Here’s my reading list from July–interestingly, there’s only one “current” book on the list, the bio of Andrew Jackson. All the others are either old books being read for either the first time or for a revisit, or new-ish books that were already on the second reading. Hmmm. Go figure! And, really surprising? Since I was visiting this last weekend, I didn’t read a single thing from Friday morning through Sunday afternoon. I literally cannot remember the last time I went even 24 hours without reading something! (No, flipping through copies of knitting books doesn’t count.)

1. SWORD OF ORION by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (276 p.) More of a YA sci-fi book than their usual series. Perfectly nice, but . . . not my favorite of theirs. I do love their Liaden series, though. Basically, I resisted the urge to take one of those off the shelf and picked up this instead.

2. A SUDDEN WILD MAGIC by Diana Wynne Jones (412 p.) She also usually writes YA books, fantasy, this time. This one, though, is written for adults and, again, it’s fine, but not as great as her other books. Basically, I read it about once every five years, and that’s plenty…

3. HEART OF GOLD by Sharon Shinn (359 p.) Next to Archangel, this is my favorite book by this, one of my very favorite authors. Sci-fi, placed in a world technologically very like our own, peopled by three races, the Indigo, the sociologically in-charge, matriarchal race, the Gulden, patriarchal, but the less-powerful race. (Oh, and the Albinos, who basically aren’t important to the story.) Nolan is an Indigo man, engaged to be married to an heiress, but working in The City at a biological-lab in the meantime. Kit is an Indigo woman who has been raised with the Gulden and in love the terrorist son of the Gulden leader. I just find this book fascinating in its exploration of power-bases, morality, and what is and is not important. I love it. Love it. By now, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read it.

4. DAMSEL IN DISTRESS by P.G. Wodehouse (254 p.) My favorite non-Jeeves book by Wodehouse. George Bevan is a wildly successful, but lonely composer, who, one day has a girl jump into his cab as it drives through London. He falls in love instantly, but she is in love with someone else . . . typical Wodehouse zaniness ensues. (This was made into a mediocre movie with Fred Astaire and George and Gracie Burns way back when, but trust me, the book is better.) Fun and amusing.

5. AUNTIE MAME by Patrick Dennis (292 p.) Speaking of fun and amusing, this novel of the fictional, madcap Auntie Mame throughout the crazy, Bohemian late 20s, through the Depression, and into the forties, raising her orphaned nephew and Living Large all the while. Hilarious.

6. BREAK IN by Dick Francis (317 p.) A nice, enjoyable mystery with one of my favorite Dick Francis heros, Kit Fielding. He is a champion jockey whose sister and brother-in-law are being unfairly attacked by a newspaper, and dives in to help. I love Kit. He’s smart, resourceful, strong, athletic, and generally just a wonderful guy.

7. BOLT by Dick Francis (318 p.) The second Kit Fielding book, this time helping his fiance’s family deal with a hostile business associate making threats. Light, fun, perfectly decent little read.

8. HAVE HIS CARCASE by Dorothy Sayers (440 p.) Harriet Vane, on a walk on the beach, finds a dead body, and investigations with Lord Peter Wimsey begin….

9. DIE FOR LOVE by Elizabeth Peters (274 p.) One of those light, fluffy kind of mysteries. Jacqueline Kirby, to avoid a Nebraska winter, heads to a Romance Writers conference in New York. There, she meets up with two old school chums, a shifty literary agent, a beautiful writer, a handsome “front” for a bestselling male author . . . it’s murder at its most fun, and Jacqueline herself at her most outrageous.

10. ALDEN AMOS’ BIG BOOK OF SPINNING (473 p.) Finally, finally, I got through this book! It’s been the foundation of the pile next to my bed since November, when I got it for my birthday. Sheesh! Big, complex, really more detailed than necessary. (Were that many equations really necessary for a book on spinning?) And yet, his writing style is darn readable–he comes across as very opinionated, but with a sense of humor, which is the saving grace. Some of the footnotes are well nigh hilarious. But slogging through all that math just before bed? Well, it did take me eight months….

