I recommend this book. It takes a while to get into, because it starts with three separate stories, which it brings together about halfway through, but it is worth finishing. By the end you are thinking about forgiveness, morality, relationships, and fate.
It is about three women in Australia (and their families). One woman is a successful Tupperware saleswoman with a happy family and wonderful husband, the second is co-owner of an advertising agency with her husband and cousin and has a little boy, and the third is an older woman who lives alone, but watches her grandson on Fridays. At the beginning, the lives of all three are shattered in different ways, but then by the end they have all come together. It isn't a happy ending, I'll warn you, but somehow it fits. With that said, in many ways the book is more about murder, infidelity, and betrayal, than about the three women.
I loved the ending, where the author has a section on what would have happened if certain choices had not been made early on. It really made me think about how choices, made with imperfect information, can have a lasting effect on us and others. I found it to be a thought-provoking book, which was a pleasant surprise.
A murder mystery novel with a surprise ending that is NOT the ending of the book. The surprise ending is actually the preview of the upcoming (next) book "Drool Baby". You think the author has solved the case for you and you can go on to something else, and then she slams you with that preview. The story revolves around several characters who meet regularly in the dog park walking and exercising their dogs. I like stories that include pets and that is what drew me to this book. It is much more than just a story about dogs and their owners. It is a good murder mystery. I enjoyed it. Now I have to get that next book.
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis A Novel of Cupid and Psyche
This is a good book for fans of Greek and Roman mythology. I have never studied either so I took the story at face value rather than comparing it to mythological characters. I am sure there are very deep meanings in the tale but because I had nothing to compare it to, I did not read things into it other than my own impressions of the events in the book. It is well written. I enjoyed the story.
I have a confession: I am part of another book club and sometimes I don't finish the books for that club. Our last book was House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III. I ran out of time and googled a summary of the book before we met. And I'm glad, because it turns out ***spoiler alert*** that everyone either dies or goes to prison at the end. The other members of my book club kept saying what a horrible ending it had. What I read was well written, but I don't recommend it due to the ending.
The Pilgrim of Hate by Ellis Peters, the 10th Brother Cadfael mystery.
I thought this was one of the better Cadfael books for a number of reasons: I didn't know who done it until the end, it had a nice moral at the end, we get to re-meet characters from earlier books and follow up on their stories.
The book begins with the murder of a knight far from Shrewsbury. Meanwhile Shrewsbury is having a festival to honor their saint. I don't expect it will come as a surprise that the murderer is one of the pilgrims that attend the festival. :-)
Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs and Clash of Kings by G.R.R. Martin.
While I still enjoyed this installment of the Temperence Brennan series by Reichs, it focused on Nascar. I'm not a Nascar fan. Also, Ryan did not play much of a role in it. Finally, the part where she gets kidnapped was too similar to some of the other books where she gets kidnapped. So, not my favorite.
The Game of Thrones series is terribly violent, with rapes and horses getting killed constantly and yet also oddly addicting. One character, Arya, I find particularly engaging. Hopefully she doesn't die. There are enough characters in the book that it is easy to find characters to love and those to hate. I don't recommend it, but I'll probably keep reading it.
I highly recommend both books because I thoroughly enjoyed both (while I wait for Gone, Girl).
The Heroine's Bookshelf is not a novel. Instead, Blakemore takes a classic novel with a female protagonist and explains what we can learn from the novel. Each section is labeled with a lesson (ambition, hope, magic, perseverance, etc.) and then she uses a heroine (Laura Ingalls Wilder, Jane Eyre, Anne of Green Gables, etc.) and the author of the book to illustrate the lesson. It sounds preachy, but it isn't. At the end, she says when to read the book and what books are similar. I am going to make a project to read all the of the recommended books along side the chosen book to see what can be learned about the lesson from reading them all together. That will have to be in the future, though.
The Orphan Train juxtaposes two story lines: one of a teenage girl in foster care in 2011, and one of a teenage girl on the Orphan Trains of the early 1900s. In the end, it all comes together. It sounds depressing, and in some ways it was, but overall it was a hopeful book. Well written, though at times the conversations seemed a bit fake (namely between the 90 year old woman and the 17 year old girl).
It was... an excellent mystery. Enjoyable from start to finish. Where did Julian Cruce disappear to? I know, I know! I guessed it early on and then got to feel smug and superior for another 100 pages before Cadfael figured it out. :-)
Bones are Forever by Kathy Reichs, This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein, Blood of the Wicked by Karina Cooper, and Legacies by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill.
Let's start with the losers of the bunch. Blood of the Wicked is a paranormal romance, which should have clued me in right away. However, bookmooch recommended it to me based on books I've mooched, so I gave it a try. I lasted for two chapters before I called it quits. The romance is too... romance novel. The paranormal is too canned. The wit is nonexistent. The writing is too copycat. Not recommended.
Legacies, I finished, but I won't be continuing the story. It is about a girl whose family dies and ends up at a school for magicians. It is basically Harry Potter meets Vampire Academy, except without the great writing and plot of Harry Potter or the intensity of Vampire Academy. Eh. Not terrible, but not recommended.
This Changes Everything is actually nonfiction. It is in two parts. The first argues that climate change is real and that the neoliberal, Washington Consensus that has typified the 20th century is making it worse. Very doom and gloom. The second part is her solution, which is to take down the capitalist system for (although she is careful not to call it that) a socialist system that both works to convert us to an emissions free economy and guarantees social and economic justice. I would love to see such a utopia come into existence, but I found the second part very fairy tale. What she couldn't say was how to achieve that fairy tale in a system that is currently dominated by money and the very corporations and laissez-fair system she is arguing against.
Finally, Bones are Forever was an installment of the Temperance Brennan series about dead babies. Cheerful. It was not one of the best. I like this series, but the later books are beginning to feel a bit cookie-cutterish. The plot, in essence, happens the same way in each book, culminating in her kidnapping by the bad guys and rescue by the good guys. She needs to take a page from Sue Grafton and start switching it up a little bit to keep her audience interested.
Bones of the Lost by Kathy Reichs takes Tempe to Afghanistan to investigate the bones of two Afghani nationals killed by a Marine to determine whether they were shot in the back or the front. It then ties the Afghanistan case to a U.S. based trafficking case. I liked both the trafficking plot and the Afghanistan plot, but the way they merged seemed too contrived. Plus, there was the usual Tempe-rushing-into-danger action scene. She wasn't kidnapped this time, but she was fighting the bad guys all alone again. My comments on the last book stand. Mix up the overall plot line more. Still recommended.
This is a book of short stories and honestly, I didn't finish it. I read the first three stories- none of which had closure- and decided that it was more frustrating than enjoyable. Not recommended.
I had read a book by this author a couple of years ago that I remember being pretty good, but I didn't really care for this one. The writing was too simplistic and the plot too sweetsie. Everyone ends up in love or happy at the end, which just doesn't seem likely considering how many characters there are. I like a happy ending, but this one seemed unrealistically happy. Not recommended.
We had read one of her books in this book club, remember? I think it was Sister's Keeper? This book was even better. It is about a school shooting that last 19 minutes. However, the book alternates back and forth between the aftermath of the shooting and the events leading up to the shooting and follows several people throughout, including the shooter. It was well-written and thought provoking. Highly recommended.
The Host by Stephanie Meyer and Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality by Hanne Blank.
Both were good, but in different ways. The Host was very similar to Twilight- not great writing, rather cheesy plot, but oddly addicting. Straight was the opposite, well-written, serious topic, but easy to put down.
The Host is about an alien race that inhabits the bodies of humans and took over Earth. It follows one alien whose host does not fade into the background, instead they inhabit the same body. Of course, the host is desperately in love with a human who is in hiding with other rebels and convinces the alien controlling her body to find him. But then when they do, they have to deal with the two-people-one-body issue. It ends up being very love triangle-y like Twilight with the same amount of love inspired angst and sacrifice. Meyers seems to like the I-would-give-my-life-for-you type of love, especially when the person on the receiving can be a bit of an a$$hole. Like I said, not well written, cheesy plot, but oddly addicting.
