An observation of the reading habits of an M.E. bookworm …

I seem to have nothing to say today. I woke up this morning all sparkling ready to get down to some work but unfortunately I have come to you after I’ve worn my brain down. I’ve been going through my enormous Amazon Kindle book archive (1626 books) creating a wish list of books my mum might like to read. She is not into all the genres I read so I’ve been selecting the first books of series she might enjoy. I have it narrowed down to 24 books/series – an selection include:

• pure fantasy: A Tapestry of Spells (Nine Kingdoms) by Lynn Kurland,
  • This is the second trilogy set in the Nine Kingdoms by Lynn Kurland. The story revolves around Sarah and Ruith trying to stop Sarah’s brother from destroying the Nine Kingdoms. On the way they have to confront their own powers and history while romance blossoms.
• science fiction mixed in with fantasy: Quest for the Moon Orb (Orbs of Rathira) by Laura Jo Phillips,
  • When Karma Baraka first saw the sand dunes of Planet Rathira, little did she know that this apparently peaceful world with a civilization strangely like that of Ancient Egypt was under attack by demons from another dimension, that the strange-looking cross recently given to her was the Ti-Ank, a talisman of unbelievable power, or that her possession of the Ti-Ank and her remarkable ability to speak to the dead marked her as the long-prophesied Techu, whom the Rathirians believed would come to save their world. I enjoy the Egyptian elements as something different from your usual medieval fantasy settings. The main character is a strong female who won’t be battered down my male prejudice. I enjoy the gentle romance as the party make the way across the desert to find the Moon Orb.
• sword and sorcery fantasy: The Kinshield Legacy (The Kinshield Saga) by K.C. May,
  • Warrant knight Gavin Kinshield sets out to find a letter from his father to discover what caused the demise of King Arek. The story romps along. An easy read but still satisfying to see our hero grow into his potential.
• young adult fantasy: Ready, Steady, Dig! (The Rooks Ridge series) by Rosalind Winter,
  • When you have spent the last sixteen hundred years faithfully guarding a precious hoard of gold and silver buried in the foundations of a Roman villa, the arrival of a bunch of TV archaeologists is seriously bad news.
    But the little household gods of the Villa Corvo have ways of deterring intruders that the makers of the popular programme “Ready, Steady, Dig!” could never have dreamed of. This is a fun satire on Time Team (a UK archaeology program – a dig in 3 days) methods woven round the household guardian Lars. Will 12 year old Vera and aging rock star Bony be able to help the stone figures save the day? I smiled all the way through. As a fan of Time Team there was a great deal to smirk over.
• murder mystery: Invisible (An Ivy Malone Mystery Book #1): A Novel by Lorena McCourtney,
  • Ivy Malone is not your average crime fighter. She is getting on in years and found that with age she has become invisible. So when she spots something unusual she puts her powers to good use. I love this series because Ivy is such a wonderful lady. She would make a wonderful grandmother. I’m always rooting for her to solve the mystery.
• young adult murder mystery: I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells,
  • A young man trying to deal with sociopathic tendencies who works at mother’s funeral parlor on the weekends. He ends up trying to solve the spate of murders in the town. Thoroughly enjoyable mystery with wonderfully drawn main character
• military science fiction: A Galaxy Unknown (A Galaxy Unknown, Book 1) by Thomas DePrima,
  • A young ensign finds herself awakened from cryo sleep a decade after she abandoned ship in the middle of the night. She finds that the galaxy is know ravaged by space pirates. This is the first of her adventures in defeating them. I love this series because it is a slight satire on other series such as Honerverse by David Weber but matures into its own right. There is daring do and impossible escapes which adds up to a light hearted, fun science fiction read.
• romantic suspense: The Unsung Hero (Troubleshooter​s) by Suzanne Brockmann
  • After a near-fatal head injury, Navy SEAL Lieutenant Tom Paoletti is ordered to take a leave of absence from his team. When Tom catches a terrifying glimpse of an international terrorist in their hometown, and the Navy dismisses the danger as injury-induced imaginings, childhood sweetheart Kelly Ashton is the one person who never doubts him. Creating his own makeshift counterterrorist team from his most loyal officers and the town’s residents, Tom knows they must save the day if he is to have one last chance for happiness with Kelly. This is a book containing intertwined stories of romance in the the second world war as well as new love with two teenagers. This book has real depth of characterization and the thriller suspense element is well drawn. I thoroughly enjoy all the books in this series. The military action elements just get better and better.

