FFB: Toujours Provence

this is the 76th in my series of forgotten books

Toujours Provence by Peter Mayle, published by Alfred Knopf 1991 hardcover (second of two volumes in two book boxed set)

National bestseller taking up where his beloved A Year In Provence left off, Peter Mayle offers another funny, deliciously evocative book about life in Provence. With tales only one who lives there could tell, such as of finding gold coins while digging in the garden, of sumptuous lunches at a truck stop, at a villiage fete, a small cafe on a hard to find dirt road, each time finding outstanding food. But it is the characters that make this book, both human and animal, such as those at a dog show, the dogs and pigs that hunt for truffles and Mayle’s own new addition, Boy.

This is organized in a different way than the first first book, A Year in Provence (see last week’s Friday Forgotten Book). That one was by month, taking us through the year, while this one is more episodic, shorter chapters each relating some story or event, such as adding a third dog to the household, or going to a village fair or about the melon patch across the road. Just as enjoyable though a bit more chopped up. More terrific characters and returns by some of those from the previous book. Very enjoyable, and I’ll look for the next installment to read soon.

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links to all of this weeks Forgotten Book posts can be found
on Patti Abbott’s blog, Pattinase

Last Word on Anne McCaffrey

I was greatly saddened by the passing of Anne McCaffrey, a very favorite author of mine. George Kelly alerted me to the January 2012 issue of Locus magazine, which is the McCaffrey issue. I was too late to find it at the book store (sold out, they only get about 10 copies) but was able to order it directly, and it came in the mail the other day.

I’m not a regular Locus reader, let alone a subscriber (George told me he’s subscribed for 34 years now!) and aside from the biographical article on McCaffrey, and a dozen or so eulogies, the magazine is mostly reviews, announcements, publishing information and so forth. That’s not information I’d read in-depth on a monthly basis, so I still won’t subscribe, but I sure did enjoy the cover article here.

I love McCaffrey’s Pern books, have read all of them more then once, have reviewed several of them on this blog. The crystal singer books are also favorites, and I’ve read many others. I’m not a fan of the Pern books written with or by Todd McCaffrey, however and cannot recommend them on any basis. I wasn’t surprised to read his eulogy to his mother in this issue and find it was all about…Todd.  He claims to have been the inspiration for many of the Pern novels including The White Dragon, to have been her “go to guy” for ideas and editing, and so on. Bleah. However the material by Robert Silverberg and many others was worth reading. A good issue, which your local library may have in hand.

New Arrivals, January 16-22, 2012

Just a few things, a little of this, a little of that. Here we go.

Digital Nature Photography by John and Barbara Gerlach [Focal Press 2007 trade paper, new] – digital photography, specifically nature photography, including birds, animals, trees, landscapes, flowers, etc. I took over a dozen books on digital photography out of the library and read / skimmed them all. This was one of the two best and one I’ll re-refer to, so I bought it. With the new lenses I got, I’ll want to brush up on my skills and learn more about macro and telephoto, as well as brushing up on depth of field and other basics. I’ve gotten lazy and have mostly used the automatic settings on my Nikon, but it’s time to take more control.

Exposure by Peter Cope [D&C Books, 2008 oversized trade paper, new] – digital photography guide, specifically to exposure, probably the most important factor in taking good photographs. See the above note about photography books from the library. This the second of 2 books I liked well enough to buy.

Light Speed edited by John Joseph Adams [Prime Books, 2011 trade paper, new] – science fiction short story collection – Light Speed is an on-line SF magazine. This fat (565 page) collection has all of the fiction published during the first year of the magazine, including some classic reprints and much new fiction. Good reviews on this one, and though I’ve likely already read some of what’s here, it’s nice to have it in one package.

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr [Philomel Books, 1987 oversized hardcover, new] – children’s fiction – this book won the 1988 Caldecott Medal for children’s book illustration – I read a review of the author recently and found this book, illustrated by a favorite illustrator-artist of mine, so I looked into it more and decided to buy it. It will probably go to one of the grandchildren, or I may just keep it for myself. Easy story, beautiful illustrations, probably a good bedtime story.

