tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53790901114160730192024-03-08T19:46:27.805-05:00Steph's BookshelfStephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-43334641948182124572007-07-17T13:48:00.000-05:002007-07-17T13:52:00.336-05:00The Mammoth Hunters - 5 starsSummary of The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M. Auel:The authenticity of background detail, the lilting prose rhythms and the appealing conceptual audacity that won many fans for The Clan of the Cave Bear and The Valley of the Horses continue to work their spell in this third installment of Auel's projected six-volume Earth's Children saga set in Ice Age Europe. The heroine, 18-year-old Ayla, cursed Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-3524787400677256232007-07-09T20:30:00.000-05:002007-07-09T21:13:58.807-05:00The Crown of Dalemark - 4 starsSummary of The Crown of Dalemark by Diana Wynne Jones:The story's engaging first part concerns Mitt, a sensitive, courageous young man who speaks his mind. An earl and countess assign him the unpleasant task of murdering Noreth, a teen who believes it's her destiny to seek the ring, cup, and sword that will allow her to unify the land and become queen. The author then leaps ahead 200 years and Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-31382482456546431602007-07-05T12:45:00.000-05:002007-07-05T12:48:29.217-05:00The Valley of Horses - 4 starsSummary The Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel:Auel's second installment in the Earth's Children series does start out fairly slow. Not only does the plot follow Ayla and her newly-found animal companions but it also focuses on Jondalar, the handsome blonde-haired, blue-eyed wonder, and his brother, Thonalon. Most of the first half of the book tends to make you want to skip pages to get to "the Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-64304549117412325282007-06-29T09:12:00.000-05:002007-07-05T12:48:49.329-05:00Clan of the Cave Bear - 5 starsSummary of Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel:When her parents are killed by an earthquake, 5-year-old Ayla wanders through the forest completely alone. Cold, hungry, and badly injured by a cave lion, the little girl is as good as gone until she is discovered by a group who call themselves the Clan of the Cave Bear. This clan, left homeless by the same disaster, have little interest in the Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-66828133602401104412007-06-20T15:22:00.000-05:002007-06-20T15:44:02.636-05:00Code Name: Princess - 3 starsSummary of Code Name: Princess by Christina Skye: This slim but action-packed sequel to Skye's previous romance, Code Name: Nanny, stars navy SEAL Hawk MacKenzie and hotel investigator Jess Mulcahey (sister to FBI agent Summer Mulcahey, the heroine from Nanny). The pair come together under tumultuous circumstances when Jess, pretending to be minor royalty, bribes a hotel manager into upgrading Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-76464894971482364532007-06-15T11:27:00.000-05:002007-06-20T15:22:09.354-05:00Leave it to Psmith - 4 starsSummary of Leave it to Psmith by P. G. Wodehouse:A debononair young Englishman, Psmith (“the p is silent, as in phthisis, psychic, and ptarmigan”) has quit the fish business, “even though there is money in fish,” and decided to support himself by doing anything that he is hired to do by anyone. Wandering in and out of romantic, suspenseful, and invariably hilarious situations, Psmith is in the Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-26326642471678874932007-06-13T11:25:00.000-05:002007-06-13T11:29:01.963-05:00Nerds Like it Hot - 4 StarsSummary of Nerds Like it Hot by Vicki Lewis Thompson:Hollywood makeup artist Gillian McCormick wouldn't normally be caught dead on a cruise aimed at single geeks. But as the sole witness to a murder, hiding out may be her only chance at staying alive. With P.I. Lex Manchester guarding her, and a voluptuous disguise in place of her plain-Jane wardrobe, Gillian should be safe... if she can resist aStephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-63800852381319817852007-06-11T09:37:00.000-05:002007-06-11T09:48:31.458-05:00The Mote in God's Eye - 5 StarsSummary of The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle:In the year 3016, the Second Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems, thanks to the faster-than-light Alderson Drive. No other intelligent beings have ever been encountered, not until a light sail probe enters a human system carrying a dead alien. The probe is traced to the Mote, an isolated star in a thick dust