Straight was written much better and full of fascinating information (for example, that circumcision was practiced more to prevent masturbation than for cleanliness or religion). She studied the origins of the term heterosexuality and how it has been used over the ages and what the implications are. Fascinating. Recommended.
Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth Cline.
This is a nonfiction book investigating how the relatively recent trend of cheap fashion is actually quite costly, in terms of jobs, waste, and fashion itself. Cline documents how the industry moved from a seasonal inventory of higher priced quality clothing to an every-changing, high volume, low cost model. This drove consumers to expect a lower cost and to stop buying more expensive, quality clothing, which in turn put all but the cheap fashion companies out of business.
It was interesting, but a bit repetitive from chapter to chapter. Also, she doesn't give a solution on how to pull ourselves out of the current cheap fashion cycle.
Recommended, but you really just need to read the first two chapters.
A Storm of Swords and A Feast of Crows by G.R.R. Martin,
The Island House by Posie Graeme-Evans,
The River Midnight by Lilian Nattel,
and The Iron Hunt by Marjorie Liu.
I don't think I blogged about the first two books in the Game of Thrones series, but these were books three and four. Overall they are very violent, but addicting because there are so many characters to connect with and they are well-written. So, basically, I skim over the violence. Even so, they often give me nightmares. So, why do I keep reading them? Well, now I'm addicted. And I do like that main characters die. Why? It makes it feel more realistic. I hate it when war happens in books and everyone lives. People die in war. Martin isn't afraid to allow characters to die. At all. In fact, by the third book, there is only a handful of characters from the first two books that are still alive. I was a little less impressed with the 4th book, but apparently that is because it was originally it was one REALLY long book and so he cut it in half.
I won't even try to summarize the plot of the books because there is SO MUCH going on. There are some really strong female characters and the characters are well-developed.
The Island House had an interesting plot- an Australian woman inherits a Scottish Island from her father, an island where Norse, Picts, and Christians all came together with disastrous results centuries before. Through visions and archaeology, she un-buries their history. It could have been very good, if it was written better. Unfortunately, Graeme-Evans did not have the skills for it and so it feels disjointed and forced.
The River Midnight is similar to the Game of Thrones series in that it has multiple characters. The difference is that this book follows one character through the events and then follows another character through the same events. IT was interesting at first, but by the fourth character it became less interesting. IT is set in a small Jewish shtetl in Poland before the first World War. The story revolves around the lives and families of 3 women who had been girlhood friends.
I didn't finish Iron Hunt. It was another rather interesting idea- a lineage of women that protect the world from demons, while protected by demons that are bound to them by tattoos. Unfortunately, it was not well-written. For one thing, Liu rarely wrote in complete sentences, which made it oddly jarring. Secondly, the plot was not refined enough to be believable. Instead it came across as ridiculous. Like a badly written adult version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
This is set in a future world after a massive war. An advanced society in North America has banned religion and created a highly structured and rigid country. However, there are still religious groups, which are growing in power, and the main character is a government employee whose job is to locate them and shut them down. In this case, he is accompanied by a female member of an elite military group.
I didn't think it was quite as good as some of her other series, but it was still an enjoyable read. I liked the way it highlights both the dangers and benefits of organized religions. Also, strong female characters make me happy. :-)
Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant, and Four by Veronica Roth,
The Raven in the Foregate by Ellis Peters.
First, Raven. Another lovely Brother Cadfael story. I didn't know who-did-it until the very end this time. Otherwise many similarities to earlier stories, including young love.
Divergent series: I won't say much for the book club members who have not yet read the book. I will say simply that I found it an addictive read (including the later books) but was very upset in Allegiant.
Fiery Heart, Silver Shadows, and Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead (4-6 in the Bloodlines series), and
Silence by Natasha Preston.
I had started the Bloodlines series years ago and stopped when I reached the end of the published books. Mead finished the series since then, so I got the books and finished reading it. It is a spin-off of the Vampire Academy series, following Sydney, an alchemist. In Fiery Heart, she is trying to hide her relationship with a vampire, since vampire-human relationships are strictly taboo. It was an entertaining and enjoyable continuation of the series. However, much like in the Divergent series, bad things start to happen as soon as the main characters have sex.
Silver Shadows is a continuation of the bad things and was not nearly as enjoyable a read. It dealt with torture, mind control, insanity, and long-distance relationships. Ruby Circle finished the series and, in my opinion, felt contrived and wrapped up with TOO happy an ending. Everyone lived happily ever after, which is rather unbelievable.
Silence is about a girl who stopped talking when she was 5. Over the course of the book, the reader finds out why. The writing and plot seemed sophomore-ish, which was counter to the actual topic it was dealing with. Not recommended.
This is an anthology of Fantasy Romance- not something that I am usually into, but it came as a bonus with some bookmooch books. There were a few stories that were hotter than hell. The first, about a music agent who encounters sirens was probably the best. A few in the middle were formulaic- a cursed man is rescued by a normal young woman by love (read, sex). The last was about a banshee that killed a man with sex. That one was disturbing. Another was about a woman whose brother died. She teams up with a vampire (has sex) but the reader never finds out what happened to her brother.
Not recommended, unless you are really into fantasy romance (really, erotica).
What a fun book! I thought it was a YA book along the lines of the Golden Compass, but realized after the anonymous sex scene in the first 50 pages that it is for adults. It is smart, ridiculous, and riveting. It has Beethoven, drugs, castles with hidden rooms, and a 400 year old midget. I don't even know how to explain the plot, but it involves the CIA and KGB, espionage, and a musicologist. I am definitely reading the next book.
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin, and Willow Frost by Jamie Ford.
Willow Frost was sad and depressing- A, you'd probably like it. :-) It begins with a Chinese boy in 1934, living in an orphanage in Seattle. Through his search to find his mother, the screen star Willow Frost, we learn the story of how and why she gave him up. There is abandonment, incest, rape, discrimination, suicide, etc., etc. Well-written and touching, but not a happy book. Not recommended unless you like these kind of books.
One of the reviewers of A Dance with Dragons described the book as "100 characters searching for a plot". I understand this description. The first half goes back in time to halfway through the 4th book and covers the characters not in the 4th book, which is just confusing. The latter half brings all the characters back, but all in their separate story-lines, so it is still confusing. To give you an idea, there are about 50 pages of character lists in the back so people keep them straight. But who consults the lists? Not recommended.
Ten Days in the Hills by Jane Smiley, Blood Price by Tanya Huff, Death's Hand, Darkest Gate, Dark Union, Damnation Marked, and Dire Blood by S. M. Reine, My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin, The New Girl by Tracie Pucket, Our Nig by Harriet Wilson, Dirty Little Secrets by Liliana Hart, Just One Look by Harlan Coben, and Yes Please by Amy Poehler. (I did a lot of traveling with time to read this past month).
I had enjoyed Horse Heaven and Moo by Jane Smiley, but after 50 pages I just couldn't get into Ten Days in the Hills and called it quits. It is about a group of people spending 10 days together in a house. It is dense with conversation, but not particularly exciting conversation, and is slow moving. Not recommended.
I can't make up my mind whether I want to continue the Blood Price series or not. I like the main character, a female private investigator with eye sight problems, and the writing style of the author, but not the organization of the book. Additionally, the plot has already been done- female investigator with former cop love interest who is forced to work with sexy vampire to solve a mystery. On the other hand, the plot was handled better than many other similar books. Not recommended for most.
Death's Hand through Dire Blood are the first 5 books in the Descent Series. I downloaded the first on my phone to read when I was waiting for people and then got addicted. It follows the "greatest kopis (warrior)" Elise, and her aspis (witch) James. Usually kopides are males and aspides female, but not in this case. It started out interesting, but then has been going overboard with more extreme fight scenes and fantasy creatures and complex plot lines. I'll probably finish the series, just because now I need to know, but I don't recommend it.
