revealed.
* James Buchanan, who had left office as seven states had broken away from the Union, engaged in a frantic attempt to vindicate his administration, in part by tying himself to Lincoln and supporting the war, arguing that his successor had simply followed his policies. Read More

I think that  The Presidents’ War would provide information for  two or three great  lesson plans in any high school history class! I certainly think that exposing to the conflicting views that these Ex-President’s held and the fact that at last one President not to be named (Franklin Pierce) were openly hostile to Lincoln! One of the interesting tidbits from the book leads to the trivia question – who was the only ex-President who died as an enemy to his country??? John Tyler.

As I read this book a thought crossed my mind – George McClellan during the Peninsula Campaign and at other times certainly misjudged the strength of the Confederate Army. What if the person providing those estimates was a Confederate sympathizer???  Sounds like making of a book to me!

Bottom Line: The Presidents’ War is a great read for every American! DeRose it shows that sometimes the President had to go it alone! And in doing so Lincoln saved the Union and recreated a country based on our country’s original tenet that “All Men are Created Equal!!

Check it out!! As for me I think the next book by Chris DeRose that I want to read is Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, the Bill of Rights, and the Election That Saved a Nation!

Links for Further Explorations of Chris DeRose

Chris DeRose Website
Amazon: Chris DeRose
Goodreads: Chris DeRose
Twitter
Facebook

Island of the Sequined Love Nun – Christopher Moore

  By

Island of the Sequined Love Nun – Christopher Moore – Book 17 of 2015

 

So the question of the night is: Who is Your Favorite Author of humorous books?? Janet Evanovich? Carl Hiaasen? Terry Pratchett? Douglas Adams? Tim Dorsey?? Dave Barry??  The question arises because one of  my goals for April was to read a book on happiness or a funny book. I chose to read a funny book and one book that fit that description that was on my TBR pile was Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore.

The first book that I read by Christopher Moore was Coyote Blue, which I read way back in 1994 (Good gosh – 21 years ago)since then I have read most of his books. with Lamb being on of my all-time favorite books. i will say that I have had a hard time getting into his last three books Fools. The Serpent of Venice and Sacre Bleu. I guess I wasn’t in the right mood when I tried to start both Fools and Sacre Bleu. Anyway when I picked up Island of the Sequined Love Nun at the fall library book sale,  I knew it was one that I would enjoy. And who wouldn’t, it has everything you could want in a book. There’s the hapless protagonist Tucker Case who destroys his boss’s pink plane during a drunken airborne romp with a prostitute which causes Tucker to hurriedly leaves the US to protect his hide. He ends up flying shady missions for a doctor on the island of  Alualu in Micronesia, Other things to love in Island of the Sequined Love Nun include: the doctor’s wife aka the Sky Priestess, the natives of the Island the Shark people, including an ostracized cannibal, a cross-dressing navigator and of course your proverbial talking fruit bat!!  And I love them all!!

Bottom Line: Island of the Sequined Love Nun is a fun ride and definitely a four plus star book for me. In the words of the aforementioned Mr Hiaasen th book is……

“So delightfully warped and funny that no sane person could have written it”

Yes. Mr Moore is one warped,  twisted and very funny author whose work I love!! So Check it out…..as for me I think that I need to give those last three books a second chance and oh yeah I also haven’t read – Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings. What;’s that I hear was it Tim Dorsey’s Torpedo Juice calling me from my TBR pile. …..”Read Me Next…..Read Me Next”   Decisions, decisions.!! Ok so who is your favorite humorous author????

Dreamless – Jorgen Brekke

  By

Dreamless (Book 2 – Odd Singsaker Series)

 

Dreamless is the second book  from Norwegian author Jorgen Brekke and it’s a good one. The setting of the book is Trondheim Norway and the main character of the series is Chief Inspector Odd Singsaker. The book follows up where book one Where Monsters Dwell left off. Odd is still recovering and ,dealing with the effects of his brain tumor. He is now married to former American police officer Felicia Stone. All of the characters are still dealing with the aftershocks of the prior murder investigation, only to be immersed in an even more bizarre investigation, The new investigation starts when a young woman is found murdered,  her larynx has been removed and a music box stuffed in its place!!  The music box is playing a beautiful lullaby that no one has ever heard!