cloud, and Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-87716720445034164952007-06-11T09:32:00.000-05:002007-06-11T09:37:08.866-05:00Adam's Navel - 3 StarsSummary of Adam's Navel by Michael Sims:Are we more than the sum of our parts? Perhaps, but it's fascinating nonetheless to look at our noses, ears, feet, and other bits as isolated evolutionary stories. That's just what Michael Sims does in Adam's Navel, an amusing collection of bodily facts. Sims wrote the book while laid out recovering from back surgery, jotting free association musings about Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-36955910742533131232007-05-30T09:03:00.000-05:002007-05-30T09:06:32.224-05:00For the Love of Venice - 2 StarsSummary of For the Love of Venice by Donna Jo Napoli:Reluctantly, 17-year-old Percy sets off with his family to spend the summer in Venice. With his civil-engineer father absorbed in his work project, his artist mother flitting off to absorb the ambiance, and his engaging little brother immersing himself in the adventure, Percy finds himself listlessly wandering the beautiful old city. Then he Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-29537583629126851772007-05-30T08:36:00.000-05:002007-05-30T09:01:44.734-05:00Doomsday Book - 5 StarsSummary of Doomsday Book by Connie Willis:The year is 2048 A.D., and a young history student named Kivrin is preparing to do an on site study of the turbulent fourteenth century. Her mission has placed two of the University's professors at cross purposes, as the proponent for this study, Mr. Gilchrist, finds himself pitted against Mr. Dunworthy, Kivrin's mentor, who believes that this trip in Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-63418457571997578022007-05-14T14:53:00.000-05:002007-05-14T14:58:49.896-05:00The Spellcoats - 4 StarsSummary of The Spellcoats by Diana Wynne Jones:"The Spellcoats" is the only book in the Quartet which is told in the first person. The voice we hear belongs to a young girl named Tanaqui, living with her family and her family's collection of gods on the banks of the great River. She doesn't speak her story, or write it - she weaves the words into an intricately detailed "rugcoat", a kind of Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-59797395388239669182007-05-06T20:08:00.000-05:002007-05-06T20:13:44.308-05:00Men in Kilts - 4 starsSummary of Men in Kilts by Katie MacAlister:Mystery writer Kathie Williams firmly believes in rules when it comes to romance, and falling in love at first glance is not one of them. Yet somehow one look at Iain MacLaren and Kathie forgets the conference she's attending to dream up ways to seduce the dishy Scotsman. She accepts a surprise dinner invitation from Iain, which leads to a much more Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-91888046851594778802007-04-30T10:28:00.000-05:002007-05-01T10:37:39.550-05:00M'Lady Witch - 4 starsSummary of M'Lady Witch by Christopher Stasheff:M'Lady Witch is charming, a blend of adventure, intrigue, and (of course) a healthy dose of romance. Cordelia Gallowglass, daughter of SCENT agent Rod Gallowglass, has been targeted for destruction by the enemies of democracy on her native planet of Gramayre. Now emerging into womanhood, she has always thought she would marry Prince Alain. Yet AlainStephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-59845646820337059682007-04-19T08:27:00.000-05:002007-04-19T08:31:34.257-05:00Drowned Ammet - 4 starsSummary of Drowned Ammet by Diana Wynne Jones:Drowned Ammet is the story of Mitt, a boy who joins a band of Freedom Fighters in a bid to try and crush the tyrranical ruler of Holand, and at the same time, to get revenge on the people who killed his father.I read this soon after reading the first book in the quartet, Cart and Cwidder. I finished this the next day. It's very good, and captures Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-69218606975969790082007-04-13T20:36:00.000-05:002007-04-13T20:39:00.614-05:00Cart and Cwidder - 4 starsSummary of Cart and Cwidder by Diana Wynne Jones:Cart and Cwidder is the first in the best-selling Dalemark Quartet of books and tells the story of Moril and his brother and sister who are travelling musicians journeying through Dalemark, until one day they pick up a mysterious passenger. Somehow Moril's family and the stranger are becoming bound together in terror, flight, and music.At first I Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-49630069372892906632007-04-10T09:39:00.000-05:002007-04-10T09:52:54.057-05:00Water Witch - 5 StarsSummary of Water Witch by Connie Willis and Cynthia Felice:At the instigation of her con-artist father, Deza masquerades as a witch who can control the water supply of the desert planet of