Mr. and Mrs. X: Love and Marriage Vol 1-5 by Kelly Thompson (Writer), Oscar Balzaldua (Artist), Frank D'Armataa (Colorist), VC's Joe Sabino (Letterer),VC's Travis Lanham (Letterer),

Rogue and Gambit are finally getting married and Bling has offered to make them a pair of rings.  A surprise guest shows up--Rogue's mother--Mystique.  But she promises to cause no problems and she keeps her word.  She even agrees to be the something blue and to stay hidden in the back so she doesn't bother anyone.  Then Remy and Rogue go on their honeymoon to a planet with several moons.   But after six days of being inside the hotel Rogue is getting tired of being inside all the time and wants to go outside.  That's when she gets a call from Kitty about an object that needs to be rescued from the Shi'ar.  Remy isn't happy about having his honeymoon interrupted. Rogue has been wearing a power dampener so they can kiss and stuff but it gives her a migraine so she can't wear it all the time.

The two of them run into the Shi'ar and Rogue accidentally absorbs someone's powers and winds up outside into space when Deadpool rescues her.  Circe rescues Gambit off of the Shi'ar ship and lands him on a planet where Rogue and Deadpool are.  While Rogue and Gambit are "talking" Deadpool gets away with the egg which is the object Kitty wanted them to get.  Rogue and Gambit go after Deadpool and the egg.  The three of them run into the group Technet and agree to fight together.  Technet wishes that they had never met them.  When they get on the ship, they realize that the egg is cracked and opening up. When it does it is in the shape of Rogue.

They eventually realize that a person took the safe shape of Rogue when in fact it is the daughter of Professor Xavier and Liandaer former leader of the Shi'ar, but both are dead making Xander very valuable.  Rogue and Gambit get caught by the Shi'ar along with Xander as an egg.  The two of them escape and free Xander who changes their appearances.  They meet up with the Star Jammers who have Circe so they all land on a planet below.  Xander offers Rogue the chance to change her powers so that she can touch people but she turns it down.  She tried that once and it failed miserably.

Now they have Imperial Guard trouble coming at them hoping to get Xander.  When an explosion occurred blowing up Xander and Rogue leaving nothing but ashes.  The Imperial Guard leave and Remy and Cercie are left to grieve.  It's devastating for Remy to lose the love of his life especially after they've finally gotten married.

This comic will continue as Remy grieves and perhaps finds another wife.  This book was excellently written and beautifully drawn as Rogue looks rather adorable and Remy looks rough around the edges.  The Wedding looks soft and gorgeously drawn.  This was a fabulous comic and magically done. I've always wanted Rogue and Gambit to get married and go on an adventure together and now I get my wish. I love these comics.  I give them five out of five stars.

Listed on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Mrs-X-Vol-1/dp/1302913514/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3CRCO117XJQ5D&keywords=mr+and+mrs+x&qid=1577726723&sprefix=mr+and+mrs+x%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-2
https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Mrs-Vol-Gambit-Forever/dp/1302913522/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2/130-5502052-3541926?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1302913522&pd_rd_r=d67756cb-7292-454a-840a-979143f9a35a&pd_rd_w=29BnE&pd_rd_wg=nCRKk&pf_rd_p=09627863-9889-4290-b90a-5e9f86682449&pf_rd_r=0P54QVK7FBKJQ7D989KK&psc=1&refRID=0P54QVK7FBKJQ7D989KK

Ms. Marvel Vol. 7: Damage Per Second by G. Willow Wilson (Writer), Mirka Andolfo (Artist), Takeshi Miyazawa (Artist), Francesco Gaston (Artist), Ian Herring (Colorist), VC's Joe Caramagna (Letterer)

In the previous comic, Captain Marvel calls upon her to join a task force that Kamala will lead that will pick up criminals before they commit a crime.  This seems like a big weight off of her shoulders.  Ulysses the Inhuman is able to predict who will commit a crime and where and he's working for Captain Marvel.  Things go well at first, but soon someone she knows is arrested for the crime he's thinking about committing and Kamala sees this as a bad idea.  But can she go against Captain Marvel? Bruno will get deathly hurt in this squirmish and Kamala must deal with the aftermath of their friendship if he survives.  Interspersed are flashbacks to her family history going back to Karachi which adds a bit of flavor to this mix.  It isn't easy going against your hero even when your friends are urging you to do so.

In this comic, kids are being transferred to schools in other districts and with the help of Mike, Ms. Matvel discovers that there is gerrymandering going on and a push for an unpopular candidate to be voted in as mayor.  Ms. Marvel gathers up her friends together and pushes people to vote while also educating people on voting rights, such as your boss can't keep you from voting and some states allow you to mail your vote in.  They push for a young woman who was the former librarian to be mayor and she wins and undoes all the redistricting.

The next story is about a computer virus that threatens to reveal Kamalas identity as Ms. Marvel if she doesn't go to S.H.I.E.L.D. and download their data and make it possible for the virus to get more from them or it will reveal Zoe's secret love letters to Nakia that she has not given to her yet.  Kamala can't do it and instead goes to Zoe and tells her what is going to happen and why and Zoe understands and decides to tell Nakia herself.  The virus was created for Kamala's gamer group for nefarious reasons.  It breaks free and spreads out becoming more and more evil.   Kamala reaches out to Bruno who is in Wakanda going to school and doesn't want to talk to her until she sends him a copy of hte virus and he explains how it works which gives her an idea of how to stop it.

The third story involves Bruno who is a thing of pity down in Wakanda with his arm and hand in a sling and having to use a crutch for his leg.  His roommate is always asking him to do a thing for him to help him get a girl.  This time it's stealing a piece of Vibranium to impress the most beautiful girl.  But they get caught by the Black Panther and must come clean about the real reason his friend wants to steal the Vibranium.

As a member of the American Association of University Women who strongly believe in voting and educating others on voting, I really enjoyed the first story on voting.  As a psychologist, I thoroughly enjoyed the second story and how our behaviors can affect other's behaviors.  As for the third story, I've missed Bruno and it was good to see him again.  This was a really good comic and not quite as dark as the last issue which was a relief.  I give it five out of five stars.

