I will for sure read this book again. I received it as a birthday gift because of my love of hockey smut and was completely engulfed while reading. Sleep was lost but pages needed to be read.

This book had my sons begging for the next volume! Shipping took forever, but was definitely worth the wait. Both of my sons enjoyed this volume and look forward to the next.

I loved the movie and didn’t realize there was a book. I loved all the added detail in the book!!!!!

People traveled in the 12th-15t centuries. Merchants sought new markets, diplomats finagled treaties, and anyone who could get the necessary funding and permissions took religious pilgrimages. Bale explores the most common holy and trade routes based on what the travelers wrote in journals and guidebooks. It is very interesting, but too limited. Bale points out several times that Christians (Roman and Eastern/Greek), Muslims, and Jewish pilgrims visited many of the same places in Constantinople and Jerusalem. We only have the Christian, and almost exclusively Western European Christian, stories. One small chapter near the end follows Asian travelers’ adventures in the west. Ma Huan (Chinese Muslim), Het’um (Armenian Christian), and Rabban Bar Sauma (Christian Mongol) don’t represent the majority of nonEuropeans. A broader range of viewpoints and less personal commentary from the author would improve the book.

What’s true? Dorothy Sayers founded the Detection Club for the best of the best mystery fiction writers of the time. May Daniels, a young English nurse, disappeared while on a day trip to France. Sayers and her reporter husband, Mac, investigated May’s disappearance and probable murder. Marie Benedict takes these facts and creates a locked room mystery solved by the all-star Queens of Crime: Sayers, Agatha Christie, Emma Orczy, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham. At first the investigation is a bit of a lark, a way to prove their worth by solving a mystery the police and their fellow (male) mystery writers can’t. But the queens bond as they learn about the sweet, naive person May was. The press describe a very different woman, turning public opinion against the victim. She had it coming. The police jump at any excuse to unofficially stop investigating (since they aren’t getting anywhere). Only the Queens care about justice for May, and all of the expendable young women like her.

Mary Kenney is a video game developer writing to encourage girls and women to bring their talents to her industry. She addresses Gamergate and her own experience with misogyny in gaming early on. The women included go back to Mabel Addis Mergardt who designed a game for an IBM educational program in 1963. Kenney’s message is clear: women have been integral to the video game industry from day 1. The only thing I dislike about this book is the order. The short bios seem arranged in whatever order Kenney thought of the women to include. Maybe chronologically would have made more sense.

This is always an ongoing read for me. I bought the special edition from b&n years ago and read it with my teen and tween

The Marlow Murder Club unites 3 women of different ages and backgrounds who all know at least one victim and suspect in a string of murders. DS Malik discourages their involvement, of course, but she has to admit that Judith, Suzie, and Becks make more breakthroughs than her understaffed team. If you like the idea of The Thursday Murder Club but not the writing, see if The Marlow Murder Club is more your cup of tea (or tumbler of whiskey).

If I could read this over again for a first time I would. Riveting and keeps you sucked in the whole time. Absolutely love this authors writing. I will be looking for more from her.

Yoshitaka Amano illustrates passages from The Tale of Genji (11th century Japanese novel of court life and possibly the first novel), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and catalogues of fairies. A short section at the end discusses fairies of the British Isles versus Japanese spirits. You won’t get much of a sense of Genji or Midsummer Night’s if you’re not already familiar with them. Really this book is just a showcase for Amano’s gorgeous art.