In My Brilliant Career, the author introduces the book by saying there is no story line and she does not marry. . But then there actually is a love story and so I got thinking that maybe there is a story and she ends up with the fella', except then she turns him down and ends up alone and miserable. The introduction also said she intended to write a second book but got such bad reviews of this one that she didn't. Maybe she would have gotten together with him in a sequel? Not recommended.
New Girl follows a girl who has moved a lot, ending up in another small town when she is 17. One of her teachers is young (20s) and hot, so she develops a crush on him. He is also the younger brother of her mother's new fiance. It appears that he reciprocates her affections, but is fighting against it. I kept thinking throughout, "Really, this book is encouraging student-teacher relationships?". I did not continue this series. Not recommended.
I had Our Nig in hard copy and as an IBook and read it as an Ibook on the plane. It was short and unhappy with an equally unhappy ending. Considering it was supposed to be a true story of a black girl during an era of slavery, I'm not particularly surprised. With that said, I got rid of both copies. Not recommended.
Dirty Little Secrets was a surprisingly good read. It introduces the reader to J. J. Graves, a mortician and coroner in Bloody Mary, VA. In this book, one of her friends has been found murdered and her best friend, the sheriff of the town, is investigating. AS the coroner, she assists him with the investigation. At the same time, a writer shows up to shadow her. More women end up dead, but who is the murderer? the writer? the sheriff? IT was both serious and fun, with an interesting relationship between J.J. and the Sheriff. Recommended.
I'm a little torn on what I think of Just One Look. It had a fantastic plot with all sorts of unexpected twists and the characters were fairly well developed. However, it jumped between characters frequently, which I find annoying, and was almost too suspenseful. Plus, the ending, while wrapping it all up, wasn't a happy ending. Umm, decide for yourself.
Finally, I recommend Yes Please. It is a (sort-of) autobiography of Amy Poehler, of SNL and Parks and Recreation fame. Being a comedian, you can imagine this is not written like a regular autobiography, but is written more like a conversation or skit, with random photos and memorabilia. Which isn't to say that it doesn't have some deep thoughts. She talks about how focusing on a 'career' over "creativity' is unhealthy, the role of apology for women, problems with drugs in show business, etc. A fun read.
The Rose Rent, The Hermit of Eyton Forest, The Confession of Brother Haluin, and the Heretic's Apprentice by Ellis Peters.
I read a streak of Ellis Peters this summer. The Brother Cadfael series is just so much fun!
Rose Rent begins with the death of a young monk, mourning the lost love of the woman who donated her house to the abbey for the yearly rent of one rose from the rosebush (thus the title). The bush had also been cleaved. Then, suddenly, the young widow of the tale disappears. Why? By a suitor to force her hand in marriage, or so it is assumed. Luckily Hugh Beringar and Brother Cadfael are on the case.
In Hermit, Ellis Peters, whose real name is Edith Pargeter, does not disappoint. The prose is delightful, the characters fascinating, and the ever-present love story understated yet a pleasant addition. Of course, Shrewbury should eventually run out of marriageable young ladies. This book includes more historical intrigue between Maud and Stephen in addition to the usual murder.
Confession is set away from Shrewsberry. After Halun nearly dies and vows a pilgrimage as penance for a sin, he and Cadfael set out together on a pilgrimage. They find that the sin was not what Halun thought, and then get embroiled in the wedding plans of a family that lives at some distance from the monastery. I guessed the truth early on, but was happy to find out how they discover the truth.
Finally, the Heretic's Apprentice has a lot more to do with the Church and what constitutes heresy. There was the ever-present murder and love story, but they were tangential to the real story of a young man accused of heresy, who happens to have views similar to Cadfaels own. It brings to light some of the problems with organized religion, while also showing the benefits.
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan, Paradise Damned by S. M. Reine, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Walkable City by Jeff Speck, Takedown Twenty and Top-Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich.
Bonesetter's Daughter was very slow moving at the start, but then page-turning at the end. It begins with a Chinese-American woman in the present, who discovers pages of writing in Chinese by her mother, who has Alzheimer. She gets it translated and finds out the story of her grandmother and mother in China, which sh had never been told. It helps heal the relationship between her and her mother and gives her a sense of family and roots that she didn't have before. Beautifully written.
Paradise was the last book in the Descent series, though "last book" isn't completely true because the next book is the first in the Ascension series- but continues the same story. The only thing that is resolved in this book is that Metaron and Adam get killed. However, demon-angel hybrids are still attacking Earth, the Union is still co-opting kopides, and James and Elise are still on the outs. I won't continue the series.
Wallflower starts out a little oddly, written as letters from a freshman to an unknown person. you know there is something different about the boy writing the letters, but you don't know what, for sure, until the end. Throughout it deals with dating violence, alcohol, drugs, bullying, and rape. It is very well done and an interesting read. While written for young adults, I would certainly recommend it to adults as well.
Speck makes the argument that walkable cities are important economically, environmentally, and for our health. More money is spent in, and taxes raised in, walkable cities (economic). Fewer cars are driven in and less fuel used in walkable cities- not to mention the problems of urban sprawl (environmental). Finally, obesity and asthma can directly be connected to use of cars, not to mention a host of other health problems. In his mind, walkable cities are a must.
The Plum series (Twenty and Twenty-one) is not great literature, but it is just plain fun. Cars get torched, people get shot, giraffes and monkeys run amok- all with irreverent and witty commentary throughout. In Twenty, Stephanie tangles with the mob, who are also Morelli's relatives. As the same time, she is working for Ranger and trying not to fall into bed with him. As she says, "I've made my choice, I'm just having a hard time sticking to it." Amen, sister. Twenty-one was not quite as good. Someone is trying to kill Ranger and so Stephanie helps him track down the Russian hitman after him. The usual "I love Joe, but Ranter's so hot" situations are involved, as are action scenes with rather slapstick comedy.
Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts, The Day My Mother Left by James Prosek, Boo Hiss by Rene Gutteridge, and The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.
Roberts writes about the lives of the wives of the Founding Fathers. She shows how important they were to the war effort and the construction of the new country. It was fascinating to read about their lives and Roberts did a good job bringing them to life. Unfortunately , she organized it by time period rather than by woman and the women get all mixed up and are hard to keep straight.
Day My Mother Left tells the story of a preteen boy whose mother leaves suddenly and his struggle to come to terms with the change in his life. Illustrations of birds, supposedly drawn by the boy (actually by the author, who explains the book is semi-autobiographical), show his growth as an artist, which he turns to as an outlet. It took a while to get into the story, but then it picked up.
Honestly, I didn't finish Boo Hiss. After reading 150 pages, I just wasn't interested. I think part of the problem was that it skipped around between characters, not staying on any one character more than a few pages. I couldn't get invested in any one story and they weren't converging enough for me to get interested in the overall story either. So, I called it quits.
Several times I almost called it quits on The Historian as well. It was a similar problem, except instead of following too many characters at one time, it kept layering characters. It begins with a girl, reading letters from her father, who is relaying letters from another man or postcards from her mother. It became difficult to keep straight who was narrating, because all the stories were told in the first person. Also, it followed one character in some cases for several chapters and then turned to another layer without much indication that things had changed. The other problems was that she went into WAY too much detail for all of them. If you are interested in history, it might be interesting. If you want to know what is happening to the characters, it is a distraction. So, it was okay, but I wouldn't really recommend it.
There Goes the Bride by M.C. Beaton, Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah, Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia, Still Alice by Lisa Genova, Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens, Psychic Eye and Better Read than Dead by Victoria Laurie.
