A tale of riot, murder, and vengence

The Revenge Of Captain Paine: A Pyke Mystery by Andrew Pepper


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is the second book of a series about Pyke, an ex-Bow Street Runner. The first dealt with his acquiring a wife and money. This one deals with his life as a banker and the early days of railroads in Great Briton. The book is gritty, fairly violent, and way too long.
We have a threat to Princess Victoria (this is two years before she comes to the throne) by her mother's secretary and the Duke of Cumberland. We have a threat to public safety with the rise of unions, and we have a threat to personal safety of Pyke's wife and son.
I generally enjoy historical mysteries, but this one was not my cup of tea. It took a while to get to the mystery, and then it unwound so very quickly in the last few pages.

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North River

North River: A Novel by Pete Hamill

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Set in the middle of the Great Depression, North River draws a convincing picture of doctor James Delaney who lives and works in New York City among of mix of the laboring class.
He had survived the Great War of 1917-1919, but a a great cost to emotional health. Now he is dealing with the disappearance of his wife and the unexpected appearance of his three-year old grandson.
This is not a book to read in a hurry. The characters demand time to get to know them and in return reward you with a really interesting story.

A New Sally Gunning book

Bound: A Novel by Sally Gunning. William Morrow, 2008. 307 pp.

Alice Cole is bound as an indentured servant for eleven years at age 7 when her father suffers from lack of funds upson coming to the American colonies. At first she is treated well, but at age 15 her contract is reassigned and life darkens. Each bit of happiness seems destined to be torn away.

We meet many of the characters from Gunning's earlier (and most excellent) book The Widow's War. Gunning once again examines the legalities of the mid 1700s and how it affects women. She adds to that the conditions of servitude in a country seeking to rid itself of servitude to England. (There is much talk here about the non-importation act and the Stamp Act.)

This is a really good historical fiction, even better than The Widow's War, which I really loved.

A Dream Vacation

A Stopover in Venice by Kathryn Walker

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
This was a fairly annoying book about Venice, with the present leading to a mystery about the past. It is also a book about marriage and personhood. It can be difficult to follow--no quotation marks, so that I had to go back numerous times to follow the thread of who was talking. The art history was interesting, though. And I loved Leo and Lucy.

I was planning to read this book anyway, and then the Goodreads Summer Challenge had a challenge for Your dream vacation--read a book and make up an itinerary. In that way, this book did not disappoint. I found a number of places listed that could be visited if I could get to Venice. More than I could list for the challenge, in fact.

So, despite the fact that I found the main character Nel fairly annoying (why had she allowed herself to become such a doormat for her husband? why was she in such suspended animation for so much of the time? why were there no quotation marks?), it was an interesting book.

I started the Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge

href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca">Love Lies Bleeding by href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca">Susan Wittig Albert

My

reviewrating: 3 of 5 stars
5.9 This Day in History-July 27.1858: First use of fingerprints as a means of idntification--Read a mystery or Crime fiction book.

This is the sixth of the China Bayles books set in the Texas Hill Country. China is having romantic problems even before she gets wound up in the murder of an ex-Texas Ranger. She seems pretty wishy-washy in this one for a former big-time lawyer.


Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones

My

review rating: 2 of 5 stars
Polly moves in a world filled with sorcery and intrigue, her fate mingled with Tom's. This seems a reworking of the Tam Lin story. Slower going than others of her books that I've read.
Summer Challenge 30.10 Rora--Read a Nominee or Winner of the Mythopoeic Fantsay Award from 1971-1991


View all my reviews.
View all my reviews.

I've been way too lax at posting!

It's not that I haven't be reading, it's just that I haven't been posting what I've read.  Sorry!

I was introduced to the Goodreads site and find lots to do there:  http://www.goodreads.com/

I've been playing the Goodreads 2009 Spring Reading Challenge and it's been so much fun that come June 1, I'll start the Summer Challenge.  You can, too.  If you are already a member of Goodreads, go to this site: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/147386-official-summer-challenge-2009 and start in.

I'll be getting double duty from the books I read this summer, using them for Goodreads and for the Olathe Public Library Adult Summer Reading Program, which started last Tuesday.  

I've already completed three books for the Library Summer Read:

J. Anthony Froude: The Last Undiscovered Great Victorian, by Julia Markus.

I must admit I would never have picked this up on my own.  I'd never heard of Froude, but Lorie asked me to read the book.  The first third of the book makes for wretched reading (for you fans of A Child Called It, it's right up your alley), and most of the remainder of the book is a reminder of how early abuse affects a person's life forever.  Oh, and why was Froude so great?  He pretty much set the standards for carefully researched biography.

Flinx Transcendent by Alan Dean Foster.

I've been reading Flinx and Pip books for years, following the orphan and his minidragon around the universe.  I must admit, I'm glad this is supposed to be the last one.  The last two or three have taken themselves way too seriously about Flinx being the only one who can save the universe from extinction.  Midway through this one I was hoping it would whimper to a close in a hurry.  A disappointment.

Perfect Soups by Anne Willan.

The layout and instruction in this book were really exceptional.  A couple good sounding recipes.

Good Reads Summer Reading Challenge

30.1  Biographical fiction and nonfiction
Character
John Brown Fic Raising Holy Hell—Olds  Bio John Brown, Abolitionist— Reynolds 

George Custer Fic The River & the Horseman -- Skimmin    Bio Touched by Fire—Barnett 

Thomas Jefferson   Fic Sally Hemmings--Chase-Riboud   Bio Jefferson’s Secrets—Bernstein

George Washington Fic Mount Vernon Love Story —Clark   Bio An American Life--Brady  

Anne Boleyn    Fic Mademoiselle Boleyn —Maxwell   Bio The Life & Death of Anne Boleyn—Ives

Charles II of England Fic A Royal Escape—Heyer    Bio King Charles II –Fraser

Abigail Adams   Fic Patriot Hearts—Hambly Bio  Dearest Friend—Withey
Ned Kelly   Fic A True History of the Kelly Gang: A novel--Carey  Bio Ned Kelly: A short life--Jones

Marie Antoinette    Fic The hidden diary of Marie Antoinette—Carolly   Bio Marie Antoinette—Fraser

Frank Lloyd Wright  Fic  Loving Frank--Horan    Bio Frank Lloyd Wright—Huxtable

Al Capone   Fic  Road to Perdition—Collins Bio Capone: The Man and the legend—Bergreen

Mata Hari   Fic Signed, Mata Hari—Murphy    Bio Femme Fatale—Shipman
Duke of Windsor Fic A Prince Among them—Lacy   Bio A King’s story—Windsor

Wallace Simpson Fic Gone with the Windsors—Graham   Bio The Duchess of Windsor—Higham

These are just suggestions, and are for books available at my own public library. I haven’t read all of these. For many of these people there are many other biographies available—feel free to choose another.