1. Did you know there was a whole Scarlet Pimpernel series? I didn’t until recently, when I was combing Project Gutenberg for classic ebooks. Which is how I came to be reading The Elusive Pimpernel by Baroness Emma Orczy, in which Chauvelin tries to exact his revenge. If you love swashes that buckle, this is the series for you. The first one, The Scarlet Pimpernel, has been the best so far (I’ve read it at least five times); the second one, I Will Repay, had fairly little of that rascally Englishman in it; this third one has all the classic elements of the first and is nearly as good. I’ll be reading on in the series because sometimes the mood strikes me for a delightful romantic adventure set in Revolutionary France. They seek him here, they seek him there–
2. Half Price Books had a sale. I cast around for a series and spotted the first two books in a five-book series by Elizabeth Moon: Trading in Danger is the first one. I’m about halfway through and enjoying it greatly. After getting kicked out of a military academy for trying to be helpful, Ky Vatta is given a ship in her family trading company to keep out of the way until the scandal passes over. But Vatta captains aren’t known for sitting tamely by when adventure calls. So far, there’s been a Russian nesting doll of problems–to solve this one, you have to solve that one, and to solve that one, you have to solve this other one. I hope the story arc ends in this volume rather than being one story told in five books; I’ll find out soon.
3. Sundry. Still plugging along with Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke on audiobook. Also started reading Sharps by K. J. Parker aloud in the car for our Thanksgiving and Christmas drives. It’ll be the fourth time I’ve read it and I still laugh out loud.
4. NaNoWriMo. I’m almost done–something like 45,000 words of 50,000. So this is why I’ve read so few books.
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