Bride was an Agatha Raisin mystery. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't good, either. Ms Raisin is a 50-year-old private investigator in a small English town, who gets caught up in murder investigations. The plot was interesting, but Ms. Raising is annoying and the writing was choppy.
Garden was both heartbreaking and overly hopeful. The parts about Stalin's purges in Russia are the heartbreaking parts (and believable). How quickly the daughters forgive decades of neglect by their mother is overly hopeful and not very believable.
The problem with Cuban, was that each chapter was told by a new person (though the stories did interconnect). It was more like short stories than a novel. I like some short stories, but when I am expecting a novel and I get short stories, I'm not happy.
Still Alice gave me nightmares for the month I was reading it. It is about a college professor diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and her rapid decline from the disease. It was much, much too realistic and too close to home. However, very well written and fascinating.
The other thing I don't like with books, is when I am told it is a comedy and then it is depressing. Nicholas Nickelby is supposed to be a comic parody, but I didn't find it funny at all. The writing, of course, was good, but the story was dark and depressing and I would much rather read something I can enjoy.
The Psychic Eye series is one of my new favorites. It is like Stephanie Plum meets the Mentalist. It is funny, fascinating, and exciting. Abby Cooper is a psychic who gets involved helping police in murders. It sounds ludicrous but feels perfectly normal when you are reading it.
Bad Blood by L.A. Banks, Better Read Than Dead, A Vision of Murder, Killer Insight, and Crime Seen by Victoria Laurie, She Was by Janis Hallowell, The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts, Potter's Field by Ellis Peters.
Bad Blood was another unfinished book. It started out good, but then went off the deep end, both in plot and writing. The plot became less and less realistic and the writing became more like a romance novel (sappy and unidimensional).
The Psychic Eye series by Victoria Laurie is just a fun series. In Better Read, Abby helps Milo with a case, while Dutch is working a case with the FBI. She also gets involved with the mafia. It all comes together at the end. Ghosts and a Holocaust mystery make up the plot for Vision of Murder. It also includes twins (with, of course, an evil twin) and Beemers. What's not to love? Killer Insight was not quite as good as the first three. In this one, Abby is at a friends wedding in Denver when bridesmaids start dying. As she is one of the bridesmaids, she has an interest in figuring out why. In Crime Seen, Abby goes into business with Candace (a PI) while she recovers from her gunshot wound. This, of course, causes problems with Milo and Dutch. Meanwhile, there is a great sub-plot about Dave.
She Was was slow starting, but then became very interesting. It asks the question, "how long are we responsible for the choices we made as young adults?" The protagonist was involved in domestic terrorism when she was just 19. Decades later, she is found in her new life. An unclear ending was the only unsatisfactory bit.
I picked up the Honk and Holler just because of its title, but it was worth it. It has a collection of characters, a paraplegic Vietnam vet, middle-aged Southern woman, young Native American woman, Vietnamese immigrant. They all come together in a small cafe in Oklahoma and change each other's lives.
In Potter's Field, a woman's body is found when plowing Potter's field, with connections to a monk and novitiate. Who killed her? Not who you expect! Brother Cadfael is on the case.
Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith, I'd Tell You I Love You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter, Tales from a Village School by Miss Read, Demon Angel by Meljean Brook, Beg for Mercy by Toni Andrews, Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorius
In Tears (the second of the Ladies # 1 Detective Agency series), Precious becomes engaged to a mechanic, targeted by his maid, investigates a 10 year old murder, and adopts two orphans. Busy, busy!
I'd Tell You is actually a young adult novel about a female spy school. I decided to read it at the end of the fall semester when I was particularly stressed and wanted a fun, fluffy read. I won't continue the series (a little too YA for me), but it was a pleasant intermission when I needed one.
Tales looked interesting- a bunch of short stories about teaching at a small village school in England. I thought it might be a little like James Harriet's stories, which I enjoy. Unfortunately, it was quite dull and I stopped reading it before the end.
Bookmooch recommended Demon Angel to me, but it was wrong. It read too much like a romance novel (which it is). Ugh. I gave up only two chapters in because I couldn't take it any longer.
I finished Beg for Mercy, but won't continue the series. I enjoyed reading the book, but found some parts to be unbelievable and other parts to be stilted. The main character is able to make people do what she wants, but has moral issues with using the ability. You can see how it could get unbelievable or stilted.
Ghost Boy was a disturbing true story about a 12 year old boy in South Africa who falls ill and becomes a paraplegic assumed to be in a vegetative state, though he is fully aware. For 7 years no-one knew that he was aware of what was going on around him and trying to communicate. Horrifying. It does have a happy ending as he becomes able to communicate through computers (like Stephen Hawking) and ends up getting married and writing this book.
Rosie Project was a really entertaining read about a 39 year old man with Aspergers, who decides he wants to find a wife. He is a genetic scientist in Australia, and with the help of a colleague in Psychology (who is a womanizer), starts the Wife Project. Along the way, he meets Rosie, who does not fit his criteria for a wife AT ALL and yet becomes one of his best friends. I won't ruin it by saying any more. I laughed my way through it in less than 24 hours. Definitely recommended.
Crime Seen and Doom with a View by Victoria Laurie (Psychic Eye Mysteries), The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley (Flavia de Luce Mysteries), Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith (# 1 Ladies Detective Agency), Heist Society by Ally Carter, And The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.
I read Crime Seen in one day, like the others. Abby, int his book, goes into business with Candice (a private investigator) while she is recovering from her gunshot wound, which causes problems with Milo and Dutch as their cases collide. Doom with a View has Abby working with the FBI to find 3 missing college students. At the end they (Abby, Candice, and Abby's beau) all move from Michigan to Texas, which is a little disappointing for me.
Hangman’s Bag was just as entertaining as the first. In this case, a travelling puppeteer is electrocuted during his show. Flavia’s curiosity leads her to investigate the case, with lots of sass, of course.
Clearly, I like series of books! The title of Morality for Beautiful Girls is derived from a case the agency takes near the end, which entails the Miss Botswana Beauty Pageant; however, this is much more going on in this book, including the depression of Mma Romaotswe’s fiancé.
Heist Society begins a series that I won’t be continuing. Like “I’d Tell You I Love You” (same author), this was a quick and fun read, but not worth continuing because it is a little too young adult. It is about a teenage thief who doesn’t want to be a thief.
I was looking forward to the Time Machine because it is a classic in science fiction and a whole Big Bang Theory is based around it. While not necessarily dull, it isn’t very interesting either, and was a slow read for a short book.
The Surgeon, The Apprentice, The Sinner, Body Double, Vanish, The Keepsake, Mephisto Club, Ice Cold, and the Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen (Rizzoli and Isles series.
I began this series, which had been recommended to me by a friend. When I started the second book, I found out one of my students was reading the same series, so I started passing the books to her. Since she was as into the series as me, I had to read them quickly in order to keep up with her. Thus, the reason I have read all of them.
The Surgeon was both good and awful. It was well-written and accurately portrayed violence against women and being female in a male field. However, it was also disturbing violent and gave me nightmares. It was about a male serial killer that targeted women.
The Apprentice was even worse that the first, yet also addicting. The Surgeon escapes from prison and begins working with a partner, while also stalking Rizzoli (the cop who caught him in the first book). The sinner was much more low key, but ended up with a whirlwind wedding that was a little disappointing (Rizzoli and Dean, when she becomes pregnant from a one-night stand).
Body Double follows Rizzoli’s pregnancy, but follows a case about Dr. Isles, in which she finds out she has a twin sister and her mother is a serial killer in prison. I am not as fond of Dr. Isles as Rizzoli, so this book wasn’t quite as good in my opinion.
Almost every book in the series has a different topic, though they all center around violence against women. In this book, the topic was sex trafficking, seen through the eyes of a young Ukrainian girl. Disturbing, as usual.
