That header is telling a slight porky as I've not been reading a huge amount this month at all. Being busy, plus having family visiting has curtailed my reading a bit, but I do have three books to report on, one fiction, two non-fiction.
First up, City of Ruins by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
This is book 2 in the author's 'Diving' science-fiction series. The main protagonist is a woman known only as 'Boss' who dives abandoned space-craft wrecks in outer space. In book 1, Diving into the Wreck, the chance discovery of a Dignity ship from centuries ago, with lost technology from that era, changes the course of Boss's life. She's now running her own company investigating occurrances of this lost tech. and this takes her and a motley crew of people to the city of Vaycehn to look at something called 'death holes' which suddenly appear and swallow whole neighbourhoods. In order to investigate properly they must keep certain things secret from the authorities, such as the technology they suspect is somewhere deep in the newly discovered cave system under the city. So, if anything this was even better than book 1 and that got a 5 star rating from me. I loved all the cave explorations, what they discovered, the startling thing that happened and the results of that. I'm not giving much away you'll notice but this was seriously good and I'm so pleased to have discovered this series via Tracy.
Next, The Dream of Rome by Boris Johnson.
I've had this on my tbr shelf for about ten years, possibly longer (it was first published in 2007), and as I was looking for background books for my Latin studies, this jumped out at me as I loved Johnson's book on Winston Churchill. The Dream of Rome is like a book-long essay to be honest, exploring the Roman Empire, how they managed to maintain the peace for hundreds of years and why it came to an end. It starts with the first emperor, Augustus, and outlines what a piece of work he was: that was a real eye-opener although my Latin tutor had previously told me that he was a very ambivilent character. Fascinating stuff. Johnson's writing style suits me very well as he's funny and writes in a very accessible manner. I spent a lot of time laughing and I learnt a lot. I will say that this is a good 'starter' book for Roman studies, it's probably not much use to anyone who already knows a lot, I suspect there's not much new in it but I found Johnson's opinions interesting, particularly his way of comparing the Roman Empire to the EU. Some things I agreed with, some I did not, but I do like to listen to and consider 'all' points of view. A more academic viewpoint on the Romans would be the wonderful Mary Beard and I will be moving on to something by her soon, there's quite a lot of choice! And I would really like to read a deeper biography of Augustus, so must look to see what's available.Lastly, a lovely friend sent me Traces by Patricia Wiltshire as she knew I shared her fascination with how murders are solved.
The author is a palynologist who didn't start out that way but always had a love of the natural world, especially plants. She was born in Wales to rather dysfunctional parents but adored her grandmother to bits. She did allsorts, which I now forget, before ending up qualified to help the police with murder enquiries. Palynology is the scientific study of pollen, spores, fungi, that sort of thing. It seems none of us can go anywhere at all without picking up evidence of where we've been, often in the shape of plant pollen on ourselves or in soil on our shoes, in the car and so on. So when someone is murdered, the study of the area where they're found versus what kind of plant pollen they have on them is vital in deciding where they were killed and who might have done the deed. I found the cases she described quite fascinating... true crime sort of thing. The biographical stuff was ok by me (some on Goodreads did not like that), I too was very attached to my grandmother so I could identify with that. I did find the author a bit prone to waffle, a bit too much repetition, but all in all this was a very interesting read and I'm glad to have increased my scientific knowledge just a little bit, which is not difficult as there's so little to begin with. :-)
So, the two books I'm currently reading are these:
Both are absolutely delightful.
And this is the book themed jigsaw puzzle my daughter and I worked on over the Easter, 2,000 pieces and huge fun to do. Click on it for a clearer view.
So I hope you're all keeping well, enjoying spring if you're in the northern hemisphere, autumn if in the southern, and finding lots of lovely books to read.
18 comments:
Glad you are enjoying the Hazelbourne Ladies! The Kristine Rusch series sounds interesting too - she is clearly passionate about diving and it is nice she can incorporate that into this genre.
That puzzle is lovely, Cath! I'm glad you've had family visits; we need to take time for those things, too. Your non-fic books sound really interesting. I often think I don't read enough non-fiction at all. And I'm interested in The Melbourne Ladies' Motorcycle and Fighting Club; the title intrigues me! I hope you're enjoying it.