Listed On Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Ms-Marvel-Vol-Willow-Wilson/dp/1302903055/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1AM1MMAFIZKQL&keywords=ms+marvel+vol+7&qid=1577465023&sprefix=ms+marvel+vol+7%2Caps%2C187&sr=8-1

My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories edited by Stephanie Perkins

This book includes stories by Holly Black, Ally Carter, Matt De La Pena, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Myra McEntire, Rainbow Rowell, Laini Taylor, and Kiersten White.  It gets off to a rocky start with "The Lady and the Fox" by Kelly Link whose magic it attempts to conjure never quite gets there.  And "Angels in the Snow" by Matt De La Pena which is just plain boring as is "Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me" by Jenny Han.  I was beginning to wonder if this was a book worth reading.

Then I read "Your Temporary Santa" by David Levithan and the book really took off for me.  In this book a guy's boyfriend asks him to dress as Santa for his little sister who still believes. His other sister who is older not only doesn't believe, but is pissed off when she finds him in the suit because someone else used to wear the suit and he isn't worthy.  He decides to go visit his boyfriend's room for comfort. Does he find it?

"Kramerrpsulauf" by Holly Black explores the dark side of Christmas and actually punishing those who deserve it.  At a Krampsulauf festival in their town that is tame compared to the actual festival, Hanna and her friends Wren and Penny run into Penny's boyfriend who appears to be with his girlfriend there.  Wren invites the girl and her friends to a party at Hanna's dead grandmother's trailer.  Hanna wants it to be a fancy party with champagne and quiches.  But Wren texts the girl and finds that Ross told them the party was canceled.  Wren told her that she was the other woman and Wren could prove it.  Ross wrecks the party table ruining Hanna's party when suddenly the Krampus that she met at the festival shows up with two others wanting to punish Ross.  What will Hanna, Penny, and the other girl choose to do?  When the Krampus that she invited to the party asks Hanna what she wants what will she choose?

In "What the Hell Have You Done Sophie Roth?" by Gayle Forman, Sophie Roth is constantly asking herself that question her first semester at Bumbfuck University.  She is considered "Big City" which to her sounds like another word for Jewish or someone who likes foreign films and are sarcastic.  She runs into a black guy who is also "Big City" named Russell at a Christmas concert outdoors.  She says something about it being Ned Flanders like and he hears it and the two decide to go for a ride to a diner he knows about that serves the perfect pie.  He remembers that it's the last day of Hanukkah and orders her some hash browns, applesauce, and sour cream.  When they leave they go in search of candles to celebrate using her Menorah.

Quotes

It turns out, teachers think of glitter as the herpes of the craft world---impossible to contain or exterminate.

           -Myra McEntire "Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus" (My True Love Gave to Me:Twelve Holiday               Stories) p 203

It’s hard not to feel just a little bit fat when your boyfriend asks you to be Santa Claus. “But I’m Jewish?” I protest. “It would be one thing if you were asking  me to be Jesus—he, at least was a member  of my tribe, and looks good in a Speedo. Plus,  Santa requires you to be jolly , whereas Jesus only requires you to be born.”
-Davis Levithan “Yoir Temporally Santa” (My True Love Gave to Me;12 Holiday Stories) p 133

Tomorrow would be different. Sophie understood that. There really was no such thing as a minor miracle.
- Gayle Forman “What the hell have you done Sophie Roth?” (My True Love Gavel to Me:12 Holiday Stories) p151



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Wonder Woman Vol 6: Childrein of the Gods by James Robinson (Writer), Carlo Pagulayan (Penciler),, Sergio Davila (Penciler), Emanula Lupacchino (Penciler), Stephen Segovia (Penciler), Sergio Davila (Penciler), Emauela Lupacchino (Penciler), Stephen Segovia (Penciler), Raul Fernandez(inker), Ever Ferreira(Inker), Mick.Gray.(Inker), Scott.Hanna.(Imker), Ray McCarthy(Inker), Mark Morales(Inker), Sean Parsons(Inker), Jason Paz.(Inker), Art. Thibert( Inker), Romulo Fajardo Jr (Colorist), Saido Temofonte (Letterer)

Grail, the daughter of an Amazonian warrior and Darkseid, an evil creature who.was killed by the Justice League, but he has now been reborn as a baby and his daughter is killing the children of Zeus including Hercules who left all his belongings to Wonder Woman including the location of her twin brother Jason, who goes to live with one of the Argonauts.  Grail needs energy from these children to help Darkseid grow older and stronger.

While Diana didn't know that she had a brother, her brother knew about her.  He promised Glaucus that he wouldn't seek her out for fear of Hera's wrath.  But he wondered why she didn't seek him out.  Glaucus went away one day leaving him alone and soon Grail came along and kept him company telling him that she would only take a little bit of energy from the sons and daughters of Zeus--not kill them.  She helped fuel his hatred for Diana who had left him stuck on that Greek island in his viewpoint.  The two gang up on Diana and drag her away for a certain plot that Grail has planned.

Wonder Woman allows herself to be tied up so she can try to get through to Jason, but she doesn't succeed.  So she breaks free from her bondage and kicks some ass on both of them. When Darkseid arrives to join in the fight, Wonder Woman doesn't back down.  She'll take him on alone.  But she won't have to. She'll get help from two unexpected sources.

This comic was an interesting one in that it brings together various gods and goddesses who get killed, but who are some of my favorites from mythology. And it's pretty cool that Diana has a twin brother. He leaves a lot to be desired, but there's always the possibility of redemption.  Darkseid is truly evil and Grail, his daughter will do anything for him, even kill. Grail is a maniacal witch and deserves to die along with her father.  This was a fantastic book that explores the land of the gods and family. I really loved it and I give it five out of five stars.