Keepsake returns to the normal perp/victim relations with another serial killer, then Mephisto Club takes it in a fantasy direction, with the Mephisto Club a group of people who band together to fight ancient evil. They see the evil exhibiting itself in the serial killers and traffickers that Rizzoli and Isles fight against.
Ice Cold moves more in the direction of a cult in Utah that forcibly prostitutes young girls and expels the boys from the group. Usually I am less interested in the Isles books, but found this one really interesting.
Finally, the Silent Girl was back to individual depravity rather than systemic depravity. It did delve into Chinese mythology and Chinatown, though, and introduced a new character.
The Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo, The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith (#1 Ladies Detective Agency), Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, The Summer of the Danes by Ellis Peters (Brother Cadfael Mysteries), And Wickham’s Diary by Amanda Grange.
Bridge of Sighs was a long, boring book about a 60 year old man reflecting back on his life and reminiscences of his wife and childhood friend. I gave it a go, but couldn’t finish.
The #1 Ladies Detective Agency book was still a fun read, but with less of a plot this time and some loose ends. It was focused, in part, on Mma Makutsi’s plan to open a typing school for men for an additional income.
Ender’s Game was unexpectedly good and addicting. It is a scifi book about a 6 year old boy taken to train to defeat an alien race. I know it doesn’t sound all that good, but it really was and I intend to continue the series.
Summer of the Danes was a solid Brother Cadfael book, but not one of the best. It focused on a feud between two Welsh princes (one hires Danes to fight for him- thus the title) and, of course, a love story.
I had heard that Grange’s books on the Diaries of the men of Pride and Prejudice were good. Maybe the other diaries are better, but this one did not impress me at all. It was a brief book, acting as a prequel to when Wickham joins Pride and Prejudice. It doesn’t have much for character development and doesn’t add anything to Pride and Prejudice.
34 comments:
The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty.
I recommend this book. It takes a while to get into, because it starts with three separate stories, which it brings together about halfway through, but it is worth finishing. By the end you are thinking about forgiveness, morality, relationships, and fate.
It is about three women in Australia (and their families). One woman is a successful Tupperware saleswoman with a happy family and wonderful husband, the second is co-owner of an advertising agency with her husband and cousin and has a little boy, and the third is an older woman who lives alone, but watches her grandson on Fridays. At the beginning, the lives of all three are shattered in different ways, but then by the end they have all come together. It isn't a happy ending, I'll warn you, but somehow it fits. With that said, in many ways the book is more about murder, infidelity, and betrayal, than about the three women.
I loved the ending, where the author has a section on what would have happened if certain choices had not been made early on. It really made me think about how choices, made with imperfect information, can have a lasting effect on us and others. I found it to be a thought-provoking book, which was a pleasant surprise.
A Shot in the Bark by C.A. Newsome
A murder mystery novel with a surprise ending that is NOT the ending of the book. The surprise ending is actually the preview of the upcoming (next) book "Drool Baby". You think the author has solved the case for you and you can go on to something else, and then she slams you with that preview. The story revolves around several characters who meet regularly in the dog park walking and exercising their dogs. I like stories that include pets and that is what drew me to this book. It is much more than just a story about dogs and their owners. It is a good murder mystery. I enjoyed it. Now I have to get that next book.
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
A Novel of Cupid and Psyche
This is a good book for fans of Greek and Roman mythology. I have never studied either so I took the story at face value rather than comparing it to mythological characters. I am sure there are very deep meanings in the tale but because I had nothing to compare it to, I did not read things into it other than my own impressions of the events in the book. It is well written. I enjoyed the story.
I have a confession: I am part of another book club and sometimes I don't finish the books for that club. Our last book was House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III. I ran out of time and googled a summary of the book before we met. And I'm glad, because it turns out ***spoiler alert*** that everyone either dies or goes to prison at the end. The other members of my book club kept saying what a horrible ending it had. What I read was well written, but I don't recommend it due to the ending.
The Pilgrim of Hate by Ellis Peters, the 10th Brother Cadfael mystery.
I thought this was one of the better Cadfael books for a number of reasons: I didn't know who done it until the end, it had a nice moral at the end, we get to re-meet characters from earlier books and follow up on their stories.
The book begins with the murder of a knight far from Shrewsbury. Meanwhile Shrewsbury is having a festival to honor their saint. I don't expect it will come as a surprise that the murderer is one of the pilgrims that attend the festival. :-)
Recommended, of course.
Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs and Clash of Kings by G.R.R. Martin.
While I still enjoyed this installment of the Temperence Brennan series by Reichs, it focused on Nascar. I'm not a Nascar fan. Also, Ryan did not play much of a role in it. Finally, the part where she gets kidnapped was too similar to some of the other books where she gets kidnapped. So, not my favorite.
The Game of Thrones series is terribly violent, with rapes and horses getting killed constantly and yet also oddly addicting. One character, Arya, I find particularly engaging. Hopefully she doesn't die. There are enough characters in the book that it is easy to find characters to love and those to hate. I don't recommend it, but I'll probably keep reading it.
The Heroine's Bookshelf by Erin Blakemore and
The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline.
I highly recommend both books because I thoroughly enjoyed both (while I wait for Gone, Girl).
The Heroine's Bookshelf is not a novel. Instead, Blakemore takes a classic novel with a female protagonist and explains what we can learn from the novel. Each section is labeled with a lesson (ambition, hope, magic, perseverance, etc.) and then she uses a heroine (Laura Ingalls Wilder, Jane Eyre, Anne of Green Gables, etc.) and the author of the book to illustrate the lesson. It sounds preachy, but it isn't. At the end, she says when to read the book and what books are similar. I am going to make a project to read all the of the recommended books along side the chosen book to see what can be learned about the lesson from reading them all together. That will have to be in the future, though.
The Orphan Train juxtaposes two story lines: one of a teenage girl in foster care in 2011, and one of a teenage girl on the Orphan Trains of the early 1900s. In the end, it all comes together. It sounds depressing, and in some ways it was, but overall it was a hopeful book. Well written, though at times the conversations seemed a bit fake (namely between the 90 year old woman and the 17 year old girl).
Both very good books.
An Excellent Mystery by Ellis Peters.
It was... an excellent mystery. Enjoyable from start to finish. Where did Julian Cruce disappear to? I know, I know! I guessed it early on and then got to feel smug and superior for another 100 pages before Cadfael figured it out. :-)
Bones are Forever by Kathy Reichs,
This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein,
Blood of the Wicked by Karina Cooper, and
Legacies by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill.
Let's start with the losers of the bunch. Blood of the Wicked is a paranormal romance, which should have clued me in right away. However, bookmooch recommended it to me based on books I've mooched, so I gave it a try. I lasted for two chapters before I called it quits. The romance is too... romance novel. The paranormal is too canned. The wit is nonexistent. The writing is too copycat. Not recommended.
Legacies, I finished, but I won't be continuing the story. It is about a girl whose family dies and ends up at a school for magicians. It is basically Harry Potter meets Vampire Academy, except without the great writing and plot of Harry Potter or the intensity of Vampire Academy. Eh. Not terrible, but not recommended.
This Changes Everything is actually nonfiction. It is in two parts. The first argues that climate change is real and that the neoliberal, Washington Consensus that has typified the 20th century is making it worse. Very doom and gloom. The second part is her solution, which is to take down the capitalist system for (although she is careful not to call it that) a socialist system that both works to convert us to an emissions free economy and guarantees social and economic justice. I would love to see such a utopia come into existence, but I found the second part very fairy tale. What she couldn't say was how to achieve that fairy tale in a system that is currently dominated by money and the very corporations and laissez-fair system she is arguing against.
Finally, Bones are Forever was an installment of the Temperance Brennan series about dead babies. Cheerful. It was not one of the best. I like this series, but the later books are beginning to feel a bit cookie-cutterish. The plot, in essence, happens the same way in each book, culminating in her kidnapping by the bad guys and rescue by the good guys. She needs to take a page from Sue Grafton and start switching it up a little bit to keep her audience interested.