When the killer snatches another victim this one a teenage girl with a beautiful voice, Odd and his force know that they must find the girl quickly or she will meet the same fate as the first victim. But the question is why?? What is the ultimate objective of the killer? Is it murder for murder’s sake or does he want something more from these women something that revolves around the lullaby and its history??

The history of the lullaby is told in a series of flashbacks side by side with the modern story. That story involves the solving of another murder that of a young troubadour from Sweden who is found dead in Trondheim in 1767! The troubadour is the composer of the lullaby whose claim to fame is that it sends any listener into a long and blissful sleep. The mystery of the troubadour’s grisly murder must be solved by the Chief of Police Nils Bayer. Bayer not only fights to discover the murderer but also his addiction to alcohol!

Bottom Line: Dreamless is a great read and I can’t wait until I can get my hands on the next adventure of Odd Singsaker. See while Odd was tracking down the killer he was also having person problems stemming from his actions in book one of the series, and at the end of  Dreamless things were not resolved between Odd and Felicia! We need to know!!

I enjoy the way Brekke has blended current events with history in both books. The characters Odd and all his friends and co-workers are great and the mysteries are intricately plotted and the action fast paced with the final resolutions of both story lines finishing on the final pages, leaving you gasping and ready  for more!! Fans of Jo Nesbo, and Karin Fossum will love this one!

Links for Further Explorations

Website: MacMillan: Odd Singsaker
Amazon: Jorgen Brekke Page
Dreamless
Goodreads:Jorgen Brekke
Facebook

Book 16 for 2015 – 10 on a goal of 23 for the Cloak & Dagger  Reading Challenge!

 

RGranddad’s Wednesday Potpouri

  By

 

ADD Potpouri…Baseball, Bonamassa, Box and The Tangent –

 

I once worked with a guy named Garry, his brothers were Larry, Barry and Chuck …. Garry, Larry, Barry and Chuck like the above headline one does not belong…here’s a little ADD potpouri for a Wednesday…….

Once again I am apologizing for not posting much over the last few days, but I have been fairly busy. I babysat Zoe on Monday no problem and then yesterday I babysat Oliver and while we had a great day Oliver needed two naps to keep himself going and while Granddad made it without napping when he got home he was spent and napped through several baseball games!! The inning that I would have liked to have seen was the top of the ninth inning in Pittsburgh when the Cubbies scored three to beat the Pirates 9-8, after the Bucs had scored three in the eighth to go ahead.

I have decided that my alternates to the Phillies to root for are the Cubs in the NL Central and the Royals in the American League!My connection to the Cubs goes back to the early 60s when my mother’s first cousin Barney Schultz pitched for them! One time while he was pitching for them, my parents and I were allowed into the area outside of the visiting locker room in Connie Mack Stadium where I got autographs of Cubs players!! That was a big deal for a maybe 12 year-old kid!

As for the Royals while I have never been a fan of them, especially in 1980, but what they have done recently in building an exciting young team has bee impressive and there is a Philly connection through Mike Arbuckle who is now a top person in the Royals front office. He should have been named Phillies GM back when Amaro got the job!! Anyway over the first few weeks I have enjoyed watching both of these teams!!

Muddy Wolf Live at Red Rocks Joe Bonamassa

 

As for music over the last day or so. The soundtrack for the tip down to Paulsboro and Oliver was the new release from Joe Bonamassa Muddy Wolf – Live at Red Rocks, which from what I heard surely does rock. I will listen to it some more and let you know more about the album. On the way back I listened to a little of the latest release from the prog rock band The Tangent A Spark in the Aether.  While I am a fan of Joe  Bonamassa  I know little about The Tangent from ProgArchives I read that they are a multinational eclectic prog band…..

THE TANGENT is a project originally formed by Andy Tillison, Guy Manning and Sam Baine of PARALLEL OR 90 DEGREES [Po90] as well as half of THE FLOWER KINGS including Jonas Reingold, Zoltan Csorsz and guitar virtuoso and former KAIPA member Roine Stolt. Of course to put further icing on the cake David Jackson of VAN DER GRAFF GENERATOR would lend his legendary sax to the band for their debut album. This started out as a mere project and was actually intended to be a Tillison solo effort before it became a full fledged band as Tillison felt the need to produce something more typically ‘prog’ than he’d been doing in Po90 Continue Reading

I am not sure how much I like this album yet based on my limited listening yesterday. So far at ProgArchives the album has a 4.19 rating which is very high! I think I will flip a coin to see which album is the soundtrack to today’s run!!