Listed On Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Woman-Vol-Children-Rebirth/dp/1401284248/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=wonder+woman+vol+6&qid=1577124246&sr=8-1

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

James Watson goes to a boarding school in London but his parents can't really afford it. So when an American boarding school in Connecticut offers him a rugby scholarship, James decides to take it since they have an excellent writing program even though it means going to America and being near his dad whom he hasn't spoken much too since the divorce when he was ten.  His dad left his mom for another woman and James took the divorce out on his dad.  His mom hopes that he'll spend some time with his dad while he's there.  What really cinches the deal, though, is that Charlotte Holmes goes to this school and James has been slightly obsessed with her since he was a kid and his dad told him how she helped Scotland Yard find the stolen jewels and he began dreaming of a Holmes and Watson team up like their great great great grandfathers.  James gets a nice but talkative roommate named Tom, who's like him, middle class and not rolling in the dough.

Holmes turns out to be rather wooden and tough and self-destructive.  She's done any number of drugs in her life but now she's on oxy.  She has a family that expects her to be emotionless in order to solve the crimes she needs to solve.  To have emotions makes one weak.  As part of getting her to come to the school, she was allowed to have a lab.  It's in a closet in the science building.  While high on oxy, Dobson raped her.  Dobson said some nasty things about her in front of Watson and Watson got into a fight with him.  Then she said a few words to Dobson in front of the crowd gathered and it was like the ultimate punch.  She told Watson she fights her own battles.  The next day Dobson is found dead in his bed with a snake bite, but Holmes sneaks in and investigates the room before the police do and find the rattlesnake skin and other evidence to indicate that Dobson had been poisoned with arsenic over time.  The police immediately suspect Holmes and Watson.  Holmes explains that they have been set up.  James's father gets called in to act as their parent for police questioning.  James finds that his father isn't as bad as the thought.  Holmes realizes that this murder resembles the Holmes and Watson story "The Speckled Band"

Holmes and Watson go to the dance together and they run into the young woman who had asked Watson to the dance a while back but he had just gotten suspended and forbidden to do school activities for the fight so he told her he couldn't go. Besides he didn't want to go.  Now he shows up with Holmes and she's upset.  There's nothing to do but to avoid her. Leaving the dance party they stumble upon her body and realize she is choking on something. It's a paste jewel. Holmes gets it out of her mouth but there's a crowd who suspects that they did it to her.  This is just like "The Adventure of the Blue Carbunkle".  In the crowd is someone suspicious--a drug dealer.  They chase him into the secret tunnels into a room that is covered with the murder victims, Dobson, and Elizabeth, who survives.  The police find them there which looks pretty damning.

The Moriarty's are somehow involved in this.  Holmes tells Watson that when she was fourteen she had August Moriarty as a tutor and she developed a crush on him that he didn't return as he was twenty and engaged.  He didn't tell her he was taken just that the age difference was off and she had a crush that would wear off.  She got mad and ordered a large shipment of coke from his brother Lucian and then called the cops on the two of them and he took the blame and served his time and now works for her brother Milo.  Watson thinks that August blames her for ruining his life and is out for revenge.  Holmes refuses to believe this.  She is blinded by her belief that August couldn't be involved.  It has to be someone at the school.  There are two possibilities.  One is the nurse who bought Dobson his protein formula and the other is the writing teacher whose brother owns a snake farm and is interested in writing about Holmes and Watson in action perhaps.  Meanwhile, both Holmes and Watson have attempts made on their lives. Will they survive this case long enough to catch the killer?  And will Holmes be able to do this without the help from her family?

This is a fabulous book and so like the Holmes and Watson book series only more modern and with younger detectives who have to worry about homework.  This was a remarkably well-done book that really followed the characterizations of the families. the two main characters came from.  Charlotte is someone you feel sorry for as you admire her intellect and bravery, you can't help but want her to have human feelings, even if it goes against the Holmes stereotype.  And of course, you want the two of them to get together.  I can't wait to read the second book in this trilogy.  I really loved this book and I give it five out of five stars.

Quotes

She was altogether colorless and severe, and still she managed to be beautiful. Not the way that girls are generally beautiful, but more like the way a knife catches the light, makes you want to take it in your hands.

-Brittany Caballaro (A Study in Charlotte p 5-6)

|”As I’ve told you before I can fight for myself. So stop looking at me like I’m an object of your pity.” “I don’t pity you.” “No. You just choose to feel all the things that I can’t, or don’t. It’s overwhelming. We’ve been friends less than a day. Though I suppose we’re neither of us normal.”

-Brittany Caballaro (A Study in Charlotte p 53)

Holmes had treated her body like an inconvenience, at best, and at the worst of times like an appendage she was actively trying to destroy.

-Brittany Caballaro (A Study in Charlotte p 84)

\

I tried to imagine Holmes under a disco ball, jumping around to some Top 40 song. It was easier to imagine a whale dancing, or Gandhi.

-Brittany Caballaro (A Study in Charlotte p 91)

I’ve smoked at least twenty of these horrible things today and I am developing a wretched dependency, just you watch, we’ll be out in the middle of some sodding field watching a perfectly captivating murder take place firsthand, and I’ll have to run off in the middle  because I need to have a Lucky Strike right then or I”ll be the one doing the killing.

-Brittany Caballaro (A Study in Charlotte p 202)

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The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories by P.D. James

Included in this collection of mysteries is "The Mistletoe Murder", "A Very Commonplace Murder", "The Boxdale Inheritance", and The Twelve Clues of Christmas."  In "The Mistletoe Murder" a young war widow in 1940 England goes to the country to visit her grandmother whom she barely knows before starting the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.  She doesn't expect to see her cousin Paul there but it is a welcome sight.  Also, there is Paul's second cousin Rowland who specialized in coins and was there to look at some coins for her grandmother who was looking to sell them.  The young widow took an instant dislike to him.  Right before ten o'clock her grandmother opened the safe and set the coins on the desk in the library for Rowland to look at and went to bed. At ten-thirty Paul went up to see her off to bed.  Then the war widow went up to say goodnight to her and she noticed two things: six mistletoes had fallen from the branch above the library door and a puddle of water was at the foot of the stairs.  The next day Rowland is found murdered inside the library with the key inside the lock and the windows open and a set of footprints leading up to the window and a set leading away from the window.  He had been hit over the head with a blunt object and his watch had been smashed perhaps to confused the time of death.  However, Paul spent the entire night with the war widow except for when he was going up to visit the grandmother.  No one else could have done it but how did he do it and when did he do it and why? Will she get her answers?

