Things Half in Shadow by Alan Finn

by Carol6 Comments
I love a good historical mystery and this one was really well done. There are so many things I liked about it. The supernatural elements were not over the top, they fit in well with the whole mood of the era. The fictional characters rub shoulders with real historical figures, which is always fun. There's an attraction between Edward and Lucy, but it doesn't overwhelm the plot, it adds a nice little spark to their interactions. The story keeps moving well, and the reasons Edward and Lucy have for investigating Mrs. Pastor's death are reasonable. Sometimes amateur detectives' motives seem forced. Here, yes the police are investigating, but Lucy's a suspect, in part because of a secret in her past, and Edward is jobless until the situation is cleared up. They feel they don't have time to sit around and wait for the cops. As partners, they work together well most of the time, even though they don't always trust each other. I...
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Thursday’s Tale: How the Tinguian Learned to Plant

by Carol1 Comment
It's cold here today - and I hate the cold. So, I went looking for a folktale from somewhere warm. I found Philippine Folk Tales by Mabel Cook Cole, published in 1916, on Sur La Lune. The Philippines are warm and tropical. Today it's apparently 79 degrees in Manila and 6 here. "How the Tinguian Learned to Plant" explains how the Tinguian people learned two important things - how to plant and how to care for the sick. Long ago, the Tinguian did not know how to plant and harvest as they now do. For food they had only the things that grew in the forests and fish from the streams. They also did not know how to cure people who became ill or were injured by evil spirits. Then Kadaklan, the Great Spirit who lives in the sky, saw that the people often were hungry and sick, so he sent one of his servants, Kaboniyan, to the earth to teach them. Dayapan, a woman...
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2015 Reading Challenges

by Carol2 Comments
I'm joining in in the 2015 Cloak & Dagger Mystery Reading Challenge this year. Our wonderful host is Amy at A Bookish Girl. Effective April, our host is Elizabeth at Thoughts from an Evil Overlord. I'm so happy she picked up the challenge. The Rules: The challenge starts January 1, 2015 and ends  December 31, 2015. You can read any novel, short story or author just so that the genre is mystery/crime/thriller.  1 novel counts as 1 novel (1 novel is anything over 100 pages) of course but you will have to read 5 short stories to count as 1 novel. I think my goal is 20. Next up is the 2015 TBR Jar Challenge, hosted by NYC BookWorm. Any genre, length, or format of book counts. Doesn’t matter when it was published either. E-books, short stories, novellas, or ARC’s are also allowed. There are many ways to do this, but here are two most common (and easiest): Write (or type and print) out the title & author of...
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The Cairo Affair by Olen Steinhauer

by Carol5 Comments
It's been a while since I've read a good espionage book. I've read a couple of barely mediocre ones, but that's beside the point. My library had The Cairo Affair available on audio and the title rang a bell, so I borrowed. Turned out that was a really good choice. It's nice to start of the new year with a winner. The story is told through several viewpoints, but it was always clear whose eyes we were seeing situations through. It was interesting, although not surprising, how much the same event could vary from viewpoint to viewpoint. The characters were all real, there were not over the top superagents, no too good to be true loyalists, no overly intelligent office worker able to predict everything. They are all doing the best they can given their abilities, limited knowledge and resources. Okay, maybe "the best" is not quite true, because we do have people willing to kill, to betray their country and...
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Readers’ Workouts – 1/6/15

by Carol5 Comments
I'm still not doing very well on my daily step count, but now that the holidays are over, I can get back into some kind of routine. It's so doggone cold today though, and is supposed to be for the rest of the week. And too snowy for me to want to drive over to the gym. Remember, Tuesday isn't over yet. I did sign up for a race in May. It's the Salt Fork Spring Challenge, a 10 mile trail run. I find I'm better off if I have a goal I'm working toward, and it sounds fun. Or dangerous. And David figures he'll get to fish while I'm running. We're thinking about spending the night before at the lodge, making it a mini-getaway. I'm also reading a "health" book, Good Health, Good Life by Joyce Meyer, but it doesn't really have anything I didn't already know. It does include action steps, but they're not really clicking for me. I'm not impressed,...
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Thursday’s Tale: Into the Woods (2014)

by Carol4 Comments
We all know the danger of seeing a movie after reading the book - the movie rarely lives up to its promise. While Into the Woods is based on a musical, not a book, we did see the musical a couple of years ago and it's impossible not to compare the two. But the musical is based on fairy tales, which comes back to being based on books - all a little confusing really. But the plot, while involving lots of folks pulls it all together well. I liked the movie, even if it didn't quite live up to my expectations when I heard people saying run, don't walk, to see it. It's enjoyable, full of great characters and stories, ones we're familiar with but whose stories don't turn out the way they traditionally do. I think, for me, the live performance is a little better, but the movie is definitely worth seeing. A couple of things: I found the Little Red Riding Hood...
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