In addition to The Tangent, l listened to a few tracks from Wolf & Clarke Expedition 2 . This is one of my favorite new jazz albums. I had included the album on a playlist of new jazz albums last week, You can check out that playlist here.

C J Box

 

Finally, I have finished two books this week. First was the latest from Jorgen Brekke Dreamless and the second Island of the Sequined Love Nun from Christopher Moore. Both were great and I promise  reviews today or tomorrow!! Here also is an update on my reading challenges with the latest boos added. So far I am up to 17 books for the year a number I reached near the end of August last year!! As you can see, I am now only reading three books and I probably should concentrate on finishing those three, but Endangered the new C J Box  Joe Pickett novel is calling me from the shelving cart at the Riverside Library!!

So Missy should be home any minute now and babysitting duties will be over and it’s off to the library and then Trader Joes and then a run or maybe just a run and Trader Joes tomorrow……..

Reading Challenge From TBR Pile Buy/Library Total Goal %complete
2015 Nonfiction Reading Challenge 0 2 2 11 18%
2015 Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge 4 6 10 23 43%
2015 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 1 1 2thy 5 40%
2015 Science Fiction/Fantasy Challenge 2 1 3 12 25%
Totals 7 10 17 51 33%
Currently Reading Challenge From Page Total %complete
The President’s War Nonfiction Library 160 316 51%
What Then Must We Do-Gar Alperowitz Nonfiction Library 45 156 29%
Bowl of Heaven – Benford and Niven Science Fiction Library 36 412 9%

Reading Challenge Status Update – April 9, 2015

  By

2015 Reading Challenges Update and Projected April Reads

 

So we are almost a third of the way through April and I guess it’s time to update my Reading Challenges status and update the list of books I hope to finish this month!!! First yesterday I finished book 15 for 2015 Woo Hoo! To put this minor accomplishment in perspective I finished book 15 in 2014 on August 17th! I actually believe that having a plan and the reading challenges have helped me keep up this great pace!! (and not working full-time help just a wee little bit!)

Book 15 for the year was On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft  by Stephen King. The book was a Christmas gift from my wife along with two other books on writing.  On Writing Well by William Zinsser and The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Do you think she’s trying to tell me something??? Anyway, the book was good and although it was written or those writing fiction, I did pick up some tips. I will be writing a more detailed review tomorrow. The book counts towards my 2015 Nonfiction Reading Challenge bringing the total in that challenge to 2 on a goal of 11.

Earlier in the week I finished The Chessmen by Peter May, that book goes in the 2015 Cloak and Dagger reading challenge bringing the total in that challenge to 9 on a goal of 23!  .

I am still reading The President’s War and I WILL finish that book this month! Or maybe not. because I have some other really interesting books piled up for April ….. here are my proposed reads…..

What Then Must We Do = 2015 Nonfiction Reading Challenge

2015 Nonfiction Reading Challenge

I saw this book the other day when I discovered The Next System.com. Both out political and economic systems are not working well so maybe it;s time to start looking for a new system that can create a sustainable future for all.

 

Dreamless

.2015 Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge

Book 2 in the Odd Singsaker series. Set in Norway Odd is again chasing a murderer. The killer’s first victim had her larynx cut out and replaced by a music box, that plays a lullaby that no one has ever heard before!!

Island of the Squined Love Nun

 

2015 TBR Pile Reading Challenge

A while back I wrote I want to increase my happiness level by reading something funny. Well, it was between this on or the Tim Dorsey book on my TBR pile. This one wins!! Maybe Dorsey will win next month!!!

Bowl of Heaven

2015 Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Challenge

Okay I like hard science fiction and these are two of the best at the sub-genre. When I read the following I knew I had to read this book……

“What would you expect when two of the all-time greatest hard science fiction writers collaborate on a novel? Nothing less than this masterful, mind-expanding book. I am in awe.” – Robert J, Sawyer, author of Triggers

Switching back and forth between this book and the Christopher Moore book – going from the sublime to the ridiculous and  back don’t you think?? Should be fun!! Anyone care to join me??