Two of the mysteries have James's famous detective Adam Dalgliesh.  They are "The Boxdale Inheritance" and "The Twelve Clue of Christmas".  In "The Boxdale Inheritance" Dalgleish has a godfather who is a Cannon and a very good and honest man who refuses to take an inheritance from "Great Aunt Allie" who got off the hook for murder but was generally believed to have murdered her much older husband.  Everyone is allied except for Miss Goddard who had no reason to want them dead.  Did she do it or is Great Aunt Allie really guilty? The other one "The Twelve Clue Christmas" has Dalgliesh visiting his Aunt on Christmas Eve when a man flags him down to use the phone to call the police because his uncle committed suicide.  Dalgliesh gives the twelve clues as to why he didn't commit suicide and who killed him.

This book is a delightful collection of murder mysteries that explore the locked room mystery, the guilty in the public eye verdict, the suicide that's not, and the reluctant witness that never comes forward.  James is a master at the craft of writing mysteries and this slim volume (if I have any complains it's that the book is too short) shows off her legendary skills in a perfect way.  I really enjoyed these short stories and I give this book five out of five stars.

Quotes

Death seems to provide the minds of the Anglo-Saxon race with a greater fund of innocent amusement than any other single subject.

          -Dorothy L. Sayers

          Bereavement is like a serious illness. One dies or one survives, and the medicine is time, not              a  change of scene.
          -P.D.James (The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories p 4)

          I"d better introduce myself. Helmut Harkerville, and I"m not German. My mother liked the                  name. 
          -P.D. James (The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories p 125)

Listed On Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Mistletoe-Murder-Other-Stories-ebook/dp/B01F0ZIH9K/ref=sr_1_1?crid=7CK4960MJ1SS&keywords=the+mistletoe+murder+and+other+stories+by+p.d.+james&qid=1576509839&sprefix=the+mistletoe+murder%2Caps%2C439&sr=8-1

Ultimate Spider-Man Vol 17: Clone Saga by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Mark Bagley (Penciler), Drew Hennessy (Inker), John Dell (Inker), Jon Sibal (Inker), Matt Ryan (Inker), Justin Ponsor (Colorist), Richard Isanove (Colorist), F & Avalon's Andy Troy (Colorist), VC"s Cory Petit (Letterer) and Chris Eliopoulos (Letterer)

Peter Parker has broken up with Mary Jane because it is just too dangerous for him to date anyone. But that's before he meets Kitty Pryde of the X-Men who can take care of herself.  She wears a different costume so they can try and make an attempt to date while outside of the costume.  After bringing in the Ringer, Kitty takes the electronic transport back to the mansion and Parker goes home.  But someone looking like Storm and Wolverine attack her at the mansion and the plane is sent back to Parker.  He hops on and is tricked by Kitty into getting aboard a ship with some of the X-Men head out to Genosha where they are kicked out of the plane.  He's met there by Colossus who tells him about being tricked himself.  They run into Scott and find the same story with him and figure out what they are dealing with a shapeshifter as well as someone named Deadpool who was paid to get them all on the island and let them fight with his Revealers, those who have had modifications done to their bodies.  Nightcrawler and Storm show up to help and soon they find that they are being televised on TV by Mojo.  And soon Spider-Man and Kitty's romance is no longer a secret. They survive the island but dating is becoming tougher with their alter-egos knew to be dating.  And Kitty has a problem with Peter being friends with MJ.  To be fair, MJ is kinda trying to win Peter back.

Suddenly Spider-Man finds himself fighting a scorpion with a familiar face--his.  He takes him to Reed Richards as the scorpion doesn't seem all there and he wants to know why he has his face.  Reed gets right on it.  Meanwhile, MJ gets kidnapped from her bedroom and while Peter is off looking for her he finds the dead Gwen Stacey instead.  By this time Reed has realized that the scorpion is a clone of Peter and he needs to get Fury involved whether he wants to or not.  Now Fury has called in the Spider Smasher Army to Peter's location.

Guess who shows up to Peter's door just as he's told his Aunt May that he's Spider-Man and she tells him that he is not her son and she wants him out of her house?  Peter's father who it turns out didn't die in the airplane crash but instead went to work for the C.I.A. and he won't say it but Gwen is a clone.  At this time Fury arrives with his army and Gwen freaks out and turns into Carnage and attacks the army.  Fury arrests Peter. Aunt May has a heart attack and Sue Storm comes over to help and get her out to the hospital against Fury's orders.  Then the female Spider-Man clone sets him free and grabs him and takes off.

Meanwhile, one of the Spider-Man clones wants to protect MJ and feels the only way to do that is to give her powers so he injects her with the OZ serum.  MJ wigs out and turns into a monster.  The other clones tried to stop him but were unable to. Now they are trying to protect MJ.  Until the situation at Peter's house changes and the creator of the clones shows up and most of the clones show up to kill him for what he did.

This comic was unbelievably mind-blowingly....just WOW!  Words can not convey how bowled over I am by this book.  It took the story to a new level.  And the art was so incredible and vivid the way they did the individual Parkers differently yet the same.  This comic really explores the relationship between Fury and Peter and delves deeply into it and comes out on the other side.  I really, really, really, loved this book.   I give it ten out of five stars.

