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lady narcissa

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Everything posted by lady narcissa

  1. Yes, I agree about the thread title. Unless the purpose of the thread is to only talk about "murder mysteries". While they are incredibly common, murders are not required for mysteries. It's hard to bring up specifics without spoilers but I think "Gaudy Night" by Dorothy L. Sayers is well enough known to be mentioned without objection (especially as some of you are reading her now) as an example of a mystery without a murder. One of my favorite mysteries (which I won't mention because of spoilers) involves a search for a lost treasure and the mystery of what happened to it and following the clues. I have been reading quite a few mysteries lately. (All involve murders!) One series which I believe I learned about from this board is by Andrea Carter and take place in Inishowen, Ireland which have a great sense of place which is my main attraction to them. One of them begins after a few weeks of unusually hot and sunny weather (for Ireland) and people are a bit miserable about this and wishing for rain and I just felt right at home - these are my people! I'm not overly fond of the main character but she is interesting enough and the mysteries are decent. The ebooks retail on amazon for an insane $11.49 but they tend to go on sale often enough and they are certainly worth it for $1.99.
  2. Madeline Miller, the author who wrote Circe and The Song of Achilles, has written about her experience with Long Covid for the Washington Post. An interesting read. As she notes, she is lucky because she has an understanding publisher who is willing to wait and a supportive spouse and she can take time and not write and still have health insurance and be able to pay her bills while she tries to deal with this. Normally I can't access Washington Post articles because of the paywall. I happened upon the article through a link from Miller's twitter. If you find you can't access the article through the below link but you have a twitter account, maybe try to access it that way as I think it is a gifted read through her link. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/09/madeline-miller-long-covid-post-pandemic/
  3. I just want to add a comment regarding the doctor refusing to prescribe the pill because your daughter isn't sexually active. To me this is the biggest red flag about that doctor - the idea that the pill is only to be used when sexually active - i.e. to prevent pregnancy. You don't want a doctor who thinks this treating your daughter. There are many reasons one would take the pill which have nothing to do with preventing pregnancy and everything to do with improving ones health. You want a doctor who knows this.
  4. @JGP Just going to echo what others have said...find another doctor for your daughter, preferably a female doctor if possible. Growing up I was led to believe that having painful periods was just something normal to be dealt with but they are not "normal" and she should absolutely see a doctor to make sure nothing else is going on. I do not think most ob/gyns would see a 15 year old but it really depends and if there is practice near you - with female doctors - possibly inquire. Others have mentioned endometriosis and that is what I have and one of the causes of painful periods. More than likely at her young age, its just painful periods. But things can develop with endometriosis over time such as ovarian cysts which if just treated with heating pads and pain medicine can land you in the ER having major surgery...which is what happened to me. The pill is more than likely the long term solution for your daughter. But there are many kinds and different people respond differently to each one. So you want a doctor who is familiar with the options. Sometimes one needs to try one for 3 months and see the doctor again and if things aren't better they might switch to another one. But it takes a least 3 months for a body to adjust, it won't just solve the issue overnight. But for me, after being on the pill for several months, the painful cramps disappeared. In the interim, Advil / ibuprofen was the only thing that ever helped with the painful cramps. Midol did not help me. Tylenol did not help me. Also dairy, especially ice cream / milkshake - but this seems to be something very specific to me, not everyone responds this way to dairy. As for the nausea, ginger tea is a possibility. Best wishes to your daughter.
  5. I just got a thank you note from one of the tweens in my life for their Christmas books. One book in particular was singled out. He wrote: "I'm especially enjoying 'The Dark Lord of Derkholm' (by Dianna Wynne Jones). It's a bit sweary at times but really immersive and very fun to read." I had to laugh at the 'sweary' call out as I don't remember that at all. But I guess more importantly, he was reading it and enjoying it.
  6. This might be more appropriately posted in the Entertainment forum, however, since I think it will be of interest to some of you who read this thread I will mention it here... Occasionally, maybe twice a year, I do a quick internet news search on C.J. Sansom just on the off (ever unlikely) chance there might be news about a new book. Today I came across somewhat recent news of...not a new book...but a 4 part Disney+ adaption of his first book, Dissolution. https://variety.com/2023/global/news/cj-sansom-shardlake-disney-1235570006/ Personally I'd rather have a new book but I still think this is rather nice for Sansom.
  7. As dog-days mentioned, C.J. Sansom has cancer but as he described it when Tombland came out and he talked about his cancer on his book tour, it's treatable but not curable. I think he has had it for over 10 years at this point. At the same time he mentioned he had hopes of writing another book but if he did it would have to be much shorter and less involved than his more recent books. He gave the impression that writing Tombland was incredibly difficult for him and he was afraid he would never finish it. So who knows. I hope he does. I did finish J.K. Rowling's most recent Strike novel, The Ink Black Heart, and it is probably my second least favorite of the series. Lethal White is my absolute least favorite, in fact I hated it, in the series. This is not nearly that bad but there was a lot I did not like about it including (as I mentioned above) the tweets and DMs as well as the direction of the Robin/Strike relationship. ( @Datepalm I am quite over them as well! Actually I was never not over them, this has been an aspect of the series where I have always hoping we never went down that path and that they could just be good friends who work together and have their separate messy relationships with other partners.) So do not recommend. Has anyone read the Gemma James/Duncan Kincaid series by Deborah Crombie? 10 years ago, the kindle version of the 3rd book of the series was on offer so I picked it up and read it and enjoyed it. Enough so that I was curious to read another or two but not enough to pay $14.99 for the other ebooks. So I waited and waited and waited and waited and finally 10 years later, four other books in the series finally went on offer for $1.99 and I picked those up and will give them a go in the near future.
