Friday Memes

Book Beginnings on Friday is a bookish meme sponsored by Katy at A Few More Pages. Here's what you do: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments section. Include the title and author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you are so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line and if you did or did not like that sentence. Link up each week at Katy's place.


Here's mine from Nothing Can Rescue Me by Elizabeth Daly:

The plump little man leaned over Gamadge's shoulder and squeaked in his ear: "Who am I?"

Not sure I'd want someone squeaking in my ear....but Gamadge doesn't seem too put out about the surprise.

The Friday 56 is a bookish meme sponsored by Freda's Voice. It is really easy to participate. Just grab a book, any book, and turn to page 56. Find a sentence that grabs you and post it.
Here's mine from Nothing Can Rescue Me by Elizabeth Daly:

"It wasn't a joke, you know, although the perpetrator certainly meant to amuse him- or herself as well as to frighten the victim."

Booking Through Thursday: Fan Fiction

This week's Booking Through Thursday question:

A while ago, I interviewed my readers for a change, and my final question was, “What question have I NOT asked at BTT that you’d love me to ask?” I got some great responses and will be picking out some of the questions from time to time to ask the rest of you. Like now.

Pepca asks
Have you every written any fan-fiction? If yes, why and for which book(s)? If no, would you like to and for which books(s)?

For that matter, do you ever READ fan-fiction??

A day late (as seems to be a habit these days), but: Actually....yes. To both questions. When I was a teenager and heavily into my Classic Trek phase (I'm still a Trek fan-girl, but not quite so much), I wrote some Star Trek parodies--which I think counts. I had gotten into reading the book versions of The Best of Trek (fan fiction magazine!) edited by Walter Irwin and G. B. Love. There was a regular feature for a while in which parodies of classic episodes appeared. Then they stopped...and I decided to try my hand at a few. I have them around here somewhere....maybe some day I'll inflict them on you all.

I've also read some of the fan fiction collections that have come out more recently--featuring stories from all the Trek variations through Enterprise.

Future on Ice: Review

The short story collection Future on Ice was conceived as a companion book to Orson Scott Card's first anthology, Future on Fire. Meant to appear shortly after Fire's publication in 1991, Ice did not come out until 1998, my best friend gave me the book in 2002, and here I am ten years later finally reading the thing. So the first thing one might ask is: Do the stories hold up? Card chose these stories as the best of the '80s. Are they? And if they are, are the best science fiction stories of the 80s relevant twenty years later?

Are these the best? I really can't say. I don't know that I was ever immersed enough in 80s science fiction to make that judgement. My SF reading peak hit during the 80s and carried me through the early 90s, but even then I had a taste for the classics. You'd be more likely to find Bradbury or Asimov or Clarke or Silverberg or Sturgeon in my hands than anybody current or up-and-coming. And sure, Asimov is here...and a few other names that I know (Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Octavia Butler, C. J. Cherryh...and, of course, Orson Scott Card). Overall, the authors are new to me.

But, I can say that these are, for the most part, good solid stories. And there isn't one that feels dated. They could have taken place in 1985 or 1965 or 2005 or beyond. Because these are people stories first. They are about the human condition and what we do with that no matter what our circumstance or time period. The ones that aren't as good (in my opinion) are not as good because I don't connect as well with them...not because they don't work well now. They just don't work well for me.

I think Card did a very good job of selecting a variety of stories. There should be something here for everyone--from computer geeks to time travelers, from alien first contact to inter-species war, from cyber-genetics to cyber-intelligence. We get a look at Earth's "past"--from the viewpoint of a future archeologist and a glimpse of what the future of humanity might look like (personally, I don't want to go there).

The best of the best:

"Robot Dreams" by Isaac Asimov: a roboticist inadvertently creates a robot capable of dreaming. What should we as humans do with that? [5 stars]
"Portraits of His Children" by George R. R. Martin: a novelist's daughter takes a unique revenge; teaching him a lesson through his other "children" [5 stars for an emotionally raw, heart-breakingly terrific story]
"Blood Music" by Greg Bear: creation of a nano-culture based on human cells initiates a take-over from within...instead of without [5 stars]
"Press Enter [ ]" by John Varley: a totally different take on how computers might take over the world. [5 stars]
"Rockaby Baby" by S. C. Sykes: You're a para- or quadriplegic. Would it be worth it to have your physical self completely whole again if you forgot who you were and everything that made you who you were? [5 stars]

The rest of the stories are a mixed bag ranging from 2-3 1/2 stars. Average for the whole collection 3 1/2 stars.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Review

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne is, quite honestly, more of an adventure and revenge novel than science fiction. Admittedly Verne was speculating on the use of sciences that were in their infancy or just a glimmer in their inventor's eyes when he wrote, but there isn't much that's truly out-of-this-world and stretch-your-imagination here--particularly for someone reading it now.

