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Vicki, here is your new thread in 2015. Happy reading in the new year.

Our Required Format:

JANUARY

1. by Winston S. Churchill
Finish date: January 2015
Genre: (whatever genre the book happens to be)
Rating: A
Review: You can add text from a review you have written but no links to any review elsewhere even goodreads. And that is about it. Just make sure to number consecutively and just add the months.

JANUARY

1. by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove
Finish date: January 4, 2015
Genre: Roman fiction
Rating: C+
Review: A frazzled single mom finds out she's been passed over for partner in the law firm she works at on the same day her nanny quits. As she's going to sleep, she facetiously prays to the god and goddess on a Roman plaque she has to be sent to their time when life was simpler and more egalitarian. Her wish is granted and she wakes up in Carnuntum, a Roman town on the Danube, in the mid-2nd century. She's been transported into the body of a widowed tavern-keeper with one female slave and two children. Fortunately, the gods have implanted a knowledge of Latin so she can at least converse. She finds out pretty quickly that things aren't as nice and simple as she had imagined. There's lots to outrage her feminist/pacifist/ecological beliefs in this ancient age, and she has to work hard to keep from being thought crazy, which would happen if she told the truth. It's interesting to see how she manages, but she is pretty whiny and self-righteous, and I find it hard to imagine that she thought it was OK to drink the water back then.

You are off to a good start - I think your being such an avid Roman Empire guru might make your expectations high but onward to your next book. It sounds like this was not the best choice - I had to laugh when I read the review.

Sorry it didn't start with a better book. Oh, well, you move to another :-)

That is disappointing. The premise sounds like one I would love but seems to fall a little short. Thank you for the review Vicki.

2. by Agatha Christie
Finish date: January 13, 2015
Genre: Mystery
Rating: B+
Review: This may be Christie's most famous book, with at least 3 filmed versions. A man is murdered on a sleeping car on the Orient Express, traveling from Istanbul to Paris. The car is packed with a wide variety of people, from an aged Russian princess to a fussy American housewife. He couldn't have been killed by someone from the outside as the train is stuck in the snow and there are no footprints. Poirot interviews all the passengers and exercises the little grey cells, thus solving the murder.

I love this book, Vicki and such a great ending!! The film was pretty well done too.

3. by Agatha Christie
Finish date: January 18, 2015
Genre: Mystery
Rating: B+
Review: This is the first book with Poirot, written in 1920 and taking place in 1916. Hastings was wounded in WWI and is recuperating at a friend's country house when the elderly owner is murdered, possibly by her new husband. Poirot is staying nearby (how convenient!) and Hastings convinces the family that he can solve the murder. Inspector Japp also makes an appearance. The murder is quite complicated - I don't see how the reader could figure it out. I do like country house murder mysteries.

4. by Agatha Christie
Finish date: January 21, 2015
Genre: Mystery
Rating: B
Review: This is the last book with Poirot, written in 1975, 55 years after the first Poirot novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Poirot and Hastings return to the country house where they solved the first murder mystery, although all of the characters from the first book, except for them, have left. Poirot has collected a bunch of murders he believes are connected by someone he calls X, and he's convinced X is planning another murder at Styles, and he and Hastings have to stop him. Hastings' daughter is there, along with her employer, a brilliant scientist with an invalid wife. Poirot is very feeble and doesn't know if he will live to stop X. This one is very different from other Christie mysteries, and is pretty convoluted.

P.S. I feel like a real slacker, having read only 4 books so far. So many folks here are way ahead of me. Congrats to all!

by Agatha Christie

You are on a Christie roll, Vicki! You might also want to try her Harley Quin short stories. There are not many but they are very good.

by Agatha Christie

Vicki wrote: "JANUARY


1. by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove

Finish date: Jan..."