Here’s my updated chart……

Reading Challenge From TBR Pile Buy/Library Total Goal %complete
2015 Nonfiction Reading Challenge 0 2 2 11 18%
2015 Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge 4 5 9 23 39%
2015 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 1 1 2 5 40%
2015 Science Fiction/Fantasy Challenge 1 1 2 12 17%
Totals 6 9 15 51 29%
Currently Reading Challenge From Page Total %complete
The President’s War Nonfiction Library 154 316 49%
What Then Must We Do-Gar Alperowitz Nonfiction Library 0 156 0%
Bowl of Heaven – Benford and Niven Science Fiction Library 0 412 0%
Dreamless – Jorgen Brekke Cloak & Dagger Library 44 308 14%
Island of the Squined Love Nun – Christopher Moore Fiction TBR Pile 24 325 7%

The Chessmen – Peter May

  By

The Chessmen Book # 3 in the Award-winning Lewis Trilogy from Peter May

 

The Chessmen – Book #3 in the Award-winning Lewis Trilogy from Peter May

The Chessmen is the third and final book in Peter May’s outstanding Lewis Trilogy. The series follows ex-Detective Inspector Fin MacLeod as he returns to his home on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.

Through May’s vivid writing, the reader is swept into that rugged landscape and given a true sense of the people who live there.

In this final installment, Fin has left his old life behind and is temporarily living with his childhood love, Marsaili. He’s working as head of security for Red River Estates, where his first assignment brings him face-to-face with his childhood friend John Angus Macaskill — “Whistler” — a poacher who lives on the estate lands.

One night, while pursuing Whistler across the hills, they are forced to shelter in a cave. The next morning they discover that a loch has drained overnight, revealing the wreckage of a small aircraft. It turns out to be the long-missing plane of their friend Roddy MacKenzie, who vanished seventeen years earlier. Inside is a decomposed body — a man who didn’t die in a crash, but was murdered. Finding out who killed Roddy, and why, will upend the lives of Fin’s closest friends.

May tells Roddy’s story, and that of his band Amran, through flashbacks that weave into Fin’s own life. These glimpses show how their college band rose to fame, with Fin helping as a roadie and his friend Donald as manager — a tale that ended in tragedy with Roddy’s disappearance.

I love books that take me to places I’ll never visit, and May certainly does that with this trilogy.

From The Scotsman:

“Vivid descriptions of the barren landscapes and cruel weather are a poignant backdrop for a melancholy tale.”

From The Daily Record:

“Steeped in atmosphere and set in a location that permeates the story like a falling mist, The Chessmen takes the reader on an enticing reel, forwards, backwards, side to side, every step leading to a breathtaking climax.”

The Lewis Chessmen
The Lewis Chessmen in the British Museum

The title The Chessmen refers to the Lewis Chessmen, a group of 12th-century chess pieces discovered in 1831 on the Isle of Lewis. Carved from walrus ivory, they are among the few surviving medieval chess sets.

Bottom Line:

The Chessmen, and the trilogy as a whole, are five-star reads for me. I love Fin MacLeod and his circle of friends, and I’ll miss them. May creates a “sense of place” like few writers can, and his characters feel incredibly real. I rarely reread books, but this series may be an exception — I can see myself returning to the Hebrides with Fin again and again.

The Lewis Trilogy wasn’t my first encounter with Peter May. Years ago, I read The Firemaker, the first book in his China Thriller series featuring Li Yan and Margaret Campbell. I may have to revisit that series, or perhaps dive deeper into the Enzo Files to get my next Peter May fix.

From The New York Times:

“Peter May is a writer I’d follow to the ends of the earth.”

Book 14 of 2015 – Book 9 of the Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge

✅ Tightened your summary without losing your personal touch.

When Gods Die (Sebastian St Cyr) – C.S.Harris

  By

When Gods Die – Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery Series – Book #2

 

I often joke that if I was ever on Jeopardy and the Final Jeopardy category was English Royalty I should just be prepared to be a loser!! When it comes to that category, in the infamous words of Sgt Schultz of Hogan’s Heroes fame, “I know NOOOTTTHHHHING!” But I do know a bit more after reading When Gods Die by C.S. Harris.