Verne has given us the mysterious figure of Captain Nemo--a man whose nationality and origins are unknown. A man who harbors a deep distaste for his fellow man and who is a on a quest to avenge some private wrong. At the end of the story he says about a vessel that he is about to attack, "I am the oppressed, and there is the oppressor! Through him I have lost all that I loved, cherished, and venerated,--country, wife, children, father, and mother. I saw all perish! All that I hate is there! Say no more!" We are never told exactly what happened to make him so bitter.

But, I get ahead of myself....to backtrack. The story begins with Professor Aronnax, French naturalist who is a recognized expert on marine life and who is on his way home to France after an expedition. When he arrives in New York in preparation to sail back home, there are also preparations being made for the naval ship the Abraham Lincoln to set out in search of a "sea monster" which has been spotted by various ships and most recently has opened a large hole in the passenger ship the Scotia. The captain and crew of the Lincoln have vowed to hunt down whatever creature may have done the damage and Professor Aronnax is invited along as an expert in sea life. His devoted servant Conseil joins him on what may (and does) prove to be a dangerous journey. They make friends with the skilled harpooner Ned Land.

When the Lincoln finally locates the "creature" and engages it, the ship is damaged (the rudder rendered useless) and Aronnax, Conseil, and Land all find themselves adrift in the Atlantic. They wind up washed up on the hull of the "creature"--a man-made submarine shaped roughly like a cigar. The three are soon brought inside, but find themselves prisoners of a man who introduces himself as Captain Nemo. Nemo tells them that he means them no harm, but that he will never allow them to leave the vessel. They must resign themselves to a life aboard his ship.

The remainder of the book is a veritable travelogue of the voyage of the Nautilus (Nemo's vessel) through the oceans and seas of the world. We follow him through the Atlantic and Pacific, through the waters of the Antarctic to the pole itself. We see him journey through the Red Sea and a secret underground passage that takes him through the Mediterranean. We are treated to an encyclopedia's worth of marine life (literally--a catalog of underwater creatures, with commentary given to us in great detail by the Professor). And ends with the scene of revenge from which the quote above is taken.

There are some grand adventures here. There are some very nice descriptions. Nemo has the makings of a tremendous character study. I enjoyed the heart of the story very much--and could have loved this so much more than Moby Dick and Ahab's obsession*, but for two things. First--the obscenely long lists of marine life and the detailed descriptions of everything from their scales to their fins to their tentacles. And the fact that even Conseil, the servant, seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of most of the life they encounter. He occasionally has to ask the Professor a question, but he seems to know more than most servants should about just about anything. Second, we never find out Nemo's back-story. He's one of the most interesting characters but we don't know why he hates men so much or what happened that took everything he had away from him. We're left to wonder. I would have enjoyed more about Nemo and less about the zillions of kinds of fish.

Overall, an enjoyable adventure. Three and a half stars.


*I do like it better than Moby Dick (which I hated), by the way. But I could have loved it much more and would have liked to.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a bookish meme hosted by Book Journey. It's where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It's a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list. So hop on over via the link above and join in...and leave a comment here so I can check out what you are reading.


Books Read (click on titles for review):
The Red Lamp by Mary Roberts Rinehart
Imagined London: A Tour of the World's Greatest Fictional City by Anna Quindlen

[I've really got to pick up the pace if I'm going to do all those challenges I've signed up for...]


Currently Reading:
The Future on Ice by Orson Scott Card (ed): A widely varied, immensely enjoyable, and historically important anthology, Future on Ice is a showcase for the hottest stories by the coolest SF writers of the 1980s. Complete with a preface, introduction, and story notes by Card himself, here are early stories from eighteen incredibly talented authors who have since shattered the face of science fiction.

Books that spark my interest:
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
The Jesus Incident by Frank Herbert & Bill Ransom
Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Friday Memes (On Saturday!)