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Marvel Knights: Black Widow The Complete Collection by Devin Grayson (Writer), Greg Rucka (Writer), J.C. Jones (Artist), Scott Hampton (Artist, Colorist), Igor Kordey (Artist), Dave Kemp (Colorist), Brian Haberlin (Colorist), Ian Hannin (Colorist), Andy Troy (Colorist), Chris Chuckry (Colorist), Wes Abbott (Letterer), Saida Temofonte (Letterer), Jason Levine (Letterer), and Albert Deschesne (Letterer)

In "Itsy Bitsy Spider", Natasha Romanov is relaxing in New York City with Matt Murdoch when the call comes in for a job.  She finds that she is being followed by someone she finds is Yolena Romonovia who calls herself the Black Widow, which is Natasha's moniker.  The Americans and the Russians have sent Black Widow in to get a bio-toxin from a madman in Rhaspatan. The Russians have also sent in a Black Widow for the same reason.  Matt is talking to Natasha while she is making her escape plans.  Nat gets away with the toxins.  She heads to Dr. Innies to find out what the toxin does since he invented it.  It's a pretty scary serum and what its use is ingenious.  But guess who shows up at the doctor's lab? The other Black Widow.  Who will win this race?

In "Breakdown" the Avengers swap faces with Yolena and Natasha in order to garner intel. Since Daredevil is dating Black Widow he helps out by acting out the relationship.  Then Yolena gets a message "from Russia" to kill Yolena. So she does. Only Nat and her team fake the scene and have Yolena think that she killed Yolena.  Meanwhile, Nat goes to make the drop with her Russian counterpart and is made.  Yolena is going crazy, not sure who she is.

"Pale Little Spider" involves Yolena alone in Russia and the death of her mentor at a BDSM sex club where he had a woman who looked just like her beat him and say dirty things to him.  Yolena doesn't know what to make of this.  She respected this man and looked up to him and to now find out this about him?  But she must find out who killed him.

This was an amazing book with outstanding artwork.   The stories were very creative with another Black Widow trailing after our Black Widow trying to best her and not quite succeeding.  I love Black Widow and while I don't know if I completely buy into her and Daredevil dating, I did love this collection of comics.  I give it five out of five stars.     

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Owl Be Home For Christmas by Donna Andrews

In this latest Meg Langslow mystery its Christmas time and the family is snowed in at the Inn where Meg is managing the Owl Conference her grandfather is hosting.  With everyone snowbound and unable to leave the Inn, tensions are running high and people are arguing more than usual, especially over the debate between the barred owl and the spotted owl and how the barred owl was taking over the spotted owl's territory and the spotted owl was endangered. This is just one of the many fevered arguments taking place at the conference.  Meg is forced to referee and separate people and deal with people who have guns.

The worst of the bunch is Dr. Frogmore who comes from a college in Oregan that finds a way to not accept women or minorities.  Its faculty is nearly all-white males and Grandfather can't stand Dr. Frogmore and would have seen if he could have found a way to keep him from the conference if he could have.  He and his long-suffering flunky Dr. Czerny.

At the fancy dinner one night, Frogmore complains loudly while the speaker is speaking.   Meg is close to doing something about him when suddenly he falls over dead.   Everyone is in shock for a few minutes until it sets in. But the only one upset about his death is Dr. Czerny.  Who will hire him now? His life is over.  \

Meg comes up with some suspects for the police.  Dr. Green who argued with him and was on the side of the spotted owls.  Dr. Lindquist who was on the same side as Dr. Frogmore but Frogmore he believed was taking money from the lumber industry to sabotage the debate and create chaos.  Dr. Crane whose career Frogmore torpedoed so she couldn't work at his college.  Melissa McKendrick who was kept from going to Frogmore's college by him because she was a woman and African American.  Also, the three students who sat at his table because there was nowhere else to sit.  And there's also Dr. Czerny for whatever reason he might have. 

Luckily Meg's cousin Horace who is a deputy who does the forensics for the sheriff's department got stranded at the hotel and is able to work the case.   The sheriff is at the baptist church and will be over by snowmobile the next day to take over.  Meanwhile, he is conducting interviews via satellite phone.  The suspects look pretty guilty as no one liked Frogmore and they each had extra motives to kill him, but you don't want them to be guilty as you really like them.

This was a fabulous book as only Andrews can deliver.  But this book was better than her usual books in that the characters were truly likable and the murder victim was truly despicable.  True to form she throws you off the scent in more than one way and leaves you complacent when Boom! the action really starts up.  I love Andrews's books and her Christmas books are always a special treat.  This one was a real delight to read and I give it five out of five stars.

Quotes

He sighed heavily. For any other scientist at the conference, I might have relented and run the copies. Not for a man I’d overheard agreeing to enthusiastically when, right in the middle of a presentation by one of the female scientists, Dr. Frogmore had said, very audibly, “But what can you expect? Women have no head for statistics.”

-Donna Andrews (Owl Be Home For Christmas p 13-14)

“But he’s nota misogynist—just an all=purpose misanthrope.” “About the only thing, he’s prejudiced against is stupidity.”

-Donna Andrews (Owl Be Home For Christmas p 43)

She enjoyed explaining things to people—especially explaining technical things to men.

-Donna Andrews (Owl Be Home For Christmas p 140)

He looked annoyed, but then he always did. It occurred to me that “resting owl face” would make a nice gender-neutral replacement for “resting bitch face.”

-Donna Andrews (Owl Be Home For Christmas p 213)


Listed On Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Owl-Be-Home-Christmas-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07PBQPK55/ref=sr_1_1?crid=W6WXJDKOBGR8&keywords=owl+be+home+for+christmas+donna+andrews&qid=1575912681&sprefix=Owl+be+hom%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-1

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Paper Girls Vol 6 by Brian K. Vaughn (Writer), Cliff Chiang (Artist), Matt Wilson (Colorist), Jared K. Fletcher (Letterer)

In the previous comic, they land in the future which is the most dangerous place for them as a man named Jahpo who goes by Grandfather is looking for them to do what we don't know.  The girls split up with two of them going to try to find a cure for Mac's leukemia and the other three going to find Wari who they believe to be the same one they met back in prehistoric times.  Wari is suffering from dementia but she tells them her story of how she took the lifeboat back with the doctor when her people sent another one and the doctor raised her son as her own.  Jahpo is her son.  Mac finds out that she doesn't have leukemia but a time traveler's cancer that is incurable.  The girls have a walkie talkie to talk to each other and one group gets into trouble and needs help.  Jahpo tries to fix something in 1988 which is where they want to return to.  1988 has turned into a war zone and they're heading right for it.