Percepliquis by Michael J. Sullivan [Ridan 2012 trade paper, new] – epic fantasy, 6th of the six-book The Crown Conspiracy. I’ve been waiting for this a long time, since the first volume came out. In this case, the author had already written the first 4 books, and was working on # 5, so I knew it would be forever, but it’s still been a long wait. Mostly character-driven. The first 5 books were published by Ridan, but before this one came out, Sullivan struck a deal with Orbit Books for the whole series, two books per volume. That meant the last book was only to be available in the omnibus volume, different cover, and I’d have to buy #5 twice. There were enough people like me who asked for a Ridan publication of this one that Orbit and Ridan worked out a deal and this is now available. It won’t be a large print run and there will be no second printing, so those who have none of these yet may be better of with the three book Orbit set, but if you have the first batch of the books this will complete your set. This comes just in time for the rainy winter weather, the fireplace, some hot chocolate and a comfy chair. Now to start with the first book. Soon, now.

FFB: A Year in Provence

this is the 75th in my series of forgotten books

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle, published by Alfred Knopf 1990 hardcover

This is an absolutely delightful book. I’ve had it and it’s sequel, Toujours Provence, in a double boxed set sitting on the shelf for years. One day recently spotted it and thought “it’s time I read that. I’m really glad I did. Here’s the summary from Pub. Weekly:

“Beginning, appropriately enough, on New Year’s Day with a divine luncheon in a quaint restaurant, Mayle sets the scene and pits his British sensibilities against it. “We had talked about it during the long gray winters and the damp green summers,” he writes, “looked with an addict’s longing at photographs of village markets and vineyards, dreamed of being woken up by the sun slanting through the bedroom window.” He describes in loving detail the charming, 200-year-old farmhouse at the base of the Lubéron Mountains, its thick stone walls and well-tended vines, its wine cave and wells, its shade trees and swimming pool–its lack of central heating. Indeed, not 10 pages into the book, reality comes crashing into conflict with the idyll when the Mistral, that frigid wind that ravages the Rhône valley in winter, cracks the pipes, rips tiles from the roof, and tears a window from its hinges. And that’s just January.

In prose that skips along lightly, Mayle records the highlights of each month, from the aberration of snow in February and the algae-filled swimming pool of March through the tourist invasions and unpredictable renovations of the summer months to a quiet Christmas alone. Throughout the book, he paints colorful portraits of his neighbors, the Provençaux grocers and butchers and farmers who amuse, confuse, and befuddle him at every turn. A Year in Provence is part memoir, part homeowner’s manual, part travelogue, and all charming fun. –L.A. Smith”

If you haven’t ever read this and would like a break from the oncoming winter doldrums, it’s the perfect antidote!

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links to all of this weeks Forgotten Book posts can be found
on Patti Abbott’s blog, Pattinase

New Arrivals, the 3 weeks late edition

Hope everyone had a wonderful holidays season and the new year is starting off great for you! I’m certainly feeling better, though the rib is still a long way from healed.

I thought I’d give you a look at the new stuff that arrived here from about December 20 until now: some gifts, some I bought new, used or some that just came in the mail. Here goes.

The Adventures of Tintin, Season One - English language version  from the French television series – 5 hours, animated adventure [Shout Factory 2 DVD set, new] - I love Tintin. I’ve been a big fan for a long time, since I discovered one of the books in a Brentano’s book store while browsing one afternoon. (Side note: that was a wonderful book store for a chain. The stock, employees and layout were better than most chains.) I loved the book, I think it was Cigars of the Pharaoh and immediately went back and bought all the rest of the volumes they had, then ordered the rest – they were all in print then and may still be. This French animated television series was highly acclaimed, and I’ve been waiting for the English language version – completely re-recorded with English speaking voice actors, not just dubbed, for a long time. Finally this is out and Season Two is coming in a few months.

Blood ‘N’ Thunder magazine, issues 29 and 30 – Ed Hulse, editor [monthly magazine, by subscription]- I’ve subscribed to this magazine about pulps, old time radio and film for a couple of years, and bought all of the available back issues to cover as much of the previous years as I could. Hulse does an outstanding job of editing and writing and he knows whereof he speaks. He has a huge amount of expertise and it shows. Highly recommended for anyone who is interested in these topics. Due to a missed issue, I got issue 30 before 29, which came on Christmas Eve. That’s a great present!