Bones of the Lost by Kathy Reichs
takes Tempe to Afghanistan to investigate the bones of two Afghani nationals killed by a Marine to determine whether they were shot in the back or the front. It then ties the Afghanistan case to a U.S. based trafficking case. I liked both the trafficking plot and the Afghanistan plot, but the way they merged seemed too contrived. Plus, there was the usual Tempe-rushing-into-danger action scene. She wasn't kidnapped this time, but she was fighting the bad guys all alone again. My comments on the last book stand. Mix up the overall plot line more. Still recommended.
Talking to the Dead by Sylvia Wantanabee.
This is a book of short stories and honestly, I didn't finish it. I read the first three stories- none of which had closure- and decided that it was more frustrating than enjoyable. Not recommended.
Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber.
I had read a book by this author a couple of years ago that I remember being pretty good, but I didn't really care for this one. The writing was too simplistic and the plot too sweetsie. Everyone ends up in love or happy at the end, which just doesn't seem likely considering how many characters there are. I like a happy ending, but this one seemed unrealistically happy. Not recommended.
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult.
We had read one of her books in this book club, remember? I think it was Sister's Keeper? This book was even better. It is about a school shooting that last 19 minutes. However, the book alternates back and forth between the aftermath of the shooting and the events leading up to the shooting and follows several people throughout, including the shooter. It was well-written and thought provoking. Highly recommended.
The Host by Stephanie Meyer and Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality by Hanne Blank.
Both were good, but in different ways. The Host was very similar to Twilight- not great writing, rather cheesy plot, but oddly addicting. Straight was the opposite, well-written, serious topic, but easy to put down.
The Host is about an alien race that inhabits the bodies of humans and took over Earth. It follows one alien whose host does not fade into the background, instead they inhabit the same body. Of course, the host is desperately in love with a human who is in hiding with other rebels and convinces the alien controlling her body to find him. But then when they do, they have to deal with the two-people-one-body issue. It ends up being very love triangle-y like Twilight with the same amount of love inspired angst and sacrifice. Meyers seems to like the I-would-give-my-life-for-you type of love, especially when the person on the receiving can be a bit of an a$$hole. Like I said, not well written, cheesy plot, but oddly addicting.
Straight was written much better and full of fascinating information (for example, that circumcision was practiced more to prevent masturbation than for cleanliness or religion). She studied the origins of the term heterosexuality and how it has been used over the ages and what the implications are. Fascinating. Recommended.
Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth Cline.
This is a nonfiction book investigating how the relatively recent trend of cheap fashion is actually quite costly, in terms of jobs, waste, and fashion itself. Cline documents how the industry moved from a seasonal inventory of higher priced quality clothing to an every-changing, high volume, low cost model. This drove consumers to expect a lower cost and to stop buying more expensive, quality clothing, which in turn put all but the cheap fashion companies out of business.
It was interesting, but a bit repetitive from chapter to chapter. Also, she doesn't give a solution on how to pull ourselves out of the current cheap fashion cycle.
Recommended, but you really just need to read the first two chapters.
A Storm of Swords and A Feast of Crows by G.R.R. Martin,
The Island House by Posie Graeme-Evans,
The River Midnight by Lilian Nattel,
and The Iron Hunt by Marjorie Liu.
I don't think I blogged about the first two books in the Game of Thrones series, but these were books three and four. Overall they are very violent, but addicting because there are so many characters to connect with and they are well-written. So, basically, I skim over the violence. Even so, they often give me nightmares. So, why do I keep reading them? Well, now I'm addicted. And I do like that main characters die. Why? It makes it feel more realistic. I hate it when war happens in books and everyone lives. People die in war. Martin isn't afraid to allow characters to die. At all. In fact, by the third book, there is only a handful of characters from the first two books that are still alive. I was a little less impressed with the 4th book, but apparently that is because it was originally it was one REALLY long book and so he cut it in half.
I won't even try to summarize the plot of the books because there is SO MUCH going on. There are some really strong female characters and the characters are well-developed.
The Island House had an interesting plot- an Australian woman inherits a Scottish Island from her father, an island where Norse, Picts, and Christians all came together with disastrous results centuries before. Through visions and archaeology, she un-buries their history. It could have been very good, if it was written better. Unfortunately, Graeme-Evans did not have the skills for it and so it feels disjointed and forced.
The River Midnight is similar to the Game of Thrones series in that it has multiple characters. The difference is that this book follows one character through the events and then follows another character through the same events. IT was interesting at first, but by the fourth character it became less interesting. IT is set in a small Jewish shtetl in Poland before the first World War. The story revolves around the lives and families of 3 women who had been girlhood friends.
I didn't finish Iron Hunt. It was another rather interesting idea- a lineage of women that protect the world from demons, while protected by demons that are bound to them by tattoos. Unfortunately, it was not well-written. For one thing, Liu rarely wrote in complete sentences, which made it oddly jarring. Secondly, the plot was not refined enough to be believable. Instead it came across as ridiculous. Like a badly written adult version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead.
This is set in a future world after a massive war. An advanced society in North America has banned religion and created a highly structured and rigid country. However, there are still religious groups, which are growing in power, and the main character is a government employee whose job is to locate them and shut them down. In this case, he is accompanied by a female member of an elite military group.
I didn't think it was quite as good as some of her other series, but it was still an enjoyable read. I liked the way it highlights both the dangers and benefits of organized religions. Also, strong female characters make me happy. :-)
Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant, and Four by Veronica Roth,
The Raven in the Foregate by Ellis Peters.
First, Raven. Another lovely Brother Cadfael story. I didn't know who-did-it until the very end this time. Otherwise many similarities to earlier stories, including young love.
Divergent series: I won't say much for the book club members who have not yet read the book. I will say simply that I found it an addictive read (including the later books) but was very upset in Allegiant.
Fiery Heart, Silver Shadows, and Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead (4-6 in the Bloodlines series), and
Silence by Natasha Preston.
I had started the Bloodlines series years ago and stopped when I reached the end of the published books. Mead finished the series since then, so I got the books and finished reading it. It is a spin-off of the Vampire Academy series, following Sydney, an alchemist. In Fiery Heart, she is trying to hide her relationship with a vampire, since vampire-human relationships are strictly taboo. It was an entertaining and enjoyable continuation of the series. However, much like in the Divergent series, bad things start to happen as soon as the main characters have sex.
Silver Shadows is a continuation of the bad things and was not nearly as enjoyable a read. It dealt with torture, mind control, insanity, and long-distance relationships. Ruby Circle finished the series and, in my opinion, felt contrived and wrapped up with TOO happy an ending. Everyone lived happily ever after, which is rather unbelievable.
Silence is about a girl who stopped talking when she was 5. Over the course of the book, the reader finds out why. The writing and plot seemed sophomore-ish, which was counter to the actual topic it was dealing with. Not recommended.
Hotter Than Hell, edited by Kim Harrison.
This is an anthology of Fantasy Romance- not something that I am usually into, but it came as a bonus with some bookmooch books. There were a few stories that were hotter than hell. The first, about a music agent who encounters sirens was probably the best. A few in the middle were formulaic- a cursed man is rescued by a normal young woman by love (read, sex). The last was about a banshee that killed a man with sex. That one was disturbing. Another was about a woman whose brother died. She teams up with a vampire (has sex) but the reader never finds out what happened to her brother.
Not recommended, unless you are really into fantasy romance (really, erotica).
The City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte.
What a fun book! I thought it was a YA book along the lines of the Golden Compass, but realized after the anonymous sex scene in the first 50 pages that it is for adults. It is smart, ridiculous, and riveting. It has Beethoven, drugs, castles with hidden rooms, and a 400 year old midget. I don't even know how to explain the plot, but it involves the CIA and KGB, espionage, and a musicologist. I am definitely reading the next book.
Recommended.