The four girls get stranded in four different time periods.  K. J. winds up in 1958 when Jude meets Charlotte, the comic strip author's daughter and tells her about time travel and the wars.  Max winds up not long before the sun explodes with the doctor who invented time travel who has the time traveler's cancer and chose to die there.  Tiffany ends up in the far off future with a young Erin, an older Erin, and her very old self.

Tiffany is being asked to bring them all back to 1988 so they can have their minds wiped of all that has happened in order to bring peace and an end to the war.  But Tiffany refuses and brings them back to August 2, 1831, to discuss the problem with her friends and with the old-timers.  They come up with a solution to wipe their minds and the girls accept this even though it means that their friendships will likely end.

I found this to be a weak ending to a great series.  I understand there is going to be a television show about the comic book series to come on Amazon.  I would be interested in seeing how it fares.  I really enjoyed the series and loved the brave characters of Max, K.J., Erin, and Tiffany and the hard edge it took to four girls being lost in time while a war rages on that they know nothing about but involves them.  This book just didn't live up to their bravery and badassery.  It was tepid and quiet and kind of lame.  I give it two and a half out of five stars. 

Quotes

The amount of time we have left is irrelevant. It’s what we choose to do with every second that counts.

-Brian K. Vaught (Paper Girls Vol. 6)

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Eleventh Grave in Moonlight by Darndya Jones

In the last book, Reyes found out he was a god and that Grim Reaper Charley had a god glass that was made to hold Reyes by his brother God.  Right now it holds one bad god and one demon and some innocent souls that a preacher placed in there in the 1400s.  It requires you to know the name of the person inside to let them out and Charley doesn't know the names of the innocents so she can't let them out. The other two she put in there.  Reyes's human sister was murdered and they have a continuous group of "people" watching over Beep including Osh, the former slave demon who is slated to be Beep's husband.  She also threated God by saying that she was going to take over the world.  Now she has angels following her around all over the place.

Shawn Foster comes into Charley\s office which is an interesting coincidence because Charley is investigating his adoptive parents The Fosters who stole Reyes from his parents before dropping him off with the horrid man he grew up with. Charley believes that Reyes wasn't the only one and Shawn knows that he was adopted and possibly stolen and wants to know who his parents are.  They told him they died in a fire when he asked.  It also turns out that Shawn is half-angel half-human and that the Fosters are looking for pure souls to save and kill the unpure ones.  Reyes wants her to drop the case.  Also, for some reason, her Uncle Bob wants her to stay inside and out of the way for the next few days.  That's not suspicious at all.  They have a rotation of entities watching over Bob because he was supposed to die and go to Hell, because of something he did a few years ago that saved Charley but was murder, however, they thwarted that in the last book but they're not sure if they completely stopped it or not. And Bob is acting really weird to the point that Cookie thinks he's having an affair.  Charley doesn't think that's it but has no idea what he's up to either.

Amber, Cookie's daughter, wakes up Charley and Reyes cutting herself with a knife and prophesying about Charley's future about how she's a god-eater and that she's going to ice over Hell.  Stress brings out the prophesying and Amber is stressed out about being stalked on her cell phone.  They're really nasty texts that indicate that the person is following her and sees what she texts to others on her phone.  This person also threatened her stepdad Charley's Uncle Bob.  Charley sets up a trap with Amber as bait.

With a god on this plane hunting Charley to kill her, Reyes is getting serious about Charley's training.  He teaches her how to travel from place to place and how to dematerialize.  He also gets it into her head that she is only a pinch human and nearly all god and therefore cannot be killed by dropping her off the top of a tall building.  Charley plans on getting back at him for that.

This was another sizzling book by Jones who puts lots of heat and action and sarcasm to mix together to form the perfect blend of mocha latte that gets Charley going in the morning.   Charley is a delightful character that you just can't get enough of and her regular cast of minions such as Cookie, Angel, Swopes, Bob, Osh, and of course her partner Reyes come together to make the perfect book.  And as usual, she leaves it on that killer cliffhanger that has you begging for more.  Not everyone makes it out alive, but that's true of all of her books.  This was an amazing book and I loved it a lot. I give it five out of five stars. 

Quotes

Lord, help me be the person my psychiatrist medicates me to be.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 1)

Nothing good ever came out of a conversation that started with “We need to talk.”

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 7)

Insanity takes its toll. Please have exact change.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 14)

Talking to yourself is OK. Answering back is risky.

-Brian Spellman

You couldn’t lose him if you were seventeen, on a date with Thor, and he was your virginity.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 29)

Why yes, I have discovered the joy of cooking. It’s when my husband does it.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 41)

She has moments when she seems stable, but then so does nitroglycerin.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 55)

The young girl behind the desk took the tried-and-true attitude of sheer boredom and transformed it into an art form. She barely looked out of high school.  Nobody mastered the epitome of boredom like a teenager. Sadly, as we aged, we lost the delicate intricacies of the skill set. It was like losing an ancient language or a potato soup recipe.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 66)

I’d fought demons and malevolent gods and even Lucifer himself, and nothing terrified me more than an angry two-year-old.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 66)

A lot of people are only alive because I shed too much hair to ever get away with murder.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 70)

Whoever invented a coffeemaker with a timer deserved a Nobel Prize. He’d probably saved more lives than Prozac.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 98-99)

Children are magic because they look for it.