Good Eats 3 by Alton Brown [Stewart, Tabori & Chang hardcover, September 2011, new] – cookbook – I love the show, watch the reruns when I catch them, have thought of buying the whole thing on DVD and now have the three volume set of the books. I believe in Brown, use his application (it’s what he calls the recipes), learn from his books.

Horticulture magazine – [monthly magazine, by subscription] – gardening and plants – my wife and I are both fairly avid amateur gardeners, and so it’s always a treat to sit down and read a gardening magazine. This was a gift from my brother and sister-in-law.

Imager by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. [Tor paperback, new] – fantasy – 1st in the Imager series – this got good reviews and sounds interesting. A Christmas gift I haven’t gotten to yet.

Model Railroader  - [monthly magazine, by subscription] – Okay, I admit it: I’ve been interested in model railroading to a greater or lesser since I can remember. The Christmas I came downstairs and found a train circling the tree was one of the most memorable of my life. That was an American Flyer, and I loved it, made a small layout in a tiny bunk room and ran the trains around and around. Later I changed my interest to HO scale trains and they are great. I tried building a layout while I was in college but was defeated by the complexities of the wiring. I have at one time or other collected – and gotten rid of – hand made brass steam locomotives, old diesel locos, a few boxcars and other rolling stock, and even thought about building a small diorama. Most of the time, the bug bites for a while, then it fades for a few years until something triggers it again. That’s when I re-subscribe to Model Railroader, which I did a couple of months ago. This is the current issue that came just before Christmas.

Nikkor AF-S DX 55-300 f:4.5 ED VR and Nikkor AF-S DX Micro 40mm f:2.8G -  camera lenses for my Nikon D40x D-SLR camera [new, from local camera store] – I already had two lenses for the camera, the 55-100 stock lens and a 85-200 zoom. But I found that wasn’t long enough and wanted a telephoto. The 55-300 here has an actual zoom reach of 450, long enough to shoot wildlife, fast enough that a fast shutter speed is possible to freeze movement. A big lens like this can be difficult to hold steady, this one has VR, Vibration Reduction built in. I’ll turn that off when I use a tripod, which will be most of the time with this lens. The micro lens is a mid-distance fixed focal lens that can focus as close as 2 inches for macro shots, provided a tripod is used. In fact, a new tripod is next on the list, as I learn to use both of these superb new lenses.

The Pruning Book by Lee Reich [Taunton Press hardcover, Revised 2nd Edition, January 2010, new] – gardening, tree, shrub and plant maintenance – this is the kind of resource every serious gardner needs. I’ve already learned a lot just glancing through it.

Santa With His Trains – jigsaw puzzle – The holidays always seem like the time to get out a jigsaw puzzle, and when we spotted this one a couple weeks before Christmas we had to bring it home. We also bought another one which we’ve done, and will start this one within a day or two.

Starbridge Book Two – Silent Dances by A.C. Crispin and Kathleen O’Malley [Ace mass market paperback, used] – science fiction – 2nd in series – I enjoyed the first book in the series, Starbridge by Crispin. It’s light fare, YA science fiction about a particularly bright almost adult teenager and a dedicated young doctor and their adventures in discovering a new-to-them sentient race, and then another. The ending left plenty of room for sequels and I knew when I read it that there were several more books. This and the next one are the 2nd and 3rd in the series.

Starbridge Book Three – Shadow World by A.C. Crispin and Jannean Elliot [Ace mass market paperback, used] – science fiction – 3rd in series – I enjoyed the first book in the series, Starbridge by Crispin. It’s light fare, YA science fiction about a particularly bright almost adult teenager and a dedicated young doctor and their adventures in discovering a new-to-them sentient race, and then another. The ending left plenty of room for sequels and I knew when I read it that there were several more books. This and the previous book listed are the 2nd and 3rd in the series.

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

A good day for reflection on Democracy, Hope and Service to our fellows. I hope everyone has a peaceful day.

The Road to the Rim

This is the first John Grimes novel, and is also the first in the current Baen collection of the John Grimes Saga. It’s the story of Grimes first posting as an Ensign in the Federation Survey Service, and it’s quite entertaining. Chandler has a light touch on character and plot; it’s easy to like Grimes and his shipmates, except those the author wants us to dislike, there’s little middle ground.