When Gods Die is the second historical murder mystery featuring Sebastian St Cyr, Viscount Devlin. Set in Brighton and London in June of 1811, Sebastian is charged with the task of solving the murder of the beautiful Guinevere Anglessey. The young Marchioness of Anglessey was found dead in the arms of George IV, Prince of Wales and from early in 1811 Prince Regent of Great Britain. She had been stabbed with a dagger from the family’s collection, The dagger once belonged to Bonnie Prince Charlie. The quest to find the killer becomes personal for Sebastian, when he discovers that Guinevere was wearing a necklace that belonged to his mother and vanished with her on the day she was lost at sea!! In addition to solving the murder Sebastian is also is thrust into the middle of a plot to overthrow the monarchy!! Needless to say the Viscount Devlin has a lot on his plate. Helping him out are his lover actress Kat Boleyn and his new servant reformed pickpocket Tom.

This is the first book that I have read from C.S Harris and one of the few historical novels I have read in recent memory and I can tell you it will not be my last! I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was a real page-turner and I love both Sebastian and Kat!!

Bottom Line: When Gods Die was a 4 to 5 star book for me I really, really liked it! The plot was well-developed and kept me guessing who the killer was until the very end of the book. I will be going back and reading book one of the series What Angels Fear.I need to know what happened in that story when Sebastian was accused of the murder!!

Book 13 of 2015 and Book 2 on a goal of 5 in my Historical Fiction Challenge!

Reading Challenges – A Quick Update – April 2, 2015

  By

Edward finishes Book 13 of 2015 – brings home 3 new Reading Challenges Books -Oh My!

 

A quick Reading Challenges Update! This afternoon I finished book number 13 for 2015.When Gods Die -a Sebastian St.Cyr mystery from C.S.Harris. This is the first book that I have read in this series and it will not be my last!! It is actually Book #2 of what is now a 10 book series. The book’s setting is London in June of 1811, where Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin is investigating the murder of a beautiful young wife of an aging marquis. The young woman was found dead in the arms of the Prince Regent with a jeweled dagger that once belonged to Bonnie Prince Charlie in her back. And a necklace that belonged to Sebastian’s dead mother around her neck! I will write my complete review tomorrow but for now I’ll just say I really, really liked the book!!

As far as the books I am currently reading and my proposed April reads, let’s recap. I’m am still reading The President’s War, On Writing from Stephen King and Sarah J Maas’s Crown of Midnight.

Now I should be satisfied to just keep reading those three books, but Noooo! I had to go to Barnes & Noble the other night and while there I saw that The Chessmen the third book in Peter May’s terrific Lewis trilogy has been released along with Dreamless, the next installment of the Odd Singsaker series from Norwegian author Jorgen Brekke. I have read the first two books in May’s series The Black House and The Lewis Man and loved them both. I also read Brekke’s first Where Monsters Dwell. and loved it as well! So, after I came home I went to my library’s website and saw that they had both books so I requested them. I also had previously requested the first Jack MacTaggart book Hush Money. I did not think that all THREE of the books were available or that they would come so quickly, but I picked up all three at the library today!!  Now of those three books, I have to read,  The Chessmen,   that series is just too good. So I will set aside the other two books and concentrate on the three books  have been reading and The Chessmen starting either of the other two upon completion of my next book! .

Anyway here is the current status of my reading challenges and the books I am currently reading!! I do believe working on these reading challenges and keeping these charts have helped me focus on my reading, In 2014, I didn’t finish the 13th book until August!! In 2013 I finished book 13 a little earlier in the year, but it was still on May 24th!! So now i just have to keep  going!! So excuse me while I go read!!

 

Reading Challenges From TBR Pile Buy/Library Total Goal %complete
2015 Nonfiction Reading Challenge 0 1 1 11 9%
2015 Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge 4 4 8 23 35%
2015 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 1 1 2 5 40%
2015 Science Fiction/Fantasy Challenge 1 1 2 12 17%
Totals 6 7 13 51 25%
Currently Reading Challenge From Page Total %complete
The President’s War Nonfiction Library 142 316 45%
On Writing Nonfiction TBR Pile 176 284 62%
Crown of Midnight Fantasy Library 90 418 22%