Vicky, I'm also a bit disappointed if what you say in your review is true. Turtledove is a good author of alternate History (even if I don't like most of the plots of his books) and an expert on the medieval Roman Empire, so I expected a better book. Have you ever read Agent of Byzantium? It's an alternate history book, but reflects the expertise of the author on the late antique and medieval stages of the Roman Empire.

by Agent of Byzantium

José Luís Pinto wrote: "Vicky, I'm also a bit disappointed if what you say in your review is true. Turtledove is a good author of alternate History (even if I don't like most of the plots of his books) and an expert on the medieval Roman Empire, so I expected a better book..."

I was mostly disappointed in the character of Nicole - she seemed too uptight. The depiction of life in a Roman frontier town was pretty good. I'm not really into alternative history, so I doubt I'll read the book you recommended.

5. by Donna Leon
Finish date: January 26, 2015
Genre: Mystery
Rating: C
Review: This is a police procedural set in Venice, Italy (#21 in the series of 23 so far). A body of a man is found in one of the canals and it takes a while to identify him. He's a veterinarian who works on the side for a slaughterhouse, and was recently separated from his wife. Commissario Brunetti tracks down the killer, along with help from several members of the police force. There's lots in the book about life in Venice and how the police operate there. I think I would have liked it more if I were familiar with Venice.

FEBRUARY

6. by Elizabeth Peters
Finish date: February 3, 2015
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: A
Review: This is the first in a wonderful series about amateur Egyptologist Amelia Peabody and her soulmate Radcliffe Emerson. It's the 1880s and her father has recently died, leaving her financially independent. She's always had a hankering to travel, and in Rome she takes under her wing a young destitute and disgraced Englishwoman Evelyn. They travel to Egypt; Amelia has always wanted to investigate the ancient ruins there. Traveling up the Nile to Amarna, they encounter Radcliffe Emerson and his brother, who are uncovering pharaoh Akhnaten's city there. One night they are disturbed by what looks like a walking mummy, and from then on, things get more and more disturbing. The book is narrated by Amelia and she has a very strong and amusing personality.

I just adore the Amelia Peabody series! (and just about anything by Elizabeth Peters...)

7. by Jean-Pierre Alaux (no photo)
Finish date: February 5, 2015
Genre: Mystery
Rating: C+
Review: This is the first in a series of 22 (so far) mysteries set in France and some of them have been presented on French TV. Benjamin Cooker, a winemaker, and his new assistant try to find out how some of the barrels of wine produced by a close friend have contracted a mold, rendering them useless. There's a lot of wine-making terminology and a lot about the city of Bordeaux and the environs. It was fairly interesting, but I probably would have liked it more if I had ever visited Bordeaux. I do like wine a lot, but I'm not that interested in how it's made. A few others in the series have been translated into English, but I won't be reading them.

I like Donna Leon

Donna Leon

Vicki take out all of the extra blank lines - you do not need one beneath the citation and before Finish date: and take out the one underneath Rating: and before Review:

Also only one blank line under the Month and before the citation.

You were right and caught the problem yourself. Thankfully you only have 7 to fix.

8. by Alberto Angela
Finish date: February 26, 2015
Genre: Ancient history
Rating: A-
Review: This book follows the path of a sestertius, a Roman coin, from its creation in Rome until it's buried years later back in Rome. In the meantime it has passed from hand to hand in cities throughout the Roman Empire during the last part of Trajan's reign, around 110 AD. It travels from Rome to the north of Britain, to Paris, the German frontier, Spain, north Africa, Egypt and even India, before returning to Rome. Along the way we learn about life in these various places, about the army, commerce, travel, all the different kinds of people that lived in the vast empire. The author bases his story on actual archeological discoveries and ancient writings. It's very well-written, and the only thing keeping me from giving it 5 stars is that there are no maps, except for that of the overall empire on the cover and endpapers, no pictures, except for a faint picture of the coin itself on the title page, no index, no footnotes, and, worst of all, no bibliography! I do recommend it, though, because you can learn a lot while being entertained.