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin, and
Willow Frost by Jamie Ford.
Willow Frost was sad and depressing- A, you'd probably like it. :-) It begins with a Chinese boy in 1934, living in an orphanage in Seattle. Through his search to find his mother, the screen star Willow Frost, we learn the story of how and why she gave him up. There is abandonment, incest, rape, discrimination, suicide, etc., etc. Well-written and touching, but not a happy book. Not recommended unless you like these kind of books.
One of the reviewers of A Dance with Dragons described the book as "100 characters searching for a plot". I understand this description. The first half goes back in time to halfway through the 4th book and covers the characters not in the 4th book, which is just confusing. The latter half brings all the characters back, but all in their separate story-lines, so it is still confusing. To give you an idea, there are about 50 pages of character lists in the back so people keep them straight. But who consults the lists? Not recommended.
Ten Days in the Hills by Jane Smiley,
Blood Price by Tanya Huff,
Death's Hand, Darkest Gate, Dark Union, Damnation Marked, and Dire Blood by S. M. Reine,
My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin,
The New Girl by Tracie Pucket,
Our Nig by Harriet Wilson,
Dirty Little Secrets by Liliana Hart,
Just One Look by Harlan Coben,
and Yes Please by Amy Poehler. (I did a lot of traveling with time to read this past month).
I had enjoyed Horse Heaven and Moo by Jane Smiley, but after 50 pages I just couldn't get into Ten Days in the Hills and called it quits. It is about a group of people spending 10 days together in a house. It is dense with conversation, but not particularly exciting conversation, and is slow moving. Not recommended.
I can't make up my mind whether I want to continue the Blood Price series or not. I like the main character, a female private investigator with eye sight problems, and the writing style of the author, but not the organization of the book. Additionally, the plot has already been done- female investigator with former cop love interest who is forced to work with sexy vampire to solve a mystery. On the other hand, the plot was handled better than many other similar books. Not recommended for most.
Death's Hand through Dire Blood are the first 5 books in the Descent Series. I downloaded the first on my phone to read when I was waiting for people and then got addicted. It follows the "greatest kopis (warrior)" Elise, and her aspis (witch) James. Usually kopides are males and aspides female, but not in this case. It started out interesting, but then has been going overboard with more extreme fight scenes and fantasy creatures and complex plot lines. I'll probably finish the series, just because now I need to know, but I don't recommend it.
In My Brilliant Career, the author introduces the book by saying there is no story line and she does not marry. . But then there actually is a love story and so I got thinking that maybe there is a story and she ends up with the fella', except then she turns him down and ends up alone and miserable. The introduction also said she intended to write a second book but got such bad reviews of this one that she didn't. Maybe she would have gotten together with him in a sequel? Not recommended.
New Girl follows a girl who has moved a lot, ending up in another small town when she is 17. One of her teachers is young (20s) and hot, so she develops a crush on him. He is also the younger brother of her mother's new fiance. It appears that he reciprocates her affections, but is fighting against it. I kept thinking throughout, "Really, this book is encouraging student-teacher relationships?". I did not continue this series. Not recommended.
I had Our Nig in hard copy and as an IBook and read it as an Ibook on the plane. It was short and unhappy with an equally unhappy ending. Considering it was supposed to be a true story of a black girl during an era of slavery, I'm not particularly surprised. With that said, I got rid of both copies. Not recommended.
And the rest of the comment:
Dirty Little Secrets was a surprisingly good read. It introduces the reader to J. J. Graves, a mortician and coroner in Bloody Mary, VA. In this book, one of her friends has been found murdered and her best friend, the sheriff of the town, is investigating. AS the coroner, she assists him with the investigation. At the same time, a writer shows up to shadow her. More women end up dead, but who is the murderer? the writer? the sheriff? IT was both serious and fun, with an interesting relationship between J.J. and the Sheriff. Recommended.
I'm a little torn on what I think of Just One Look. It had a fantastic plot with all sorts of unexpected twists and the characters were fairly well developed. However, it jumped between characters frequently, which I find annoying, and was almost too suspenseful. Plus, the ending, while wrapping it all up, wasn't a happy ending. Umm, decide for yourself.
Finally, I recommend Yes Please. It is a (sort-of) autobiography of Amy Poehler, of SNL and Parks and Recreation fame. Being a comedian, you can imagine this is not written like a regular autobiography, but is written more like a conversation or skit, with random photos and memorabilia. Which isn't to say that it doesn't have some deep thoughts. She talks about how focusing on a 'career' over "creativity' is unhealthy, the role of apology for women, problems with drugs in show business, etc. A fun read.
The Rose Rent, The Hermit of Eyton Forest, The Confession of Brother Haluin, and the Heretic's Apprentice by Ellis Peters.
I read a streak of Ellis Peters this summer. The Brother Cadfael series is just so much fun!
Rose Rent begins with the death of a young monk, mourning the lost love of the woman who donated her house to the abbey for the yearly rent of one rose from the rosebush (thus the title). The bush had also been cleaved. Then, suddenly, the young widow of the tale disappears. Why? By a suitor to force her hand in marriage, or so it is assumed. Luckily Hugh Beringar and Brother Cadfael are on the case.
In Hermit, Ellis Peters, whose real name is Edith Pargeter, does not disappoint. The prose is delightful, the characters fascinating, and the ever-present love story understated yet a pleasant addition. Of course, Shrewbury should eventually run out of marriageable young ladies. This book includes more historical intrigue between Maud and Stephen in addition to the usual murder.
Confession is set away from Shrewsberry. After Halun nearly dies and vows a pilgrimage as penance for a sin, he and Cadfael set out together on a pilgrimage. They find that the sin was not what Halun thought, and then get embroiled in the wedding plans of a family that lives at some distance from the monastery. I guessed the truth early on, but was happy to find out how they discover the truth.
Finally, the Heretic's Apprentice has a lot more to do with the Church and what constitutes heresy. There was the ever-present murder and love story, but they were tangential to the real story of a young man accused of heresy, who happens to have views similar to Cadfaels own. It brings to light some of the problems with organized religion, while also showing the benefits.
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan,
Paradise Damned by S. M. Reine,
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky,
Walkable City by Jeff Speck,
Takedown Twenty and Top-Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich.
Bonesetter's Daughter was very slow moving at the start, but then page-turning at the end. It begins with a Chinese-American woman in the present, who discovers pages of writing in Chinese by her mother, who has Alzheimer. She gets it translated and finds out the story of her grandmother and mother in China, which sh had never been told. It helps heal the relationship between her and her mother and gives her a sense of family and roots that she didn't have before. Beautifully written.
Paradise was the last book in the Descent series, though "last book" isn't completely true because the next book is the first in the Ascension series- but continues the same story. The only thing that is resolved in this book is that Metaron and Adam get killed. However, demon-angel hybrids are still attacking Earth, the Union is still co-opting kopides, and James and Elise are still on the outs. I won't continue the series.
Wallflower starts out a little oddly, written as letters from a freshman to an unknown person. you know there is something different about the boy writing the letters, but you don't know what, for sure, until the end. Throughout it deals with dating violence, alcohol, drugs, bullying, and rape. It is very well done and an interesting read. While written for young adults, I would certainly recommend it to adults as well.
Speck makes the argument that walkable cities are important economically, environmentally, and for our health. More money is spent in, and taxes raised in, walkable cities (economic). Fewer cars are driven in and less fuel used in walkable cities- not to mention the problems of urban sprawl (environmental). Finally, obesity and asthma can directly be connected to use of cars, not to mention a host of other health problems. In his mind, walkable cities are a must.