Light, entertaining reading, I went right on the the next book in the series, and in the omnibus edition, To Prime the Pump.

Witch Hazel

If you thought “fantasy” or “fairy tale” I don’t blame you, but in this instance it’s about our garden. We have two young Witch Hazel trees, planted about a year ago, pulled up and stored during all the landscaping work, and replanted when it was finished. They are both coming into bloom, this one,  Witch Hazel ‘Jelena’ with red/gold spidery blossoms has just come into full bloom. The other one, with yellow blooms, is still a couple of weeks away. Nothing else is blooming, so this is a real treat. Photos:

Yes, I’ll have a real post with a real book review soon. I just finished two books, just have to write them up.

Newton Had It Right

…which is no surprise to anyone. Specifically I’m referring to the First Law of Motion which tells us “A body in rest tends to stay at rest, and a body in motion tends to stay in motion, unless the body is compelled to change its state.“

Why do I mention this now? Because the first phrase of it applies to me and my getting back into my usual activities of reading, blogging, walking, and so forth. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been doing little or none of those things, pretty much sleeping, eating when I could keep something down and watching a lot of football. But the Oregon win in the Rose bowl was about it, I OD’d on football and it was a relief to just leave the set off the last few nights.

I have started reading again, picking up where I left off in the first John Grimes omnibus by A. Bertram Chandler, about half way through. I’ve also found myself getting interested in other books I see here, and in getting my new lenses on the Nikon and getting outside to try them out, though there will be no photo safaris anytime soon. I am planning on going to the Tualatin Wildlife Refuge come spring for the incoming migratory bird show, though, and need to have practiced and learning the capabilities of the lenses (a long range zoom and a macro) before that.

I visit all of the blogs of the regulars here as well (except Jeff, who doesn’t have one yet…) and you’ll be seeing the occasional comment on your blogs by me, a change from recent weeks.

So, reading more, blogging more, a refreshed interest in books and I’m starting to listen to music again, such as Mahler 3rd Symphony playing as I type this (Bernstein, N.Y. Phil, the Royal Edition on Sony). The main thing laking right now is getting outside, but that will come as I gain some strength back and get outside with the camera.

So the sun is shining, I’m felling somewhat better, and the body is beginning to be in motion. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even have a Friday Forgotten Book or New Arrivals post one of these days!

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 29,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 11 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Happy New Year

Here’s hoping 2012 brings each and every one of you health, joy, quiet warm moments and many hours of good reading. Happy New Year from frosty Portland, Oregon.

not how we planned

Christmas has been pretty miserable this year.

What I’d thought was a chest cold was in fact pneumonia, and in the coarse of coughing over a week or so, I finally had such pain I went to Immediate Care, where X-rays confirmed both the pneumonia and a cracked rib. That on top of a jaw so sore from all the dental work that I can’t chew has left me on soft diet. The pain meds make me nauseous, so I’m getting along with Tylenol. The rib will take 4-5 weeks to heal, the jaw isn’t getting better but there’s nothing to do about it, and the pneumonia seems to be responding to the antibiotic prescribed, though  those are making me nauseous. We cancelled Christmas dinner, which was going to be a real treat. Maybe when I can chew…

So I’ve spent most of the time in bed. I got one fantasy paperback, a book on pruning and a classical CD. Also a new lens for the Nikon. I’ll try to talk more about those when I feel up to posting again, maybe in a few days.

Happy New Year to you all.

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. We are having a sunny but cold holiday, with no snow. I am certain Santa will do his best to find us anyway.

 

five hundredth post

I don’t have any New Arrivals for you, but this is what’s blowing my mind:

This is the 5ooth post for this blog. It’s incredible to me that I can have done so many since I started. Sure, other bloggers do something every day and rack up much greater numbers in shorter time, but still, five hundred posts in 28 months, the first one was on August 28th, 2009 when I began this blog is a lot.

During those 28 months, we’ve moved from southern California to Portland, Oregon, gotten settled, had major landscaping work done, made new friends and re-established with old ones and Wife has retired. That doesn’t seem like much but it’s feels like it’s been an eventful time, and this blog has been an important part of it.