What a great concept! Added to my list. :)

9. by Edith Summers Kelley (no photo)
Finish date: February 26, 2015
Genre: Fiction
Rating: B-
Review: This is a novel about a young woman's life in rural Kentucky during the years surrounding WWI. As a girl she's bright and cheerful, but once she marries and has children, the day-to-day struggles of having to survive as a farmer's wife wear her down. This was written in 1923 and never really caught on, but was rediscovered by the Lost American Fiction project of the Popular Library publishing company in the 1970's. The author was friends with Upton Sinclair and Sinclair Lewis and wrote for magazines after graduating from college. He husband was an artist, and they farmed in several parts of the US, including tobacco farming, about which she writes in the book. The book does a good job of portraying life on a farm, and makes me very glad I didn't have to live that life.
Upton Sinclair
Sinclair Lewis

10. by Gareth Hinds
Finish date: February 26, 2015
Genre: Graphic novel
Rating: A
Review: This is a graphic novel version of Shakespeare's Macbeth. The artist has done a wonderful job of illustrating the various parts of the play. The three witches in particular are very good. Naturally, he's trimmed some of the dialog but all of the memorable lines are there. He's also included some endnotes on some of the panels which are very interesting. I'm looking forward to his other adaptations of classic literature.

Vicki wrote: "10. by Gareth Hinds
Finish date: February 26, 2015
Genre: Graphic novel
Rating: A
Review: This is a graphic novel version..."

I'm going to have to add this to my list. You might like the novel version by A. J. Hartley. I listened to it on Audible, and Alan Cummings' reading is spellbinding ;)

by A.J. Hartley

Vicki wrote: "8. by Alberto Angela
Finish date: February 26, 2015
Genre: Ancient history
Rating: A-
Review: This book follows..."

That book is interesting. I will have to search it!

MARCH

11. by T.S. Eliot
Finish date: March 1, 2015
Genre: Historical play
Rating: C+
Review: This is a play in verse about the murder of Archbishop Thomas a Becket, supposedly on the orders of King Henry II. Mostly in verse, the characters include Thomas, a chorus, some priests and the four knights who kill Thomas. The language is all very formal until after the murder, when the four knights each explain themselves to the audience, not in verse, and come to the conclusion that Thomas actually committed suicide because he wouldn't accede to their demands. I imagine it's quite striking seeing it performed, but it didn't really grab me on the page.

12. by Alan Bradley
Finish date: March 10, 2015
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: B+
Review: Flavia has been sent to school in Canada, in the same school her late mother attended. No sooner does she get there than a dead body drops out of the chimney in her bedroom. She is determined to discover the identity of the body and who murdered it. While this one isn't as entertaining as the ones which take place in her home town in England, it's always fun to hear her take on events and people.

Good progress Vicki

13. by Vicky Alvear Shecter
Finish date: March 14, 2015
Genre: Roman novel
Rating: A
Review: Lucia, the daughter of a gladiator training school in Pompeii, is engaged to marry a very old, but rich, man, when she falls in love with Tages, the son of the school's doctor, who's a slave. There have been lots of minor tremors lately and Lucia would love to tell her theories about them to Pliny the Elder, who has written a lot about such things. This is a young adult novel, although I'm not sure where the dividing line is between them and regular novels. There's a good bit about what happens in a gladiator school, what it's like to fight there and life in general for a young woman. The chapters count down to the final eruption, which is described in detail. Glad I wasn't there.

14. by Elizabeth Peters
Finish date: March 24, 2015
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: A
Review: Amelia and Emerson have been married for 5 years and have a precocious son nicknamed Rhamses. Because they didn't want to take such a young child to Egypt, they haven't been back for a long time. When the head of an excavation dies suddenly after opening a tomb there, thus causing rumors of a curse, they decide to leave Rhamses with the inlaws and take over the dig. After the introduction of many interesting characters and a few more deaths, they solve the mystery. What I like best about these books is Amelia's voice - she's so self-assured, even when she's wrong.