Oh my goodness - that puzzle looks frighteningly large and difficult - well done!
Congratulations on solving the puzzle Cath And it is a beautiful puzzle. The Boris Johnson book sounds really good. I have always wanted to know what happened in Rome. How did it become an empire but then why did it fall? One book I keep telling myself to read is Meditations by Marcus Aurellius. He has alot of wisdom for today.
What a great puzzle! Love it! I'm not a puzzle person (get my puzzles through my mysteries), but I admire those that can do them. I remember noticing the Ladies Motorcycle Club book, but I never picked it up. Will try to remember to do so. Have a nice week!
Constance: I'm about a third into The Hazelbourne Ladies and thoroughly enjoying it, some fascinating historical detail included. I had a feeling Kristine Rusch must be a diver, interesting to hear it is actually so. Good series.
Margot: Thank you. Yes, family visits and occasions are very important to me, I'm lucky to have them. The Hazlebourne Ladies book is very good indeed, I'm about a third in and have a feeling some interesting things are about to happen. The historical detail is very good too.
Sue: Thank you. Yes, quite a tricky puzzle but the cartoon aspect made it a lot of fun to do.
Kathy: Thank you. A Dream of Rome asnswers a lot of questions that I had too and is definitely a book I plan to reread at some stage, it's a very good starting point. I've heard of Meditations but not read it. Perhaps I'll see if I can get a copy.
Kay: Thank you... my daughter and I had a lot of fun doing the puzzle. The Hazelbourne Ladies book is well worth a look. Hope all is well with you!
I am glad you are continuing reading Rusch's Diving series, because it keeps me motivated to read more. I have a copy of City of Ruins in an ebook version and I just have to schedule when I am going to read ebooks since I can't before bedtime.
Traces sounds good. The use of plant matter to trace bodies or people comes up in the CSI series sometimes. In Chelsea Detective a botanist was able to pinpoint time of death based on some brambles in the soil near a dead body. All very interesting.
I have heard of the Hazlebourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club book before. That should be a fun read. And that puzzle set in a library is awesome.
I am currently reading The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz which not at all what I thought it would be, but is a good read.
Fun puzzle! I've been building a few puzzles lately, too, but only 300 to 500 piece ones. And I want to check out that Rusch series. It sounds like one I would really enjoy. :D
I have been trying (not too successfully I have to add :)) to wean myself off the online jigsaws and back to the 'real' thing! I don't generally tackle anything more than 1,000 pieces these days though and I currently have one on the go featuring toys and games of the 1950s, a real trip down memory lane, as many of them were still around in when I was growing up in the 1960s.
I haven't been reading very much either, but I am intrigued by 'The Hazelbourne Ladies' which I have added to my list.
Here's too a more productive May, although Dave now has a provisional date of May 22nd for his op, so that may not be achievable. Can't believe they have waited over 20 weeks and now want him in (cancellations not withstanding of course) over both his and my own birthdays!
Take Care x
Tracy: Yes, I'm reading the diving series as ebooks too. I'm trying not to buy too many real books as when I eventually move (I'm not doing so yet) I may not have room for as many as I've got. Ebooks are fine though and I've already bought several more of the diving series for my Kindle Fire.
I find the whole pollen/plants thing as a way of solving murders fascinating too. They can find out so much now, you wonder why people dare commit murder!
I've finished the Hazelbourne Ladies book now and yes, it was fun, but also had some serious points to make. I liked it a lot.
I don't think I know The Spellman Files, I'll look it up.
Lark: The diving series is well worth a look, especially as we have quite similar tastes. :-)
Yvonne: Well, you have a lot going on at the moment so a few online jigsaws to take your mind off things will not harm.
I'm very sure that the Hazelbourne Ladies book is one you would enjoy as it has a little more meat on its bones than some modern romance type books.
Oh no... how typical of the NHS to call you in over your birthdays. Not that they would take that into account I suppose and I daresay you just want it done now, so birthday or no birthday I expect Dave will go in. I do hope all goes well and will be thinking of you both.
Congrats on finishing that huge, complex puzzle. I haven't tried one recently as I run out of patience easily!
Harvee: Thank you! I've been doing them since I was a kid so have plenty of experience.
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