Reference
Karen Wynn Fonstad: The Atlas of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth
Blurb: “Find your way through every part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s great creation, from the Middle-earth of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to the undying lands of the West … The Atlas of Tolkien’s Middle-earth is an essential guide to the geography of Middle-earth, from its founding in the Elder Days – as […]
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Festivus Scale of Strength: Weighty Books
24 Festive Tasks: Door 20 – Festivus, Task 2: The Scale of Strength: Pick 3 of your weightiest tomes and place them on a scale. Tell us the total weight. I used Shakespeare’s Complete Works, my copy of the illustrated guide to Houses of the National Trust, and Eye to Eye, a collection of […]
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Battle of the Books Goes Feline: Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management vs. Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace
24 Festive Tasks: Door 20 – Festivus, Bonus Task #2: Battle of the Books: pick two books off your shelf (randomly or with purpose); in a fair fight, which book would come out on top? The fight can be based on the merits of the books themselves, their writing, or full-on mano a mano between […]
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Books Shipped Long Distance
24 Festive Tasks: Door 16 – St. Lucia’s Day, Task 4: The historic (3d century AD) St. Lucia was Italian; yet, like those of many other saints (including, e.g., St. Andrew and St. Nicholas), the most important celebrations of her holiday don’t occur in her place of origin but somewhere else in the world. List […]
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An “Out of My Reach” Book Wishlist to St. Nick
24 Festive Tasks: Door 14 – St. Nicholas’ Day / Sinterklaas, Task 1: Write a book wish list to St. Nick / Santa Claus for books that you’ve been eyeing but can’t justify the expense of purchasing. (E.g., art books? Collector’s editions? Boxed sets?) Dear Saint Nick, it would be really nice if one […]
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Books With Antonyms in Their Titles
24 Festive Tasks: Door 5 – Bon Om Touk, Task 4: The South Korean flag features images of ying / yang (the blue and red circle in the center) and four sets of three black lines each representing heaven, sun, moon and earth and, in turn, the virtues humanity, justice, intelligence and courtesy. Compile a […]
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Kathryn Harkup: A Is for Arsenic
Should come with several prescriptions / warning labels The first caveat, obviously, being “don’t ever try this at home.” Most of the poisons Harkup discusses are much harder to obtain these days than in Agatha Christie’s time, so for most of them the risk of being used as a murder weapon may have been mitigated […]
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Kathryn Harkup: A Is for Arsenic — Chapters 10 & 11: Phosphorus & Ricin
Phosphorus and Ricin — two particularly nasty ones. And the way she’s describing the discovery of phosphorus, it sounds like something straight out of a sorcerer’s lab … byproduct of the search for the philosophers’ stone. Why stop at gold, anyway?! Original post: ThemisAthena.booklikes.com/post/1698843/reading-progress-update-i-ve-read-236-out-of-320-pages Overall Review and Comments on Other Chapters: Overall Review Introduction […]
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Kathryn Harkup: A Is for Arsenic — Chapters 7-9: Monkshood, Nicotine, Opium
What does it say that I read the opium chapter this night, after having woken up at 4:00AM (against all habit)? I can see the temptation in using Sad Cypress as the anchor book for this chapter, and I’m glad Harkup gave an unambiguous spoiler warning this time around before proceeding to give away the […]
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Kathryn Harkup: A Is for Arsenic — Chapter 6: Hemlock
Oh, FIE. Major spoiler alert. In the “Hemlock” chapter, Harkup gives away — without any prior warning whatsoever — the identity of not one but two of the key suspects in Five Little Pigs who ultimately turn out to be innocent, and she also reveals the answer to the question that Poirot is chiefly asked […]
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Kathryn Harkup: A Is for Arsenic — Chapter 4: Digitalis
I just finished the digitalis chapter — a fairly fast read, since for once this was one dealing with stuff of which I had at least a working knowledge going in. Christie herself discusses some of the basics re: digitalis in Appointment with Death and some of her short stories (most notably, The Herb of […]
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Kathryn Harkup: A Is for Arsenic — Chapter 3: Cyanide
Harkup recounts the story how Rasputin’s enemies allegedly lured him to a lunch featuring “cake and [Madeira] wine … said to be laced with enough cynide to kill ‘a monastery’ of monks, but it left Rasputin unaffected. He was then shot, at least twice, but was still alive and fighting back against his would-be assassins. […]
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Kathryn Harkup: A Is for Arsenic — Introduction and Chapter 1: Arsenic
Oh man. I’m only a chapter (plus introduction) in, and I’m having all sorts of “mysteries read” flashbacks already — not only for Christie’s writings but also for those of other writers. E.g., those Styrian peasants get a really major nod towards the end of Dorothy L. Sayers’s Strong Poison, and the initial setup of […]
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My KYD Reads … or: Harry Potter, and What Else I read in March 2018
A big thank you to Moonlight Reader for yet another fun, inventive BookLikes game! I had a wonderful time, while also advancing — though with decidedly fewer new reads than I’d origianlly been planning — my two main reading goals for this year (classic crime fiction and books written by women). Harry Potter – The […]
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Dennis McCarthy & June Schlueter: “A Brief Discourse of Rebellion and Rebels” by George North — A Newly Uncovered Manuscript Source for Shakespeare’s Plays
The lastest in Shakespearean research, a read inspired by conversations a visiting friend, and a February 7, 2018 New York Times article on a possible new source text for passages contained in no less than 11 of Shakespeare’s plays. The story of the discovery itself is fascinating; the research methods applied are in synch with […]
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Werner Böcking: Von Köln zum Meer
Local history, a read inspired by conversations with a visiting friend on the history of shipping and travel by boat on the Rhine. — A richly illustrated book focusing chiefly on the 19th and 20th centuries, and the mid-19th-centuriy changes brought about by diesel engines and the resulting disappearance of sailing vessels (which, before the […]
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Kill Your Darlings – Team MbD / Lillelara / TA: Summary of the Team’s Additional Cards & Points Claimed
Lillelara: Severus Snape as a victim from the red game play. Book read: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. => 10 points Green Dragon Pub as a crime scene from the yellow game play. Book read: Cocaine Blues. => 10 points => 20 extra points Themis-Athena: Val McDermid: The Distant Echo => Suspect: Arthur […]
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Kill Your Darlings – Team MbD / Lillelara / TA: Claiming Additional Cards
Since we solved all crimes in the green rounds, I’ve read and listened to the above books, for which I’m claiming extra cards on behalf of Team MbD / Lillelara / TA as follows: Val McDermid: The Distant Echo => Suspect: Arthur Conan Doyle (genre: mystery) – Red Round => 10 points Agatha […]
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Ethel Lina White: The Lady Vanishes (aka The Wheel Spins) & The Spiral Staircase (aka Some Must Watch)
Well, I can see the appeal to movie directors … … but in written form, this isn’t really my cup of tea. Which isn’t necessarily the fault of White’s writing is such — she has a fine eye (and ear) for characterization and language — but rather, of her chosen topic. I’ve never been much […]
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Robin Whiteman & Rob Talbot: Brother Cadfael’s Herb Garden / Robin Whiteman: The Cadfael Companion
Shared five-star honors for two simply gorgeously illustrated coffee table books full of facts and knowledge about medieval monastery life (Benedictine and otherwise), the healing arts of the medieval monks, and the plants they used. Must-reads not only for fans of Ellis Peters’s Brother Cadfael series but for anyone interested in the Middle Ages, monastic […]
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