Book Beginnings on Friday is a bookish meme sponsored by Katy at A Few More Pages. Here's what you do: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments section. Include the title and author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you are so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line and if you did or did not like that sentence. Link up each week at Katy's place.


Here's mine from "Portraits of His Children" short story by George R.R. Martin in Future on Fire by Orson Scott Card (ed):

Richard Cantling found the package leaning up against the front door, one evening in late October when he was setting out for his walk.

The Friday 56 is a bookish meme sponsored by Freda's Voice. It is really easy to participate. Just grab a book, any book, and turn to page 56. Find a sentence that grabs you and post it.
Here's mine from "Portraits of His Children" short story by George R.R. Martin in Future on Fire by Orson Scott Card (ed):

But the reporter had kept his sense of humor through all of it, kept off the demons with nothing but a mordant wit and an unlit Camel.

Imagined London: Review

Atop it [the London Eye, a Ferris wheel], in one of the glass cars in which tourists ride, it is possible to see most of London. The London that was rebuilt after the enemy bombs wrecked it. The London that was rebuilt after plague and fire ripped through. The London of Holmes and Watson and Nancy and Fagin, of bright young things and enemy bombs. London upon London upon London, a city in which the destruction of the Blitz managed to unearth a section of the original Roman walls nearly two millennia after their construction. No novelist would use such a metaphor; reality is often more heavy-handed than we can afford to be. (p. 159)

Imagined London: A Tour of the World's Greatest Fictional City by Anna Quindlen is a sweet little book. But it's not a travel book if that's what you're looking for. It's not a real tour of the city. It won't really introduce you to the highways and byways of Doyle's London (or Dickens's or Austen's or...). It's Anna's love letter to the city of her literary dreams.

I liked it best for the descriptions of Anna as a reader and ardent Anglophile. I enjoyed her excitement at finally setting foot in the city she had loved from afar (and hope one day to share that excitement--I'm an ardent Anglophile as well). She has a lovely way of describing her early reading habits and her first journey through the city. She brings along Austen and Dickens and Heyer and others to help us enjoy the city.

The only disappointment I had in the book was that I expected to feel like I'd been to London too. And I don't. It wasn't nearly descriptive enough and it wasn't the literary travelogue that I'd expected. Perhaps that wasn't her intention in writing the book and the fault is mine for false expectations. Overall, a fun, sweet book that I enjoyed once I accepted it for what it is (rather than being disgruntled that it wasn't what I thought it was). Four stars.


Some quotes I gathered:

Since the age of five I had been one of those people who was an indefatigable reader, more inclined to go off by myself with a book than do any of the dozens of things that children usually do to amuse themselves. I never aged out of it. (p. 7)

I read and reread and recommended and rarely rejected, became one of those readers who will read trashy stories as long as they're not too terrible--well, even perhaps the truly terrible ones--and will reread something she's already read, even if it's something like a detective novel, when you'd suspect that knowing who had really killed the countess would materially detract from the experience. (It doesn't, and besides, I often can't remember who the murderer was in the first place.) (pp. 7-8)

London has the trick of making its past, its long indelible past, always a part of its present. And for that reason it will always have meaning for the future, because of all it can teach about disaster, survival, and redemption. It is all there in the streets. It is all there in the books. (p. 19)

The choice of neighborhood by the Woolfs and their circle makes clear what any reader knows about London: that geography is destiny. It is one of the central tenets of English literature: Where you live tells us who you are, or who you have become. (p. 32)

Round and round the square, peering at the house numbers for 62, where Soames kept her like an especially beautiful painting in a frame of crystal and polished furniture. Round and round again. But there is no number 62. Perhaps the author wanted to protect the actual house from the taint that might attach to the fictional unhappiness in his own creation. Perhaps he chose a number out of the air, without any attention to the house numbers on Montpelier Square itself. Perhaps in a small way he wanted to drive home what is always a valuable lesson, when we insist on learning the world through books: that accuracy and truth are sometimes quite different things. (p. 47)

Each of us has an illusion that we would prefer to maintain intact. (p. 57)

A visitor can take the Tube to London's most notorious neighborhoods, and not see anything that approaches the dingy squalor of Dickens's London. This is either a tribute to urban renewal or literary overstatement. (p. 68)

Behind every door in London there are stories, behind every one ghosts. The greatest writers in the history of the written word have given them substance, given them life. (p. 160)

Booking Through Thursday: Only Five

This week, BTT asks "If you had to pick only 5 books to read ever again, what would they be and why? ... (Such a cruel question!) "

A cruel question indeed! Only five? Seriously? Okay, here we go...but please know that I could easily come up with twice that or five times or ten....