 

So I hope I’ve given you some new authors to go and explore. I’m off to read Intruder (Foreigner Novels) by C. J. Cherryh before the new novel Protector comes out on the 2nd April. Bren is one of my favourite characters of all time. I was blown away when I first read this series. I can still devour it down two books a day once I get started. C.J. Cherryh has an amazing ability to delineate different mindsets both between aliens and within human cultures. I find her observations on interactions stunningly interesting. I can’t wait for a new book to absorb.

 

Hours Sleep Today so far : – 12 hours in 1 session1 😐
Headache intensity / pain level : 2 😀
Nausea level : 0 😀
Joint / muscle pain : 2 😀
Fatigue : 4 🙂
Brain Fog : 4 🙂

see my explanatory scale document here.

Intruder alert, Intruder alert …

Hours Sleep in 24 hours :
Today so far : – 10 hours in 1 session 🙂
Headache intensity / pain level : 1 😀
Nausea level : 0 😀
Joint / muscle pain : 0 😀
Fatigue : 7.5 😦
Brain Fog : 8 😦

 

So after I spoke to you yesterday the most wonderous and magnificent postman arrived delivering his packages of joy. Amazon came through on their delivery 2 days early much to my delight. The latest Foreigner book by C. J. Cherryh – Intruder – arrived causing me to feel like I wanted to dance around the room in excitement. I absolutely adore the Foreigner series. It’s a series that I got to the end of the previous 12 books and then just started at the beginning again. I’ve read the first books more times than the last ones but I’ve re-read the entire series at least 8 or 9 times. Every time I read them I’m still looking to see whether I can guess what is going to happen just based on the clues that the main character is given. Bren Cameron is perhaps my favourite character of all time. He is smart, analytical and self-critical. He is very human in his doubts and fears. But he is also truly heroic. He rises to meet the crisis he encounters. He is willing to be self-sacrificing to save not only his people but the Atevi.

 

The latest book, Intruder, is the first book in the 5th trilogy of books set in the Atevi Universe. If you’re going to read this series you definitely have to start with the 1st book Foreigner and work your way through all of them. Personally I would recommend reading each book twice before moving on to the next book in the series. These books are a mixture of political thriller and action novel. The first book, especially, contains a great deal of hidden motives that only reading the rest of the 1st trilogy can really start to unpick.  The Atevi are genuinely mysterious and alien in their motives and it takes very careful reading to unpick the clues in their behaviour. What I find amazing is the clues are there and when you come back to read the first book, having read the rest of the series, you can see the hidden currents based on your expanded knowledge.

 

I was dubious at first as to whether I would like Foreigner. In general I’m not a fan of political fantasy books. All the court machinations tend to leave me confused and ambivalent. I think these books work so well because Bren captures your sympathy and friendship. You genuinely want to solve the puzzles alongside him. The outcomes of the puzzles feel important in that they directly affect the main characters survival. You feel a real sense of danger in misjudging the reaction of one of the Atevi characters.

 

C.J. Cherrh is perhaps the most outstanding author I have come across for creating truly alien aliens. In all her science fiction novels she manages to create a real sense of a completely different set of biological and social impulses. The Foreigner books are perhaps her best realization of aliens, both biologically and socially, since there are in fact several different alien mindsets in the book not least among the humans. I find her writing especially interesting where it deals with the effects of long term separation of human cultures – the idea that environment shapes human responses and culture.

 

I would highly recommend any of her science fiction series but in particular the Foreigner series. You won’t regret the time you spend with Bren and his ‘friends’.