<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">I will offer these 3 for consideration? None have steam-powered espresso machines, but seem nevertheless to be adequate.<div><br></div><div>Stan</div><div><br></div><div><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; min-height: 23.6px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></p><p class="p3" style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 30.1px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-weight: bold; font-size: 30.05px; text-decoration: underline;">Captain Vorpatril's Alliance</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-weight: bold; font-size: 30.05px;">: Miles Vorkosigan, Book 13 by Lois McMaster Bujold</span></p><p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;">(Baen, November 2012)</span></p><p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;">Miles Vorkosigan was first introduced to readers in </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18.25px;">The Warrior's Apprentice</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;">(Baen, 1986). </span></p><p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;">Book 12 of the series, </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18.25px;">Cryoburn</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;"> (Baen, 2010), was nominated for a Hugo. </span></p><p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;">The action of this book takes place before </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18.25px;">Cryoburn</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;">. Vorkosigan's cousin, Captain Ivan Vorpatril, only wants a quiet, uneventful life. And for the most part, that is what he has enjoyed. But all that is about to change when he is asked to protect a pretty young woman from a dangerous criminal syndicate.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; min-height: 23.6px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;"></span><br></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; min-height: 23.6px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;"></span><br></p><p class="p3" style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 30.1px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-weight: bold; font-size: 30.05px;">Eversion - by Alastair Reynolds</span></p><p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;">Posted: August 2, 2023 by <a href="https://elitistbookreviews.com/author/elitist-dan/"><span class="s5" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-weight: bold;">Writer Dan</span></a> in <a href="https://elitistbookreviews.com/book-rating/books-we-love/"><span class="s5" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-weight: bold;">Books We Love</span></a> (5/5 </span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; min-height: 23.6px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;"></span><br></p><p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;">Doctor Silas Coade is the doctor on the sailing vessel Demeter, that is plying the waters off the Norwegian coastline. Under the direction of their captain, they are in search of a cove, hidden from the rest of the world, and known only to a single man who has hired them to take him there. His promises are extravagant, the voyage has been fraught, and Silas Coade could hope for nothing more than that they would abandon the search and return him to his comfortable home.</span></p><p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;">Then, just when it seems that the valiant efforts of the ship and crew have not been in vain, but have indeed led them to the elusive cove, the ship is dashed upon the jagged face of a cliff, and in the chaos, the mast cracks and falls on Doctor Coade, sending him into what looks like death, but feels like a dream, and instead seems to be a doorway that leads… to another expedition. A zeppelin expedition, where he is the doctor of a crew set to dive into a deep shaft within the icy surface of Antarctica…</span></p><p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;">The problem? Only Silas seems to be aware that anything has gone awry.</span></p><p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;">From the creaky wooden ship, to the twangy metal zeppelin, to the silent reaches of the void, this tale is woven through the eyes of our illustrious doctor.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; min-height: 23.6px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;"></span><br></p><p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;">There are some pretty good aspects of this book, like the setting. Descriptions were right on. The voyage of the ship through the narrow passage. The zeppelin down the icy throat. And while it’s not always clear where the story is going, </span><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;">we can apparently trust the author.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; min-height: 23.6px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;"></span><br></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; min-height: 23.6px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;"></span><br></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; min-height: 23.6px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;"></span><br></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; min-height: 23.6px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s6" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedItalicBody; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-size: 18.25px;"></span><br></p><p class="p3" style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 30.1px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s7" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedItalicBody; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-size: 30.05px;">The Furnace <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-weight: bold; font-size: 30.05px;">by Timothy S. Johnston</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; min-height: 23.6px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18.25px;"></span><br></p><p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18.25px;">The Furnace is well-written and engaging with believable characters and a logical, if surprising plot-line.</span></p><p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18.25px;">Lieutenant Kyle Tanner is a detective for the military’s Security Division. In a world where the military controls everything, he is part soldier and part policeman. When a crewman on an experimental power-gathering station orbiting extremely close to the sun dies in what looks like an accident, Tanner is sent to investigate after someone cuts off the dead crewman’s head and hands.</span></p><p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s4" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18.25px;">Tanner is one of the division’s most skilled homicide detectives, so with only a dozen people on the station, he is confident that he can wrap up the investigation and arrest the murderer if murder it was. But things are not so clear-cut, and too much makes no sense at all. There is more to the crewman’s death than what was initially evident.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18.2px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; min-height: 23.6px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 18.25px;"></span><br></p></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPad</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Apr 17, 2025, at 11:03 AM, David G. Grubbs <dggrubbs@gmail.com> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">Since we had a tie at the last vote, we decided to take both for July and August. So we skipped a month of voting for the next book.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">Our choosers for the past N months have been:</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><ul><li>1/2024 - Wes Brodsky</li><li>2/2024 - Richard Schwartz</li><li>3/2024 - Gloria Albasi</li><li>4/2024 - Liz Patton</li><li>5/2024 - Shelly Thomas</li><li>6/2024 - Dave Grubbs</li><li>7/2024 - Alek Slominski</li><li>8/2024 - Wes Brodsky</li><li>9/2024 - Stan Zisk</li><li>10/2024 - Chip Hitchock</li><li>11/2024 - Richard Schwartz</li><li>12/2024 - Liz Patton</li><li>1/2025 - Shelly Thomas</li><li>2/2025 - Gloria Albasi</li><li>3/2025 - Tracy Marks</li><li>4/2025 - Dave Grubbs</li><li>5/2025 - Ann Katsios</li><li>6/2025 - Chip Hitchcock</li><li>7/2025 - Wes Brodsky</li><li>8/2025 - Wes Brodsky</li></ul><div>Is there anyone on the reading-group mailing list who is not on the above list and would like to suggest three books to vote on for one of the next months? We can do two in one month and skip a month, or keep doing one per month. It depend on who has three book choices to offer.</div><div><br></div><div>In the list above, it looks like our regular attendees, Alek, Stan, and Richard are the least recent suggesters (how's that for a phrase -- maybe we could create a game show with that title). I'll call on them specifically after we hear from potential newcomers.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div>
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