1. The Bible...a must have. It has everything from mysteries (no matter what definition you use) to poetry. Proverbs to parables. End of the world prophecy.

2. The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I've got to have some humor and I never tire of Adams' British wit.

3. Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers...unless somewhere out there exists a complete works, then I want that. But Strong Poison shows Lord Peter off just as he's beginning to really grow and I love the scene when he visits Harriet in prison--particularly when he says: "I'm told I make love rather nicely--only I'm at a disadvantage at the moment. One can't be very convincing at the other end of a table with a bloke looking in at the door." And Miss Climpson is an absolute treasure. I couldn't do without her.

4. The Complete French Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke...again unless there is a complete works of all his work. I love Rilke. I love his rhythm and the visions that he creates in me with his words. I could read these poems over and over. And have.

5. The Night Is Large (essays) by Martin Gardner. This is a tough book. Challenging and I'm quite sure I didn't get all that I could out of it the first time. Terrific essays on a variety of topics.

Theme Thursday: Do You Hear What I Hear?

Hosted by Reading Between the Pages

Rules
*A theme will be posted each week on Thursday
*Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from your current book that features the theme
*Post it and don't forget to mention the author and title of the book
*Event is open for the whole week
*Link back to Reading Between the Pages

This week's theme is Hear--Listen, or any action do with the ear:
Here's mine from Imagined London: A Tour of the World's Greatest Fictional City by Anna Quindlen (p. 58):

...my free time was spent wandering aimlessly through the streets of London, from Covent Garden through the West end, along the Strand and down to the Thames. Listening to the half-slurry, half-sharp intonations of the average English accent, passing a group of city types ranged outside the crammed entryway of a pub, taking the vertiginous escalators down into the Underground and then up again, all while moving from monument to monument--it was just as I'd imagined and then some.

Teaser Tuesdays

MizB of Should Be Reading hosts Teaser Tuesdays. Anyone can play along. Just do the following:

*Grab your current read.*Open to a random page.
*Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.

*BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! You don't want to ruin the book for others.

*Share the title and author too, so other TT participants can add it to their TBR lists if they like your teaser.

Here's mine from Imagined London: A Tour of the World's Greatest Fictional City by Anna Quindlen (p. 19):

London has the trick of making its past, its long indelible past, always part of its present. And for that reason it will always have meaning for the future, because of all it can teach about disaster, survival, and redemption. It is all there in the streets. It is all there in the books.

The Red Lamp: Review

If you read the back of the book, you would suspect that The Red Lamp by Mary Roberts Rinehart is a bit gothic in nature. Perhaps a young woman in danger or Had-I-But-Known book. See for yourself:

Jane wanted to leave Twin Towers the moment she arrived. She had a strange feeling about the old mansion, a chilling apprehension of doom that followed her through the creaking halls like a death shadow. The others thought her fears were groundless--until they felt the evil iridescence of the Red Lamp, and realized how terrifyingly right she was.

But then you read the book and you find out this isn't a woman-in-danger book. The story isn't really about Jane at all. It's a man in danger. And, as a matter of fact, it's a Professor in danger. Which anyone who knows me would think would immediately make my interest in the book go up dramatically. It did. For about twenty pages. Maybe. The trouble is Professor William Porter does so much of the damage himself. As the detective Greenough tells him, "you'll have to admit that you've seemed to go out of your way all summer to get into trouble!" So, what is the trouble, you ask?

Well...Professor William Porter has inherited Twin Towers from his Uncle Horace. Uncle Horace died from what was declared natural causes--a simple heart attack. Or was it? Was he literally scared to death by earthly agents or...perhaps by supernatural forces? Twin Towers had been rumored to be haunted. There are tales of a red lamp that glows in its windows at night. And when the red lamp glows, things happen. Things that no one can explain.