I love that series!

15. by Elizabeth Peters
Finish date: March 29, 2015
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: A
Review: This third book in the series is the best so far, mainly because of the presence of Rhamses, Amelia and Emerson's precocious son. It's not clear how old he is, 4 or 5, and he can't yet pronounce 'th', making his rather long speeches quite amusing. They have taken him to Egypt for their current dig, which is at a mediocre site. Not far away at Dashoor another group is excavating some pyramids, which Amelia has been longing for. Rhamses is allowed to do digging of his own as long as he takes along a guardian. Naturally there is mayhem and suspicious characters galore.

APRIL

16. by Elizabeth Peters
Finish date: April 9, 2015
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: A
Review: It's one year after the previous book, and Amelia and Emerson, along with their son Rhamses, have returned to Egypt, this time getting to explore some pyramids. Rhamses is now eight and has firm opinions, along with the erudition to back them up at length. They take a couple of young people under their wings who are involved in a murder (naturally). The sinister figure from the end of the last book, the Master Criminal, now called Sethos, takes a major role in the goings-on. I do like Amelia and Emerson, but Rhamses is my favorite character. I wonder if Rhamses is aging unnaturally fast, since I believe the books are supposed to be a year apart, but he seems to be growing up pretty fast.

by Elizabeth Peters

17. by Beth Moon (no photo)
Finish date: April 19, 2015
Genre: Photography
Rating: A
Review: This is a wonderful book with pictures of so many incredible trees. Honestly, some of them look as if they were created for a science fiction movie. There are trees from England, the US, Madagascar, Yemen and Cambodia. If you Google "ancient trees book," you can see some of the pictures.

MAY

18. by H. Rider Haggard
Finish date: May 9, 2015
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: C+
Review: This book is supposedly the contents of three scrolls discovered during an archeological dig, written by Harmachis, who was a descendent of the last Egyptian pharaoh. The first scroll tells of his religious upbringing and training and of the plot to throw out the Macedonians (i.e. Cleopatra) and assume the rule of Egypt. The second one is about how Harmachis insinuated himself into Cleopatra's entourage, how he fell in love with her and how she betrayed him in order to gain access to a treasure. The final scroll describes how he escaped, led a life under an assumed identity, once more got close to Cleopatra and finally killed her. The language is very old-timey, lots of 'thou's and 'hast's, but it does seem to fit with the period it portrays. The events match up with history, but the interpretations are skewed to fit the story being told. Overall it was interesting, but a bit too melodramatic.

19. by Stacy Schiff
Finish date: May 31, 2015
Genre: Ancient history
Rating: B+
Review: On the whole, I liked the book a lot. Cleopatra led an amazing life and seems to have been almost a genius (all those languages!). Her liaisons with two of Rome's most famous men naturally made her seem very dangerous to most Romans, especially to Octavian. The splendor and wealth of Alexandria no doubt provoked envy, as well. I liked the descriptions of the fabulous banquets, although I'm not sure I would want to eat some of the delicacies that were mentioned. There was certainly enough drama in her life to warrant the many fictional versions of it. Schiff has made me want to read some of her ancient sources.

JUNE

20. by Gore Vidal
Finish date: June 6, 2015
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: C+
Review: This book takes place during the last few years of Burr's life, starting in 1833. A young man working in Burr's law office is writing Burr's biography by collecting documents and taking down Burr's reminiscences, starting with the Revolutionary War. On the side, he's trying to collect evidence that Burr is the father of Martin van Buren, to be published in a pamphlet. I'm not that familiar with the period, or even with the many famous persons, like Washington and Jefferson, so I didn't really get into it. Neither Washington nor Jefferson come off very well. Washington is portrayed as fat and not that good a general. Jefferson is way more political than I had imagined, even more so than today's hyper-political folks. According to Vidal, Jefferson believed that the Constitution provided that each state could secede if it wanted, and states didn't have to obey laws passed by Congress. The best part, I thought, was near the end, when Burr is being tried for treason - he was supposed to have wanted to invade New Orleans post-Purchase - with the judge for the trial being Chief Justice Marshall, a cousin of Jefferson's but philosophically opposed to him. In an afterword, Vidal says he stayed as close to history as possible. I finished this book during the June 6th Readathon.