11. NAKED ONCE MORE by Elizabeth Peters (360 p.) Now that heroine Jacqueline Kirby has become a romance novelist herself, she gets a chance to write the sequel to a famous book whose author disappeared under mysterious circumstances seven years earlier . . . but is she really dead? How do you explain the mysterious accidents that happened to both Kathleen Darcy and now to Jacqueline? This was the first book by this author that I ever read, and I still have a soft spot. Jacqueline is a great character, outrageous and yet always a lady (grin). Fun and light.

12. FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING by J. R. R. Tolkien (527 p.) Do I really need to give a synopsis of this one? The first of Tolkien’s trilogy, where Frodo begins his quest to destroy the One Ring. This book was a huge favorite of mine back in high school, and has been repaired  many times because I’ve read it to bits! I couldn’t even begin to estimate the number of times I’ve read this book. In fact, my copy is the “Silver Jubilee” edition, published for the series’ 25th anniversary . . . 25 years ago! Anyway, I lost count of the number of reads somewhere around 30….

13. THE TWO TOWERS by J. R. R. Tolkien (447 p). The second of the trilogy, and frankly, it’s always been my least favorite of the three, though it has its good spots. Really, though, I could do without Shelob.

14. RETURN OF THE KING by J. R. R. Tolkien (385 p) And, the finale of the Lord of the Rings. What’s not to love? Good conquers evil, love prevails, nobody you care too much about dies (though Theoden’s death is kind of sad). I find, these days, that I have to be in the right kind of mood for the flowery language, but when the mood is right, I still love these books.

15. THE SWORD AND THE SATCHEL by Elizabeth Boyer (311 p.) Sadly out of print, this is a fantasy book that I’ve enjoyed since high school. Take a classic fantasy quest to save the world from Evil, a magic sword, a wizard, a hero, etcetera. Place them in a quasi-Scandinavian world which has a lot in common with old Norse myths, throw in (very important) a good helping of humor, and there you go. It’s amusing. It’s funny. It’s enjoyable. It’s light-hearted, and most of all, it’s pretty unique. She hasn’t come out with a new book in years, and her last several were a lot more serious and not nearly so much fun, but this one? Her first? Sure, kind of derivative and predictable in places, but it’s so enjoyable, who really cares? This and “Elves and the Otterskin” are my two favorites of hers.

16. RING OF ALLAIRE by Susan Dexter (231 p.) Another old fantasy off my shelf, but this one remains on my “favorites” bookshelf in my bedroom. I love all of her books, but this is the first. It’s a very classic  fantasy–quest, wizards, save the world. Yeah. All of that. But Tristan is such a great character–an orphan raised by a wizard, but with irregular control of his own magic. But suddenly, it’s up to him to take up the centuries’ old quest of finding Allaire of the Nine Rings, held captive . . . yes, I know, it sounds typical and dull.  And yet, her writing is wonderfully descriptive, her characters wonderful, and even after all these years, it’s one of my favorites. The worst shame is that it’s out of print . . . a crime.

17. ANDREW JACKSON by H.W. Brands (560 p.) A good, solid biography of Old Hickory. Other than the battle of New Orleans, he wasn’t a man I knew a whole lot about, and it was interesting learning about him.

17. SWORD OF CALANDRA by Susan Dexter (341 p.) The second book of the “Winter King” trilogy, following the Ring of Allaire. Despite the successes in the first book, Tristan needs to find the sword that belonged to the King defeated when Allaire was imprisoned all those years ago . . . It’s just . . . good. Really good. Tristan is not a traditional hero who does everything right. Nor is he a bumbling incompetent. He’s just frequently in over his head–or he thinks he is–and is burdened by a desire to do what’s right, and an accompanying sense of guilt when he doesn’t feel that he’s done enough. Really, I love him. (grin)

18. MOUNTAINS OF CHANNADRAN by Susan Dexter (367 p.) The third of the trilogy, where Tristan and company head to the mountains to try to defeat Nimir on his home ground. Yep. Still love all of these books.

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