I’ve especially enjoyed doing the Friday Forgotten Books posts, thanks to Patti Abbott, the book reviews, and sharing our progress here with the move, unpacking, getting the book shelves built, the outside work. Hopefully there’ll be lots more to share in the future, in the next five hundred posts.

Frosty Was Here

It’s beginning to look a lot like… well you know. No snow yet (this has been the driest December on record) but we’ve had a couple of hard frosts. These were taken in our back yard.

The grasses got so much frost they were double their size, the Witch Hazel, with a few leaves left, iced up and the Clerodendrum tree, with it’s winter pods, looks like we had it flocked. Mostly it’s just been damp and foggy, nice weather to sit by the fire with a book.

New Arrivals December 5 – 11, 2011

Ah, the beauty of pre-ordering: things just show up and always a happy surprise. So it is this time with the new A. Bertram Chandler omnibus. Also new are a graphic novel and a soundtrack CD. Read on, MacDuff.

Astro City Dark Age – 2: Brothers in Arms by Busik (writer), Anderson (pencils), Ross (covers), Sinclair (color), Comiccraft (lettering). [DC Comics 2011 trade paper, new] – graphic novel / comic – the Astro City series is one the best written, drawn and most entertaining comic/graphic novel around and has been since the first issue. It’s ben a while since the last collection came out, so I’ll be re-reading that before digging into this.

Galactic Courier by A. Bertram Chandler [Baen 2011 trade paperback, new] – classic science fiction, space opera omnibus – this was just published, I received it on December 6th, having pre-ordered it. This one contains four novels: Star Courier, To Keep the Ship, Matilda’s Stepchildren and Star Loot. (What a great title on that last one!) To be honest, I’ve barely scratched the surface of the first of these three omnibus volumes collecting the John Grimes Saga, and really need to get going on these because they are fast, fun entertainment, perfect for this time of year. There are always SF-F reading challenges at the beginning oft he year, so these will give me a head start, if only I get reading.

Lost Horizon: The Classic Film Scores of Dimitri Tiomkin performed by Charles Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic Orchestra [Sony 2009 CD, new] – film music – this contains the symphonic suite for Lost Horizon, prelude to Guns of Navarone, Suite for The Big Sky, overture for The Fourposter, incidental music for Friendly Persuasion, finale music for Search for Paradise. Though I prefer complete soundtracks or full symphonic treatments of the full film music, these “the film scores of” collections sometimes have to do.

A Study in Sherlock

A Study in Sherlock by Laurie King & Leslie Klinger, editors © 2011, Bantam Books 2011 trade paper, mystery short story collection – multiple author

The subtitle of this new collection is “Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon”.  What was done is the editors wrote to a list of authors thusly:

“In 19th century England, a new kind of hero—a consulting detective—blossomed in the mind of an underemployed doctor and ignited the world’s imagination.  In the thirteen decades since A Study in Scarlet first appeared,  countless variations on that theme have been played, from Mary Russell to Greg House, from ‘Basil of Baker Street’ to the new BBC Holmes-in-the-Internet-age.

Now, you don’t generally “do” Sherlock Holmes.  Which is precisely why we’re writing, because we suspect that you have in the back of your mind a story that plays a variation on the Holmes theme.

All we ask is that you let the Holmes stories inspire you.  You might want to write a straight Holmes pastiche, or a graphic story, or a tale about Mycroft or Mrs. Hudson or Billy the page.  The story may take place in Victorian Baker Street, or in Mughal India—or on the first manned flight to Mars.  Perhaps the plot takes inspiration from a Conan Doyle tale?  Or your detective suspects that his case is related to one Holmes faced?  Or…”

So that’s the set-up and the authors listed here delivered: Alan Bradley,
Tony Broadbent,
Jan Burke,
Lionel Chetwynd,
Lee Child,
Colin Cotterill,
Michael Dirda,
Neil Gaiman,
Laura Lippman,
Gayle Lynds, John Sheldon,
Phillip Margolin,
Margaret Maron,
Thomas Perry,
S. J. Rozan,
Dana Stabenow,
Charles Todd and
Jackie Winspear.

The only problem with this setup is probably obvious. You get exactly what you asked for, a variety of stories from very entertaining Holmes pastiches to way-out-in-left-field things that take more thought to figure out how they might be connected to the canon than is worth the energy to give.