21. by Matthew Dennison (no photo)
Finish date: June 6, 2015
Genre: Ancient history
Rating: B
Review: Livia was the wife of Rome's first emperor, Augustus, and the mother of the second one, Tiberius. She lived to be 86 and had her share of difficult days. Many of us only know her through Graves' I, Claudius, where she comes off as a rather efficient murderess. This book takes a dispassionate look at the ancient sources and presents a more balanced view. There's a lot about Augustus and Tiberius in the book, since it's only in relation to them that she was deemed relevant in the olden days. She appears to be intelligent and sympathetic, as well as fairly politically savvy. I finished this book during the June 6th Readathon.

by Robert Graves

22. by James Romm (no photo)
Finish date: June 15, 2015
Genre: Ancient history
Rating: A
Review: This is a very interesting look at a famous Stoic philosopher, who was also an adviser to Nero. Seneca started as a tutor to the 16-year old emperor, but later, after Nero killed his mother, his position was a bit shaky. Trying to survive at the court of Nero wasn't an easy thing. Near the end of his reign he saw conspiracies everywhere, especially among the Stoics. There are seven chapters, each with the terse title of some kind of killing - Suicide (I), Regicide, Fratricide, Matricide, Maritocide, Holocaust and Suicide (II). A lot of Seneca's works survive, mainly letters and essays, and the author does a good job of connecting his writings to his political life, although Seneca never wrote directly about it.

23. by Ellis Peters
Finish date: June 17, 2015
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: B
Review: Brother Haluin nearly died after falling off the abbey roof. Even though his legs were seriously injured, he feels he needs to on a pilgrimage to atone for his part in his long-ago sweetheart's death when she tried to abort their child. Brother Cadfael goes along with him and together they uncover the real story of what happened so long ago. I liked this less than the others in the series, mainly because it doesn't take place in Shrewsbury and I missed the different characters there.

24. by Ellis Peters
Finish date: June 24, 2015
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: A
Review: A young man returns home after several years in the Holy Land with the body of his master, who died on the way home in France. He's accused of heresy after repeating some of the thoughts of said master, and later, one of his accusers is murdered, and suspicion naturally falls on him. As usual in the Cadfael stories, there is a young couple in love. Also present is a beautiful box which might have contained a priceless book. I found the talk of the heresy very interesting; it shows how logical thought can lead you to doubt strict church teachings.

JULY

25. by Albert A. Bell Jr.
Finish date: July 1, 2015
Genre: Roman mystery
Rating: A
Review: This was a really interesting mystery, with possible occult explanations. Pliny doesn't believe in the occult - a 400 year old man who can die and come back to life, a woman who's also a bat. He demands a reasonable explanation and with Tacitus' help, he finds it. The two town whores are great characters, and Pliny's mother sticks in her oar, as usual. Pliny is a very sympathetic character, logical but a tad stiff. His friend Tacitus injects needed humor and cynicism.

26. by John Hersey
Finish date: July 3, 2015
Genre: Roman fiction
Rating: B+
Review: During the latter part of Nero's reign, a number of prominent Romans were implicated in a conspiracy to kill Nero and install Gaius Calpurnius Piso as emperor. Among these were Lucan, a famous poet, and Seneca, a philosopher and Nero's tutor when he was young. This novel is a collection of communications mostly between Tigellinus, the head of the Praetorian Guard and Paenus, a tribune of the Secret Police. Also included are intercepted letters between Seneca and Lucan, who was Seneca's nephew. Quite a few of the "conspirators" were executed or forced to commit suicide, and others were exiled. I really like epistolary novels, and this was a good one. Although I do wonder that Tigellinus and Paenus would spend so much time writing to each other; you'd think most of their communications would have been face-to-face.