Jane is Professor Porter's wife. She comes into the story only peripherally. Jane, it seems, has a bit of the mediumistic quality about her. She had a "vision" the night Uncle Horace died and warned Porter that she had seen his uncle dead on the library floor of Twin Towers--before the phone call came confirming her premonition. Throughout the book, she has these little moments of supernatural vision...just enough to give the story a shove when it's lagging a bit. As the blurb mentions, when the idea of going to Twin Towers for their summer holiday is broached, Jane doesn't want to go. She won't give a solid reason...but she refuses to stay in the house. So she and Porter along with their niece Edith and her beau go to the grounds of Twin Towers, but stay in the Lodge (Jane, Porter & Edith) and Halliday (the beau) in the boathouse.

It is decided that they will rent the main house out and they do so--to an elderly, infirm gentleman and his secretary. In the meantime, a madman seems to be on the loose. First sheep are killed--their throats expertly cut--and then a young deputy is killed and a young woman disappears. The locals seem to believe that the red lamp has called up some kind of demon that is terrorizing the countryside. Greenough is brought in to get to the bottom of things and Porter becomes convinced that he is the main suspect. He then sets out to do just about every suspicious thing he can in order to ensure that he is the main suspect. He begins to think that everyone (bar his little entourage) is against him and he and Halliday start detecting on their own in an attempt to find the real culprit. It all comes together in a spooky grand finale in the haunted house--complete with seance and red lamp.

This is the Mary Robert Rinehart story that tried to be supernatural and failed. It never did get the right creepy-crawly atmosphere. And I didn't really sympathize with poor, persecuted Professor Porter. I just wanted him to sit still for a few moments and let some things happen when he had a roomful of witnesses so he could be sure that nobody suspected him. After all, if you don't want your neighbors to think you're the sheep-killer, then don't go skulking around countryside at night. It really shouldn't take a PhD to think that one out (and it didn't...).

I also had difficulty with the journal entry style of writing. There are times when this works, but this isn't one of them. Porter's journal entries seem to ramble and there were many instances where I had to thumb back a couple of pages and sort myself out. It made it difficult to settle down to the story.

What saves this book is Rinehart. Even when the style isn't quite right; even when the supernatural setting doesn't quite come off--she can still write and there are some mighty good portions that help keep The Red Lamp from being a total loss. If I can find some choice quotes (as you can see below I did), then a book can't be all bad. I enjoyed the characters of Edith and Halliday very much. I think perhaps if this had been written with more of a focus on them--with straightforward story-telling rather than the journal entries--then we might have had a much better book. Two and a half stars.
Quotes:

...a man may shout the eternal virtues and be unheard forever, but if he babble nonsense in a wilderness it will travel around the world. (p. 41)

It is only in his head that man is heroic; in the pit of his stomach he is always a coward. (p. 43)

In the pursuit of English literature the wear and tear is on the trouser seats rather than the muscles....I could no more strangle a man than I could bulldog a steer. (p. 93)

"There is no such thing as a perfect crime," he [Halliday] said, "and of course the general idea that clue is some mysterious phenomenon which it requires superhuman powers to understand, is all bosh. Clues are practically always trivial, because it is only the trivial things the criminal overlooks. He takes care of the big ones." (p. 119)

It is characteristic of the average mind often to question what it hears but to believe wholeheartedly what it reads. (p. 151)

"Well, professor," he [Greenough] said, "it's a darned queer world, there's no denying it."
"The world's all right. It's the people in it who mess things up." [Willaim Porter] (p. 224)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a bookish meme hosted by Book Journey. It's where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It's a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list. So hop on over via the link above and join in...and leave a comment here so I can check out what you are reading.


Books Read (click on titles for review):
The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Well
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

[I've really got to pick up the pace if I'm going to do all those challenges I've signed up for...]


Currently Reading:
The Red Lamp by Mary Roberts Rinehart: Jane wanted to leave Twin Towers the moment she arrived. She had a strange feeling about the old mansion, a chilling apprehension of doom that followed her through the creaking halls like a death shadow. The others thought her fears were groundless--until they felt the evil iridescence of the Red Lamp, and realized how terrifyingly right she was!

Books that spark my interest:
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
The Future on Ice by Orson Scott Card (ed)
The Jesus Incident by Frank Herbert & Bill Ransom
Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

[You will notice I'm still looking at a lot of science fiction titles...I'm in the midst of the Science Fiction Experience "challenge" sponsored by Carl V. SF will be the main item on the menu until the end of February.]