Mahali, in order to deceive its rulers and become rich, but the deception backfires.This book is EXCELLENT! I was hooked from the first page. Since this was written in the early 80s, I feared that the writingStephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-41258535783675020682007-04-08T10:23:00.000-05:002007-04-08T10:29:06.831-05:00The Wizard of LondonSummary of The Wizard of London by Mercedes Lackey:Lackey's latest Elemental Masters novel is set in Victorian England. The Harton School for Boys and Girls, run by Isabelle and Frederick Harton, is one of the few schools that takes students whose magic doesn't pertain to the elements, and who are, therefore, frequently ignored by the Elemental Masters. Such unheeded gifts include clairvoyance, Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-80321647781060844612007-04-01T16:14:00.000-05:002007-04-01T16:30:56.336-05:00Sky CoyoteSummary of Sky Coyote by Kage Baker:Cunningly blending a pre-Columbian past with a 24th century extrapolated from every adult's nightmare about the younger generation, Baker's second installment in her Company series proves a witty match to In the Garden of Iden. Fresh from a cushy R&R after a supervisory stint in the Inquisition, time-hopping cyborg Facilitator Joseph jaunts to 16th-century AltaStephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-25422801375481887782007-03-16T15:33:00.000-05:002007-03-16T15:34:15.371-05:00The Human StorySummary of The Human Story by James C. Davis:Davis, who taught history at the University of Pennsylvania, has taken on an unusual project—to relate all of human history in the simplest terms possible for the broadest audience possible. The chapter titles illustrate his method of abstracting large themes from a multitude of events—"The richer countries grab the poorer," for example, isn't a bad Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-52709887546407723342007-03-15T09:54:00.000-05:002007-03-15T10:01:39.330-05:00BellwetherSummary of Bellwether by Connie Willis:Pop culture, chaos theory and matters of the heart collide in this unique novella from the Hugo and Nebula winning author of Doomsday Book. Sandra Foster studies fads and their meanings for the HiTek corporation. Bennet O'Reilly works with monkey group behavior and chaos theory for the same company. When the two are thrust together due to a misdelivered Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-51874199741123905152007-03-14T11:35:00.000-05:002007-03-14T11:40:36.434-05:00The CircuitSummary of The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez:Jimenez has created a moving autobiography that some critics have compared to John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. The story begins in Mexico when the author is very young and his parents inform him that they are going on a very long trip to "El Norte." What follows is a series of stories of the family's unending migration from one farm to another as they Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-9953753299116879062007-03-02T13:22:00.000-05:002007-03-02T13:28:01.826-05:00Phoenix and AshesPlot of Phoenix and Ashes by Mercedes Lackey:In this dark and atmospheric rendition of the Cinderella fairy tale, an intelligent young Englishwoman is made into a virtual slave by her evil stepmother. Her only hope of rescue comes in the shape of a scarred World War I pilot of noble blood, whose own powers over the elements are about to be needed more than ever.This is the third book in a 4-book Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-12140007440881926262007-02-12T21:41:00.000-05:002007-02-12T21:52:53.880-05:00Promised LandPlot of Promised Land by Connie Willis and Cynthia Felice:Delanna returns home to the mining and farming planet Keramos to settle her mother's estate, take the money, and return to a civilized planet. To her dismay, she finds that to claim her inheritance she must stay on her mother's land for one year. She also learns that upon her mother's death she was automatically married to Sonny Tanner, a Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5379090111416073019.post-88509687047755054062007-01-10T13:32:00.000-05:002007-01-11T13:43:13.462-05:00Blow Me DownAll work and no play make Amy a dull girl, or so Amy's precocious daughter tells her as she convinces Amy to try a new virtual-reality game, Buckling Swashes. Amy agrees in the hope of humoring her child, but instead she winds up in the middle of an amazingly detailed world and right in the path of Corbin, one hot pirate captain who turns out to be one of the game's creators. What they also Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05964421692959550404noreply@blogger.com0