27. by Ellis Peters
Finish date: July 7, 2015
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: A
Review: A woman's body is unearthed when a field newly acquired the abbey is being plowed. There's no identification on the body and the only woman from the area who might be missing is the wife of a man who became a monk a year ago. This entry in the series is unusual in that the obligatory young couple (who always need Cadfael's help to stay together) don't even meet until more than halfway into the book.

28. by Robert Silverberg
Finish date: July 19, 2015
Genre: Alternate history
Rating: B
Review: Suppose Moses wasn't able to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt, thus the country of Israel never arose and Jesus and his disciples were not able to spread Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. This is a story about how the Roman Empire waxed and waned over the years until A.U.C. 2723 (our 1970 AD). It's told in several chapters over the years, some in the first person. We encounter Mohammed and the Norse explorers of the New World and several emperors, some good and some bad. It's a very interesting history, but I prefer ours.

29. by Edith Pargeter
Finish date: July 31, 2015
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: C
Review: This is the first of 4 books about Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, who was the last king of Wales, before it was taken over by England in the late 1200s. The author also wrote the Cadfael mystery series as Ellis Peters, which is why I read it. It's very well written, but I just couldn't get into the tangled history of the battles and various minor Welsh lords. A map would have helped a lot, as would a pronunciation guide for Welsh names.

by Ellis Peters

AUGUST

30. by Jo-Ann Shelton (no photo)
Finish date: August 12, 2015
Genre: Ancient history
Rating: B+
Review: This is a very dense and scholarly book, but quite readable. The author examines Pliny's letters to discern what life was like for women in the Roman Empire. The chapters are divided into the various roles women played - wife, mother, sister, etc. There were quite a few unfamiliar names, my favorite being Ummidia Quadratilla. Some other good ones are Domitia Lucilla, Dasumia Polla, Annia Galeria Faustina and Arreciba Tertulla. The endnotes are very good and numerous, one chapter having 335 of them. Also, there's an index of the letters, showing where each one was referenced in the text.

Bentley, message 20 looks fine to me. Which author was giving the problem?

Weird, this time the same code gave a different picture, the one you had. Not sure what was going on.

Maybe they deleted the one you had and substituted it so there was no pointer. Looks good now

31. by John Maddox Roberts
Finish date: August 16, 2015
Genre: Roman mystery
Rating: A
Review: Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger is the scion of a prominent political family, hoping to work his way up the cursus honorum. He gets involved in clearing up some murders and enlists the help of two characters who appear in subsequent volumes of the series - Milo (a real historical character), who knows the streets and Asklepiodes, the doctor at a local gladiator school. While respectful of his elders, particularly his father, he's pretty nosy and gets involved more than he intended, especially with Claudia (later Clodia, also historical), the seductive sister of Claudius (Clodius), who becomes Decius' enemy. Roberts really takes you into Rome during the time of Pompey, Crassus and Caesar and includes a lot of what went on in everyday life. This is a wonderful beginning of a great series.

32. by John Maddox Roberts
Finish date: August 23, 2015
Genre: Roman mystery
Rating: A
Review: Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger is now a quaestor, working in the Temple of Saturn, where the treasury is kept. He finds an odd assortment of weapons in one of the little-used rooms in the temple. At the same time, there is a series of seemingly unconnected murders in Rome. There is suspicion that they may be connected to a possible conspiracy to overthrow the government, led by Lucius Sergius Catilina. Decius is encouraged to look into all this by one of his relatives in the government, so he insinuates himself into Catilina's group, mostly made up of reckless and indebted young men. As we all know, Catilina was foiled (thanks to Decius?).