The Hound of the Baskervilles: Review

Since I've been struggling with my reading (and as a by-product, my blogging) lately, I decided to go back to something tried and true--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and The Hound of the Baskervilles. Sherlock Holmes never lets me down. Give me a good old Victorian mystery set on the moors of England and watch the reading doldrums fade away.

This is the classic story of Sir Henry Baskerville and the legend of the giant hound that haunts his family. Is it really true that a spectral dog hunts down all the Baskerville men as retribution for Sir Hugo's dastardly deeds in the 18th Century? Sherlock Holmes is unwilling to believe it until he can rule out all possibility of human involvement, but recent events have Dr. Mortimer, a man of science, thinking it may be true.

The tale really starts with Sir Charles Baskerville, Henry's uncle. Sir Charles had returned to Baskerville Hall only two years ago having made his fortune abroad. He settled down to the life of country squire and was spreading his wealth amongst the less-fortunate around him. There seemed to be no reason for anyone to wish him harm. Then the rumors start flying that a giant hound has been seen and heard on the moor. Sir Charles, who has a weak heart, becomes anxious and dies one night near the moor--of "natural causes." Dr. Mortimer, the attending physician, is uneasy. There are no marks of violence on the body, but there is every reason to believe that Sir Charles was literally scared to death. He approaches Holmes with the legend of hound, the facts as he knows them of Sir Charles's death, and asks his advice about what to do with Sir Henry--the new baronet.

Holmes is quite sure that there is, indeed, evil abroad and sends Watson to Baskerville Hall to guard the new baronet and send reports about all that happens and all who are interested in Sir Charles. Watson gathers clues while Holmes works mysteriously in the background until the story reaches a climax on the foggy, lonely moor. A night when Sir Henry, Holmes and Watson will see the Hound of the Baskervilles for themselves....

It was nice to breeze through a book again--and not just because I've read it before. But because Doyle writes so darn well. There are plenty of Victorian-era descriptions, but not so much that the reader gets bogged down. And there's plenty of action to keep the story moving--with mysterious strangers following Sir Henry through London, the mystery of the disappearing boots, the escaped criminal out on the moors, the tall man who watches from the craggy heights, and what in the world is Barrymore, the Baskerville butler, up to at night? Great fun! And reading Holmes was like coming home. Five stars.

Quotes:

It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but that you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. (p. 8)

The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes. (p. 31)

The devil’s agents may be of flesh and blood, may they not? (p. 32)

The setting is a worthy one, if the devil did desire to have a hand in the affairs of men. (p. 32)

There's a light in a woman's eyes that speaks louder than words. (p. 94)

Evil indeed is the man who has not one woman to mourn him. (p. 143)

What An Animal V Challenge

Oh, Look! Another Challenge! But--it's not adding a single book to the line-up. Nope, not one. Crossovers are allowed and I already planned to read eight books for the Dangerous Beasts portion of my very own Vintage Mystery Challenge. So...I'm signing up for the

What an Animal V

Mar 1, 2012- Feb 28, 2013
hosted by Yvonne at its own blog
sign up here

Check out the sign up page for complete information but the basics are:

Read six books that have an animal....on the cover, in the title, plays a major role, Main character is an animal or shifts.

Here's my plan:

1. Swan Song by Edmund Crispin (4/3/12)
2. The Case of the Grinning Gorilla by Erle Stanley Gardner (3/30/12)
3. Hare Sitting Up by Michael Innes (3/9/12)
4. The Murder in the Stork Club by Vera Caspary (3/10/12)
5. The Golden Scorpion by Sax Rohmer (4/2/12)
6. Dead as a Dinosaur by Frances & Richard Lockridge (3/8/12)

Commitment Complete! (4/3/12)

7. Pearls Before Swine by Margery Allingham (6/8/12)
8. The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart (4/14/12)
9. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (4/4/12)
10. The Cat Who Saw Red by Lilian Jackson Braun (5/22/12)
11. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (6/30/12)

Quote It! Saturday

Freda's Voice has an awesome Saturday meme for quote lovers called Quote It! and I have another blog, Quote Mistress, which is entirely devoted to the quotes I have collected over my lifetime. So my Quote It! may be found on my quote site. I'd love for you to visit...and be sure and visit Freda's Voice too!