-Christopher Moore

Thank god I don’t have to hunt for my food. I don’t even know where tacos live.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 138)

At that point, I was more or less voicing my stream of consciousness. If he sidn’t want to chat with me, I’d chat with me. I was excellent company.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 140)

I never said I’d die without coffee. I said other people would.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 151)

\

Some days I just stay inside because if feels too peopley out there.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 183)

“How better to learn to control this than to give you dire consequences of you fail?” Male logic at its finest, ladies and gentlemen.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 200)

“Don’t walk over here. Be over here.” I gave up. “You know, I can’t tell if you’re channeling Obi-Wan of Yoda more.”

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 202)

Some days the supply of available curse words is insuffienct to meet my needs.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 228)

My entire life can be summed up in one sentence: “Well, that didn’t go as planned.’

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 245)

Life isn’t a fairy tale. IF you lose a shoe at midnight, you’re drunk.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 267)

I never make the same mistake twice. I make it like five or six times, you know, just to be sure.

-Darynda Jones (Eleventh Grave in Moonlight p 288)

She has been through hell, so believe me when I say, fear her when she looks into a fire and smiles.

-E. Corona

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Venturess by Betsy Cornwall

In the previous book, Nicolette Lampton grew up with a mother who was an inventor and a father who sold her inventions. Then her mother died of the fairy croup because her father refused to try to get the medicine which was illegal because it was magic medicine and the king's wife had died from taking too much of the medicine and therefore the king banned both fairy medicine and faeries.  His eldest son was assassinated and therefore his youngest son was placed under lock and key.  She met Fin and Caro at the Market in downtown Esting when she went there to sell her inventions that she made when on her sixteenth birthday she received a key to her mother's lab.  Unfortunately when the king banned half-fey their housekeeper Mr. Candery, who had been a big help to her left to go back to Faerie. There was an Exhibition for Scientists and Inventors and a ball and she went to both and was successful in getting a backer for her inventions with Lord Alming and danced with a Prince who turned out to be Fin the young boy she had fallen in love with but couldn't marry because it would fit too many bad people's plans.  Besides Caro loved him too.  But Caro also loved Bex, the young stable girl.  And Caro also loved Nick who loved Caro too.  Nick, Caro, and Fin, formed a family.  Fin's father was becoming frailer and listening to the religious extremists, the Brethren, and planning on going to war with Faerie.

In this book, Esting is at war with Faerie and it's not going well for Faerie.  Fin is giving speeches constantly in support of Faerie, but it doesn't seem to be doing any good.  Then one day he gives a speech at the Exposition and is shot in the shoulder and taken away.  Then Lord Fitz, a man who is evil and once interested in Nick, takes an automaton he has created and places it on the stage Fin had been using and mimics Fin's voice behind a curtain and uses the machine to pretend to be Fin speaking that he agrees with his father about the necessity of the war and how the fey are evil.  Nick goes up there to see what's going on and finds out what he's up to. She had announced that she was Fin's fiance and the Heiress in front of a live mic in order to go with the doctors and be with him.  Now Fitz is using this to solidify his position with the Heiress endorsing his position.

Nick goes looking around the castle and finds Fitz's collection of about a thousand half made automatons.  One looks just like her.  She destroys it and many others.  She tells Fin and Caro about them and about the letter she received from Mr. Candery asking Fin to come and make peace with Faerie.  So they decide to head out to Faerie on an airship.  Captain Wheelock, a young captain, takes them across the ocean where they get to go down into the ocean in glass-enclosed boats and Fin sees a merman caught in their nets and he breaks the glass open in order to free the merman.  But he makes Wheelock promise to never reveal what he saw because he is worried that his father will want to conquer the sea folk as well and he wished to protect them.

While in Faerie Nick will not only face her past and her mostly anger and some happiness over it but also the consequences of the actions she's taken over the years that have had great ramifications for those she loves.  Fin will try to prevent a war by creating a peace treaty and Caro will learn the arts of healing.  The three will never be the same again after this trip.  This book is a worthy sequel to Mechanica and teaches us that there is more than one kind of family.  I loved this amazing book and give it five out of five stars.

Quotes

But you must admit, its much easier for someone to be good once they’re dead.

-Betsy Cromwell (Ventress p 69)

The ocean was its own continent, dark as the forest above it, charming and roiling white froth in that it seemed as if at any moment it might swallow the cliffs.  Yet it was seductive, too, in the way it rolled and becxkoned and sang, waves stroking the edge of the land like lovers. Infinitely fierce and infinietely gentle, like every lover I’d ever known.

-Betsty Cornwall (Ventress p 102)

One must always account for the vagaries of truth, Mother used to always say.

-Betsy Cornwall (Ventress p 176)

I was too tired to be anything but docile, and that was what frightened me the most.

-Betsty Cornwall (Ventress p 189)

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Spider-Woman Vol 1: Baby Talk by Dennis Hopeless (Writer), Javier Rodriguez (Penciler, Colorist), Alvaro Lopez (Inker), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist), VC's Travis Lanham (Letterer)

Spider-Woman, aka Jessica Drew, is pregnant and working with Porcupine and Ulrich, the reporter.  Her best friend is Captain Marvel.  Now its a month before the baby is due and she is taking some time off and is bored to death.  Carol, Captain Marvel, has recommended an alien hospital as being the best hospital to have her baby in and that she should check it out. So Jess goes one day to do just that.

When she finds the maternity ward, some Skrulls take it over and Jess is forced to fight back even though she promised her friends and her baby that she would take it easy.  She destroys the two Skrull soldiers and wins the adoration of her fellow pregnant aliens.  She gets ahold of Carol who is on her way, but she knows that more soldiers are on their way.  She enlists the help of the pregnant aliens and they all take care of the soldiers.  With the help of Carol and the hospital staff talking them through it, they get to a secure place but someone needs to go and talk to a doctor's head kept in storage to get the doors open in order for Carol and the help to get in and get them out.  Jess does this but the head says it could take six hours to get the doors open.

Meanwhile, Carol lets slip that the Skrull are after a thirteen-year-old prince so Jess decides to rescue the prince even in her condition.  Unfortunately, she goes into labor while she is rescuing him. They barricade themselves into a room with a doctor who performs a c-section on Jess who is determined to fight back after the surgery.