  8. I'm about to do the same thing. But these are the books I know and love and still enjoy. And they are also books I've given to 9-12 year olds in recent years and they all enjoyed them so I think they hold up. The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper starting with Under Sea, Over Stone The Silver Crown by Robert C. O'Brien The time quintet by Madeleine L'Engle starting with A Wrinkle in Time Tom's Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (a more recent one, so read this as an adult) Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
  9. LOL! I am currently read this. Almost done. And this one I am finding overly long and skimming...mainly through the tweets and DMs which are just exhausting. It's weird to say that a series about murders and sometimes featuring serial killers has generally been an escape but it has for me with its wanderings about London and Cornwall and other English locations. But this one, with so much of it taking place on the internet has seemed more like my day to day life and mundane and has been less enjoyable for that reason. I wish more of it had taken place around Highgate Cemetery. Will comment more on it once I have actually finished it. (I'll just note about the kindle version - there are a lot of 1 star reviews on amazon due to the formatting of the online board chats in the ebook and them being unreadable per the reviews. For this reason I was unsure about trying to read it on kindle. But it was on offer for $4.99 over Thanksgiving weekend so I decided to give it a look. They must have fixed it because you get those in the unreadable font followed by the same text but in normal sized font.) I did read the first two books in the Ruth Galloway series after they were available for $1.99 each. On a whole I am put off by the pricing for the books in the series (most seem typically for $13.99 for kindle ebook which I will not pay for a book that has been out for several years) so I probably won't continue unless any others go on offer. I like the mysteries and the location and the idea of the series. But I was really put off by the relationship of the main character with another character. Which surprised me because normally things like that don't bother me in books. But for some reason, these particular characters and these circumstances did and gave me not a great feeling for them and the series in general. @Datepalm Which Peter May are you trying to read? I think his Lewis trilogy is the best of his work. If you try to read the first one The Blackhouse and it isn't clicking, probably move on. But if you are trying one of his other books, maybe take a look The Blackhouse before writing him off.
  10. I would be delighted to see you again! Let me know when you will be here if you do come to Chicago.
  11. Is anyone planning on attending? Being in Chicago, I could never have fathomed I might consider not attending but of course Covid and crowded indoor situations... Living here I guess I can be more last minute with my decision. It's hard to believe that this will be the third Worldcon affected by Covid. Dublin seems so long ago at this point.
  12. I've been reading a number of mysteries - most of them additional books in series I've previously started - so some more Donna Leon and Ann Cleeves and Tana French. As well as a reread of an Agatha Christie that is really the first one of her's I've reread as an adult and not enjoyed - The Moving Finger. And I read the first Jackson Brodie, Case Histories, mystery which i got after some recommendations in this thread. I enjoyed it and would continue with the rest of the series but for the off putting ebook pricing of the rest! I'll keep my eye out for special on them but I am not paying $10.99 - $14.99 for a not new ebook no matter how much I would like to read them. I see there was a tv series made based on them with Jason Isaacs so I got a bit of a chuckle when his character in the book had some thoughts on the Harry Potter series since Isaacs was in the HP movies.
  13. I'd confide in him I actually have no idea how to use the copier because I never make my own copies. (Of course I make my own copies.)
  14. Okay so I finished When Blood Lies, the 17th book in the Sebastian St. Cyr series by C.S. Harris. You only have to look at the dates in the book and location to know where you are headed - March 1815, France. Overall, it was a satisfactory read as all the books in this series have been. Not my favorite, however, and it does start dragging midway through the book. I mean we all know what is going to happen with Napoleon so there is no surprise on that front and its a bit waiting for the inevitable. Of course Napoleon is not the focus of the story, solving the murders are. But he does sort of distract and take away the focus from the main story. I found myself putting down the book and spending more time looking people and events up on the side than usual. And considering the entire series has been building up to a specific event in this book - a 17 book buildup is a lot of buildup! - that bit ended up being very disappointing. But always glad to spend a few evenings wandering around with Sebastian and Hero as they solve murders and wander through interesting locations and learn some small bits of history I didn't know before.
