In real life: work and lots of meetings. I finished up some requested changes to a work project and turned it in this week. I planned to go to a book club online on Tuesday evening, but I wasn’t feeling well. On Wednesday, I had several meetings on Zoom, and another on Thursday.
I was very excited to read The Lantern’s Dance, the first new Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes mystery since 2021’s Castle Shade. Once started, I could hardly put it down, staying up until 2:30 in the morning to reach the denouement. Like The Murder of Mary Russell, the novel alternates between past and present narratives, slowly revealing hidden connections that surprised and enchanted me.
I hope to read most of these in 2024. Some are ARCs, but others are books I just really wanted to read, but didn’t have access to in 2023. In some cases, I’m on the hold list at the library, so it’s just a question of when my holds come in.
Gabriel’s Angel is an excellent example of just how good category romance can be when it’s done well, within the strict confines of length and style imposed by the publisher. Gabriel, a reclusive artist on the run from grief, and Laura, a woman trying desperately to protect her unborn child, are both in pain from events in their recent pasts. Each needs something the other can give: inspiration, protection, understanding, healing.
It was a relatively quiet week, uneventful except for a dentist appointment, a much-needed hair cut, and a couple of Zoom meetings. We did get a little snow on Monday, which made the woods look beautiful. It was followed by (barely) freezing rain on Tuesday. By barely, I mean it turned to slush rather than creating sheets of ice all over everything. Then the skies cleared and the temperatures plummeted…
Why Fish Don’t Exist is a short but fascinating and well-written book which combines biography, memoir, science (particularly taxonomy), and philosophy. Written by Lulu Miller, who cohosts both RadioLab and NPR’s Invisibilia podcast, the book recounts Miller’s fascination and subsequent disillusionment with David Starr Jordan, a prominent scientist and scholar during the late 19th and early 20th century.
My Bookish Resolutions for 2024: I looked at last year’s resolutions, and I was dismayed at how little I accomplished. One suggestion I have seen in several places is that it works better to set specific, concrete, achievable goals, rather than broad, sweeping resolutions. So I’m incorporating that concept into my resolutions this year. And in another bid to keep myself from feeling overwhelmed, I am limiting myself to five bookish resolutions.
I had fun at my fiber guild meeting on Saturday, and bought more yarn than I should have at the sale afterward. And I finally got everything unpacked from our month-long vacation in December, and put most of it away. I still have to find room for the books and the yarn and fiber, but I want to photograph and catalog them first.
This week’s links include: lots of book banning and library news; ChatGPT and copyrighted materials; Tor.com rebrands; indie bookstore given to new owner; the ethics of biofiction; Ranger’s Apprentice series to get TV adaptation; plus reading challenges to check out, and more
Jennifer Arden, younger sister of the Duke of Whilby, was crippled after a childhood disease left her with a twisted, shortened leg and foot. Deeply loved by her family, she is nonetheless an outsider rather than a participant in the ton, forced by her disability to sit quietly on the sidelines. She has cultivated a cheerful acceptance of her fate, but in her heart, she longs for romance, marriage, children… or simply to walk and dance like other young women.