Can Jess fight her way out? Or will Carol make it in time to rescue them?  The last section of the book is about Jess taking care of her baby and adjusting to life with a newborn and the lessons to be learned.  Jess is a total badass even when she is crying over being worried about her baby.  The artwork is amazing as it shows the very weird hospital that is inside a black hole.  This book has humor and lots of action. I loved it and I give it five out of five stars.

Listed On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Spider-Woman-Shifting-Gears-Vol-Baby/dp/0785196226/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=SPider-woman+baby+talk&qid=1575022835&sr=8-1

Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff

This Nobel Prize Award-winning book takes a look at the incredible life of an incredible woman. Cleopatra inherited with her younger brother Ptolemy XIII the kingdom of Egypt to rule with the understanding that she would be the true ruler from her father when he died in 50 BCE.  She would begin the first of killing off her siblings with him but he would start it by beginning a war with her.  At this time Pompey and Julius Caesar were at war with each other and Egypt had pledged itself with Pompey, which put itself in a bad position because Caesar was winning and Pompey wanted a place to hide out in.  Egypt refused him, but they had given him support early on.

Cleopatra was in Syria and decided to approach Caesar by placing herself in a bag wearing her regal dress and impressing him with her intelligence and her charm.  She succeeded and he agreed to help her dispatch with her brother who drowned in the sea.  There was a chemistry between Caesar and Cleopatra and the two became lovers with Cleopatra delivering him his only child Caesarion whom Cleopatra named the co-regent or pharaoh of Egypt.  She and Caesar had a loving relationship, though they did take what they could from it.  Caesar--Egypt's riches--Cleopatra--land and recognition of her child.  But Caesar wanted to conquer Parthia just like Cleopatra's direct relative Alexander the Great instead of taking care of things at home.  And that led to him getting killed by the Senate, on March 15 44 BCE.

Octavian, Julius's grand nephew was awarded the role of Caesar by Julius's will.  This ticked off Mark Antony who had expected to get the job since he had spent so much time with him.  The two of them were a pair in search of a fight and they found it with the succession of Caesar.  But they would join together to fight off Cassius and Brutus and the Pompey brothers.  Cleopatra would have to pick a side and she picked Dulabella who it turned out had denounced Caesar without her knowledge. And her representative on Cyprus had sent ships to Cassius which she had forbidden.  She tried to command ships to get to Antony and Octavian but was blocked by Cassius and Brutus and had fallen ill and had to turn back.

When Antony's man had arrived to demand why she hadn't helped he saw her and knew that Antony would appreciate her and therefore told her she needed to go to Antony.  She arrived in Tarsus where Antony was on a ship with a purple sail and silver oars pouring incense off the side of the ship so the people on the shore could smell it. She was laying on a couch dressed as Venus with cupids fanning her and sea nymphs working the ship.  She sent the note saying "Venus was come to feast with Bachus for the common good of Asia."   They immediately became lovers.  She soon gave birth to twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene.  Pretty soon Octavian and Antony are fighting over Cleopatra's influence in Antony's life.  In truth, Cleopatra had no influence over Antony.  He did what he thought was right and giving his children land made sense.  This would lead to a war between the two of them.

Cleopatra's reign never had a revolt. Her people adored her and worshiped her as Iris the goddess they worshiped.  She took care of her people.  Also, this was a golden age of women and had been for as long as her family's dynasty had ruled.  Men were subservient to their wives.  Women received education and had a say and could own property.   She wasn't beautiful, but her intellect was stunning and she was quite charming.  Someone tabulated the richest people in history and Cleopatra fell at number twenty-second with $95.8 billion behind John D. Rockafeller and Tsar Nicholas II, but ahead of Napoleon and J. P. Morgan and Queen Elizabeth II.  It was that wealth that the Romans sought.  She built the Lighthouse at Alexandria and manufactured gold.  "She convinced her people that a twilight was a sawn--and with all her might--struggled to make it so."  There's a reason we still talk about her--she was one of a kind--and the last of her kind. She brought the end of the Hellenistic Period to a close and changed Rome forever.  She was a complex woman whom people try to simplify into a sexpot or a femme fatale.  She was neither.  Instead, she was a brilliant woman who lost a kingdom and her life.  This book was truly excellently written.  I give it five out of five stars.           
Quotes

It is not difficult to understand why Caesar became history, Cleopatra legend.

-Stacy Schiff (Cleopatra p 5)

 And in the absence of facts, myth rushes in, the kudzu of history.

-Stacy Schiff (Cleopatra p 6)

It’s a godsend, really lucky, when one has so few relations.

-Menander

And as was observed later in connection with Cleopatra, “Some women are younger at seventy than most women at seventeen.”

-Stacy Schiff (Cleopatra p 32)

One royal friend is worth ten thousand relatives.

-Euripides

Servant: What excuses shall I make if I am away from the house for a long time?

Andromache: You will find no shortage of pretexts. After all, you are a woman.

-Euripides

No one dances while sober unless he happens to be a lunatic.

-Cicero

Politics have been defined as the systematic organization of hatreds.

-Stacy Schiff (Cleopatra p 148)

As Dio observed later, democracy sounded very well and good, “but its results are seen not to agree at all with its title. Monarchy on the contrary, has an unpleasant sound, but is a most practical form of government to live under. For it is easier to find a single excellent man than many of them.

-Stacy Schiff (Cleopatra p 154)

Yet what difference does it make whether the women rule or the rulers are ruled by women? The result is the same.

-Aristole

For talk is evil: IT is light to raise up quite easily, but it is difficult to bear, and hard to put down.  No talk is ever entirely gotten rid of, once many people talk it up: It too is some god.

-Hesiod

As one of Caesar’s murders has noted, “How much more attention  people pay to their fears than to their memories!”

-Stacy Schiff (Cleopatra p 298)

A man who teaches a woman to write should recognize that he is providing poison to an asp.

-Menander

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