Becky's Books –

Knitting Bones
by Monica Ferris
2008 / 304 pages
read by Connie Crawford 7h. 24m.
rating B

The Embroiderer’s Guild raised a lot of money for a charity but the man who picked it up has gone missing – and then dead.  Meanwhile there is a young gay man who is in the hospital with amnesia after a car wreck.  This happens to be where Betsy Davenport (our heroine) is also residing temporarily.  So the job falls to Goddy to find do some sleuthing.  Halloween time.

Had to get this one in here because I forgot to do the blurb after I read it –

Holy War:
How Vasco da Gama’s Epic Voyages Turned the Tide in a Centuries-Old Clash of Civilizations
by Nigel Cliff
2011 / 560 pgs
Rating – 8.5

When Vasco da Gama managed to steer his little fleet around the Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean to India the world was shaken more than anyone realized.  Cliff asserts that for >>>>MORE>>>>

Threadbare
by Monica Ferris
15th in Needlework Series
2011/ 7h. 4m.
read by Susan Boyce
Rating B+

Best of the lot so far – (I think – it’s a close call with some).   Ferris continues to journey further into social issues – this time a homeless woman is found dead >>>>MORE>>>>

Sweet Tooth
by Ian McEwan
2012/K. – 323 pages
Rating 7

Okay,  I read McEwan to see what he’s up to.  I loved his early work which was fine story-telling in the suspense genre –  Black Dogs was the best, imo.   But over the years I’ve become a bit disenchanted as he’s decided he’s really a very “literary”  writer and ever since Amsterdam (boring!) has been trying >>>>MORE>>>> 

A Thread of Grace
by Mary Doria Russell
2005/ 464 pages
Rating 8

Blackwork
by Monica Ferris
2009/256 pages
read by Susan Boyce 6h 28m
Rating B

This Halloween, Betsy Devonshire, owner of the Crewel World needlework shop and part-time sleuth, is haunted by murder. After one too many pints, a local blames bar owner and Wicca practitioner Leona Cunningham for a series of “accidents” that have happened throughout town. When he ends up dead … >>> MORE>>>

Thai Dye
by Monica Ferris
2008 / 297 pages
read by Connie Crawford 7h 36m
Rating – B
Series: Needlecraft Mysteries, Book 12

I love Ferris’ titles –  from Crewel World to And Then You Dye – they’re quite clever (to a punnish mind).    As the series continues it spreads outward from Excelsior,  Minnesota and with this one includes Thailand in the story – although the setting remains in Minnesota. Dorie,   friend and  customer of Betsy Davenport (the protagonist for the series)   brought back some souvenirs from her trip to Asia and,  as instructed,  brought a box to an antiques dealer in a nearby town.  But then she finds that killers are after her.   This one is a bit more graphic about violence – not much.

The more I read Ferris’ Needlecraft series the more I find I’m involved with the Monday Bunch,   the little group which meets at Crewel World.  I know Minnesota and Crawford’s pronunciation of names is better than that of Susan Boyce but I was very used to Boyce.

Kalevala
Finnish National Epic (from tales)
compiled and written by Elias Lönnrot
published in 1835 / 600+ pages
Rating – 10

I started this long ago,  but restarted in late October 2012.   Going well –  basic mythology with a good meter,  good story –  see New Finnish Grammar for the background – that’s the reason I got interested again.  >>> MORE>>> 

Eugene Onegin
by Alexander Pushkin
1835 / about 200 pages – Kindle
(reread)
Rating – 9.5

I read this for a group and because I was never able to locate my Penguin edition, I had to use a Gutenberg download.   There was something missing.  I really didn’t like the notes sprayed all through the text >>>MORE>>>

The Worst Hard Time
by Timothy Egan
2006 / 340 pages
Rating – 8

The first time I read this book,  back in July of 2011,  I focused on the experiences of the people who lived through the Dust Bowl in the central plains states.  That time I listened to it >>>MORE>>> 

The Red Queen
by Margaret Drabble
2004 / 354 pages
tentative rating – 8.5 (originality and fun)

This is a fictionalized account of the life of Lady Hyegyeong, Crown Princess of Korea as wife of Crown Prince Sado who lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  The second half is the purely fictional life of >>>MORE>>>

The Crossing Places
by Elly Griffiths
2009 /
read by Ruth Galloway 8h 26m
rating C-

“When she’s not digging up bones or other ancient objects, Ruth Galloway lectures at the University of North Norfolk. ”

Sounds good so far but this is a really stupid book because the author decided to combine romance and crime detection.  STUPID!!!!   The crime stuff was interesting – the romance totally boring.

Sins and Needles
by Monica Ferris
2006 / 314 pages
read by Connie Crawford 9h 52m
rating: B (as usual for Ferris)

Embroidered Truths
by Monica Ferris
2005 / 288 pgs
read by Melissa Hughes 7h 36m
rating B

After her good friend Godwin has a nasty quarrel with John, his significant other, full-time needlework shop owner and part-time sleuth Betsy Devonshire finds herself with a roommate. Betsy doesn’t mind having company, though Godwin is restless and unhappy over the sudden break-up. But sadness turns to grief when Betsy and Godwin discover John dead in his home, and Godwin is arrested for the murder. Betsy knows her friend couldn’t be the killer, and sets out to prove it. What she learns is that John had a cat’s cradle of secret dealings that had made him a bundle of money, and a lot of enemies. Now, Betsy has to untangle a web of lies if she’s going to save Godwin–and find the murderer.

©2005 Mary Monica Kuhfeld; (P)2008 BBC Audiobooks America

Well I have been reading (or listening) and other things but what has really happened is that I’ve embarked on a weight-loss program which is pretty intense but very necessary and it takes up some time what with the gym and fixing foods.  Also,  I tend to be a bit tired.

I’ll put up the names of  the books I’ve read but reviews will have to wait.

Cards On the Table
by Agatha Christie
1936 / 224 pages
read by Hugh Fraser / 6h
rating 7

I’d never read this one – at least not that I remember and one would think I’d remember a book where a murder takes place at a bridge party.  The victim,  Mr. Shaitana, has invited four people who just >>>> MORE>>>> 

The Racketeer
by John Grisham
2012 / 352 pages
read by J.D. Jackson – 12h 45m
rating – A-

I think Grisham is having fun again.  The Racketeer is the very imaginative story of a black lawyer,  Malcolm Bannister, who has been wrongly convicted on a racketeering charge.   After Bannister has been in a federal prison for 5 years one Judge Raymond Fawcett is suddenly found murdered >>>MORE>>>