  15. That sounds so nice! He is probably one of the few authors I have not seen in person who I would like to see. Thanks for sharing the information. Very much looking forward to reading all of those should they hopefully get written. Getting ready to start the newest one tonight. I read the latest book in Anne Bishop's Other's series, Crowbones, which came out last month. It was very much 'Rural' Fantasy, set in the same small town and with the same characters from 2 books ago, Lake Silence. I had been a bit on the fence about Lake Silence when I first read it but after Crowbones, I went back and reread it and liked it a bit better than before. I still prefer the original 5 Others books but do enjoy the concept of expanding out into other cities and communities in this alternate Earth in which humans are not the dominant species. My only criticism is the humans are a bit too good or too bad, there is very little shades of grey in between. Obviously there are always people who are going to think they can get away with things but there are too many just plain bad and stupid humans. I'd like to see some more human controlled cities, further away from the Others, and then humans from there having to grasp with the situation after the Others have carried out their more recent human extinction exercise. Never the less still enjoying this world and will continue to read any further books in the series.
  16. I'm reading that one right now. I ended up starting that one and holding off on the Donna Leon one because I wanted to know about you-know-who after such a long buildup. But yes, C.S. Harris is such a consistent writer. Not only does she keep this series coming out regularly, but she wrote some books with her husband and another historical fiction novel at the same time as this series. I had a chance to chat with her at a conference a few years ago and that was very enjoyable.
  17. I've got that book ready to read as soon as I finish my current read. February/March/April seems to be my sweet spot of new book releases every year and they all come out in quick succession and I can't keep up.
  18. @Fragile Bird Sorry, it took me F-O-R-E-V-E-R to reread the first Crescent City and then equally long plus some to read the second one. It's way too long, there are way too many plot lines and the romance taking over from the urban fantasy dominance of the first one made it less interesting to me. I just do not like Hunt that much. The friendships between the characters are probably my favorite part of the series. Oh you might find this interesting, SJM did a spoiler filled interview about the ending of the second book with some stuff revealed about book 3 which she has finished a first draft of:
  19. @Fragile Bird I'm going to try to paste some of your quotes from the First Quarter Reading post regarding Crescent City and respond to them here...hopefully they paste over... Okay I love spoilers but I was not even seeking them out for the Crescent City series because I just at this point did not care that much but I rather inadvertently saw a spoiler on Instagram so I know what it is. Let me just say... I almost wonder if we are going to have a long painful wait on this cliffhanger. SJM just had a second baby last week. Plus she sold her house in Pennsylvania, spend 6 months in Hawaii, and moved to California in the past year. And has also spent the past year working with Ron Moore on the possible Hulu series of A Court of Thorn and Roses books. I am just going to guess that maybe that will have slowed down with her new book writing. But maybe she is super woman writer? I think we got some false expectations set up with her early string of publishing since she did have so many things finished/outlined before her first book was ever published and that allowed for just a domino of publishing books every year like that. But we shall see. In any event, I am rereading the first Crescent City book (sorry I cannot for the life of me remember the breath and life and blood titles and just default to the series name) and will report back before starting the second one.
  20. I think this means you need to build some kind of she-shed/greenhouse out in the backyard!
  21. I had to do a search to see if anyone had mentioned this series in this thread and yes, here we are. This bookstore in northern England that I follow on twitter was just tooting the most recent release in the series and I noticed C.J. Sansom has a quote on the cover for it and while I am never one to buy a book because of such a quote, it did make me go look at the series and I'm curious about it. Do the books lean more towards crime than mystery?
  22. Well for the first time I was a bit disappointed by an Anne Cleeves mystery. Just read her newest - The Heron's Cry - which is the second in the Matthew Venn series. It was a bit boring...if one can call a novel with murder, boring. I liked the murder and the murder weapon but the ultimate investigation and resolution fell a bit flat. But I'm just not taking to Matthew and the side characters the way I have taken to the characters in Cleeves' other series. And while I love the location - the north coast of Devon which I have visited before and I can visualize the locations - I just don't feel like Cleeves is really doing it justice the way she does with her other locations. I've had a really good run with Cleeves mysteries so I suppose its okay that this is the only one of hers that hasn't really worked for me.
  23. It's even more painful to read if you live in Chicago since the Chicago in his book is not really Chicago. (He originally wrote the first book as set in Kansas City but there is another series set in Kansas City so it was advised he change the location so he looked at a globe, spotted Chicago and decided to set it there...but didn't change anything except the name of the city. Ugh.)
  24. I got derailed from the Mercy Thompson series after #8. It wasn't that I disliked the series, but I think I started #9 and got interrupted and never finished it. I did pick the subsequent books up whenever the ebooks were on offer so I have kept up with purchasing them. In any case I was reminded of them because amazon had the 12th one today as one of their deals of the day so I picked up it. Having 9-12 to read now, I think I will get back to them. Oh I did not think you were slandering her! I was just delighted to see the Plum reference as I love them. And everything you mentioned can be found in the Plum books, except dragons...although that being said, I would not be surprised to find a dragon tattoo mentioned if not a Komodo dragon reference.
  25. This sentence alone has me committed to trying this series! However, I must object to the placement of the word 'except' in that sentence. Stephanie Plum books include old ladies, a put upon police detective, and baking. The only 'except' is the dragons!
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