The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loved this one.

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The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Urban development, cartography, rogue science, medical mystery, Victorian London. All with a killer epilogue relating it to the world of today (and the future). Loved it.

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Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Have to quote Sarah's review on this one:

"Fun stuff (aside from of-the-period racism and unaddressed lesbian subtext.)"

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Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. This book was fantastic. The way Mantel developed Cromwell into a complete human being with so much depth was remarkable. It was also amazing to see how he slowly evolved over the course of the book.

Seeing the Henry VIII/Anne Boleyn story from a different perspective is great (Thomas More as a bad guy!). I wouldn't really call Cromwell the hero of the story. In fact, he is completely despicable at times. But, you really like him at other times and he is always fascinating.

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Inglorious: a novel by Joanna Kavenna

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a rather frustrating book. It was well-written and often quite interesting. But, it was completely plotless. I normally don't mind that, but it got to be maddening with this one. It was essentially the internal monologue of Rosa, who left her job and broke up with her boyfriend in the first few pages of the book. The internal monologue doesn't get her anywhere after that. She can't pull it together and her friends are all jerks. It seemed like a realistic picture of someone spinning their wheels during an emotional crisis, but as literature, it was tough to connect to it.

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The Colony by Jillian Weise

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So great. Anne Hatley was chosen to go to The Colony because of her DNA. The story follows her through her months at The Colony as she develops relationships with her fellow colonists and works with the doctors. Interesting story-telling that bounces around all over the place, but still manages to follow a clear narrative. In other words, weird and quirky, but still very human. Loved it.

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Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not quite as good as the first book, but still a lot of fun. Now I have to track down the next one somewhere...

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