Some of the stories here are, as I said, very entertaining. I particularly liked he stories by S.J. Rozen, Alan Bradley, Margaret Maron and Dana Stabenow. Charles Todd’s story was excellent, Jan Burke’s story thought-provoking. The rest went from so-so to feh. I’m glad I read it for the good stuff, but if it hadn’t been a gift, I’d have been best off getting it from the library.

New Arrivals & Some Comments

Nothing new. That’s fine. I have a surfeit of books and CDs now.

There may be something at Christmas, but I think Wife is trying for non-book Christmas, which will probably mean a new winter coat or something. That’s fine with me. Besides, that’s what I got for her (don’t tell her!). We bought our “for the house” present, on deep sale plus 20% off: a new Kitchenaid stand mixer, something we’ve wanted for a few years but considered them too expensive. We used it this morning (see below) and it’s a cool piece of machinery.

I’m felling a lot better - there were a few days when I barely got out of bed, between the mouth ache, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness and blurry vision it was a really miserable time. Bad reaction to the nitrous oxide plus a heavier-then-usual set of Novocain shots. Who knew? When I go back in a couple of weeks I’ll skip the gas.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls – on a much happier note, we made homemade cinnamon rolls yesterday/today. We usually go with the Pillsbury ones in the tube, but I wanted to try to make them from scratch. We used Alton Brown’s recipe from the Good Eats 2 book (you can find it here, along with the video and reviews). It’s a lot of work compared to the separate and bake ones, not that much if you’re used to making dough and have the tool, a stand mixer with the right attachments which we now do. The biggest thing with these is the time, you make the dough, let it rise for 2-3 hours, slice it and refrigerate it 10-18 hours (overnight). Next day you take it out, proof it in an oven for 30 minutes, then bake for 20-25 minutes (and don’t bake all the way to 30 without checking it or you may overcook them). The verdict? Really Very Good cinnamon rolls. From now on, we’ll make these unless we’re short on time.

open wide…

I’m having some pretty major dental work done, and due to needing to maximize the insurance coverage, since I’ve put this off for the best part of the year, it’s going to be happening at a frequent clip over the next four weeks. This morning was the first go, a lovely 2 hour appointment with much buzzing, scraping, shots of Novocain and a tooth removal. I’m feeling pretty woozy at this point and expect to continue that way for a couple of days.

Thus no Friday Forgotten Book this week. I did read something, what is was escapes my just now, but can’t marshal my thoughts enough to write it up.

New Arrivals, November 20 – 27, 2011

Two things from Haffner Press, ordered after George Kelley did a review. I already had quite a few other books published by Haffner, but not these two. Also two things picked up from BookSwap, also after reading reviews, both from Friday Forgotten Books. So here’s the cover scans, and then the info.

Note: I’m sorry WordPress decided to go the slideshow route, imitating Blogger, I don’t much care for it, but we were given no choice. If you want to see the image full size, click on “permalink” below that image.

Lorelei of the Red Mist by Leigh Brackett, foreword by Ray Bradbury, introduction by Harry Turtledove [Haffner Press 2007 hardcover, new] – science fiction / fantasy – As mentioned above, ordered after reading George Kelley’s review. This is subtitled “Planetary Romances” and contains 12 works of varying length, some short stories, a couple nearly novelette length. This copy is signed by Turtledove. Haffner publishes beautiful books.

My Favorite Fantasy Story edited by Martin H. Greenberg [DAW 2000 paperback, used] – fantasy – fantasy authors pick their favorite stories, an interesting mix.

Shannach – The Last by Leigh Brackett, introduction by Anne McCaffrey [Haffner Press 2011 hardcover, new] – science fiction / fantasy – As mentioned above, ordered after reading George Kelley’s review. This is subtitled “Farewell to Mars” and contains 17 stories. As I said above, but it bears repeating, Haffner publishes beautiful books.

Starbridge by A.C. Crispin [Ace Science Fiction, 1989 paperback, used] – science fiction – this is the first in the so far 7 book Starbridge series, in which mankind encounters their first intelligent alien species. I’ve seen these referred to as both adult and YA books. Don’t know my opinion, haven’t read this yet.