The Plum series (Twenty and Twenty-one) is not great literature, but it is just plain fun. Cars get torched, people get shot, giraffes and monkeys run amok- all with irreverent and witty commentary throughout. In Twenty, Stephanie tangles with the mob, who are also Morelli's relatives. As the same time, she is working for Ranger and trying not to fall into bed with him. As she says, "I've made my choice, I'm just having a hard time sticking to it." Amen, sister. Twenty-one was not quite as good. Someone is trying to kill Ranger and so Stephanie helps him track down the Russian hitman after him. The usual "I love Joe, but Ranter's so hot" situations are involved, as are action scenes with rather slapstick comedy.
Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts,
The Day My Mother Left by James Prosek,
Boo Hiss by Rene Gutteridge,
and The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.
Roberts writes about the lives of the wives of the Founding Fathers. She shows how important they were to the war effort and the construction of the new country. It was fascinating to read about their lives and Roberts did a good job bringing them to life. Unfortunately , she organized it by time period rather than by woman and the women get all mixed up and are hard to keep straight.
Day My Mother Left tells the story of a preteen boy whose mother leaves suddenly and his struggle to come to terms with the change in his life. Illustrations of birds, supposedly drawn by the boy (actually by the author, who explains the book is semi-autobiographical), show his growth as an artist, which he turns to as an outlet. It took a while to get into the story, but then it picked up.
Honestly, I didn't finish Boo Hiss. After reading 150 pages, I just wasn't interested. I think part of the problem was that it skipped around between characters, not staying on any one character more than a few pages. I couldn't get invested in any one story and they weren't converging enough for me to get interested in the overall story either. So, I called it quits.
Several times I almost called it quits on The Historian as well. It was a similar problem, except instead of following too many characters at one time, it kept layering characters. It begins with a girl, reading letters from her father, who is relaying letters from another man or postcards from her mother. It became difficult to keep straight who was narrating, because all the stories were told in the first person. Also, it followed one character in some cases for several chapters and then turned to another layer without much indication that things had changed. The other problems was that she went into WAY too much detail for all of them. If you are interested in history, it might be interesting. If you want to know what is happening to the characters, it is a distraction. So, it was okay, but I wouldn't really recommend it.
There Goes the Bride by M.C. Beaton,
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah,
Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia,
Still Alice by Lisa Genova,
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens,
Psychic Eye and Better Read than Dead by Victoria Laurie.
Bride was an Agatha Raisin mystery. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't good, either. Ms Raisin is a 50-year-old private investigator in a small English town, who gets caught up in murder investigations. The plot was interesting, but Ms. Raising is annoying and the writing was choppy.
Garden was both heartbreaking and overly hopeful. The parts about Stalin's purges in Russia are the heartbreaking parts (and believable). How quickly the daughters forgive decades of neglect by their mother is overly hopeful and not very believable.
The problem with Cuban, was that each chapter was told by a new person (though the stories did interconnect). It was more like short stories than a novel. I like some short stories, but when I am expecting a novel and I get short stories, I'm not happy.
Still Alice gave me nightmares for the month I was reading it. It is about a college professor diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and her rapid decline from the disease. It was much, much too realistic and too close to home. However, very well written and fascinating.
The other thing I don't like with books, is when I am told it is a comedy and then it is depressing. Nicholas Nickelby is supposed to be a comic parody, but I didn't find it funny at all. The writing, of course, was good, but the story was dark and depressing and I would much rather read something I can enjoy.
The Psychic Eye series is one of my new favorites. It is like Stephanie Plum meets the Mentalist. It is funny, fascinating, and exciting. Abby Cooper is a psychic who gets involved helping police in murders. It sounds ludicrous but feels perfectly normal when you are reading it.
Bad Blood by L.A. Banks,
Better Read Than Dead, A Vision of Murder, Killer Insight, and Crime Seen by Victoria Laurie,
She Was by Janis Hallowell,
The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts,
Potter's Field by Ellis Peters.
Bad Blood was another unfinished book. It started out good, but then went off the deep end, both in plot and writing. The plot became less and less realistic and the writing became more like a romance novel (sappy and unidimensional).
The Psychic Eye series by Victoria Laurie is just a fun series. In Better Read, Abby helps Milo with a case, while Dutch is working a case with the FBI. She also gets involved with the mafia. It all comes together at the end. Ghosts and a Holocaust mystery make up the plot for Vision of Murder. It also includes twins (with, of course, an evil twin) and Beemers. What's not to love? Killer Insight was not quite as good as the first three. In this one, Abby is at a friends wedding in Denver when bridesmaids start dying. As she is one of the bridesmaids, she has an interest in figuring out why. In Crime Seen, Abby goes into business with Candace (a PI) while she recovers from her gunshot wound. This, of course, causes problems with Milo and Dutch. Meanwhile, there is a great sub-plot about Dave.
She Was was slow starting, but then became very interesting. It asks the question, "how long are we responsible for the choices we made as young adults?" The protagonist was involved in domestic terrorism when she was just 19. Decades later, she is found in her new life. An unclear ending was the only unsatisfactory bit.
I picked up the Honk and Holler just because of its title, but it was worth it. It has a collection of characters, a paraplegic Vietnam vet, middle-aged Southern woman, young Native American woman, Vietnamese immigrant. They all come together in a small cafe in Oklahoma and change each other's lives.
In Potter's Field, a woman's body is found when plowing Potter's field, with connections to a monk and novitiate. Who killed her? Not who you expect! Brother Cadfael is on the case.
Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith,
I'd Tell You I Love You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter,
Tales from a Village School by Miss Read,
Demon Angel by Meljean Brook,
Beg for Mercy by Toni Andrews,
Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorius
In Tears (the second of the Ladies # 1 Detective Agency series), Precious becomes engaged to a mechanic, targeted by his maid, investigates a 10 year old murder, and adopts two orphans. Busy, busy!
I'd Tell You is actually a young adult novel about a female spy school. I decided to read it at the end of the fall semester when I was particularly stressed and wanted a fun, fluffy read. I won't continue the series (a little too YA for me), but it was a pleasant intermission when I needed one.
Tales looked interesting- a bunch of short stories about teaching at a small village school in England. I thought it might be a little like James Harriet's stories, which I enjoy. Unfortunately, it was quite dull and I stopped reading it before the end.
Bookmooch recommended Demon Angel to me, but it was wrong. It read too much like a romance novel (which it is). Ugh. I gave up only two chapters in because I couldn't take it any longer.
I finished Beg for Mercy, but won't continue the series. I enjoyed reading the book, but found some parts to be unbelievable and other parts to be stilted. The main character is able to make people do what she wants, but has moral issues with using the ability. You can see how it could get unbelievable or stilted.
Ghost Boy was a disturbing true story about a 12 year old boy in South Africa who falls ill and becomes a paraplegic assumed to be in a vegetative state, though he is fully aware. For 7 years no-one knew that he was aware of what was going on around him and trying to communicate. Horrifying. It does have a happy ending as he becomes able to communicate through computers (like Stephen Hawking) and ends up getting married and writing this book.
Rosie Project was a really entertaining read about a 39 year old man with Aspergers, who decides he wants to find a wife. He is a genetic scientist in Australia, and with the help of a colleague in Psychology (who is a womanizer), starts the Wife Project. Along the way, he meets Rosie, who does not fit his criteria for a wife AT ALL and yet becomes one of his best friends. I won't ruin it by saying any more. I laughed my way through it in less than 24 hours. Definitely recommended.
Crime Seen and Doom with a View by Victoria Laurie (Psychic Eye Mysteries),
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley (Flavia de Luce Mysteries),
Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith (# 1 Ladies Detective Agency),
Heist Society by Ally Carter,
And The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.
I read Crime Seen in one day, like the others. Abby, int his book, goes into business with Candice (a private investigator) while she is recovering from her gunshot wound, which causes problems with Milo and Dutch as their cases collide. Doom with a View has Abby working with the FBI to find 3 missing college students. At the end they (Abby, Candice, and Abby's beau) all move from Michigan to Texas, which is a little disappointing for me.
Hangman’s Bag was just as entertaining as the first. In this case, a travelling puppeteer is electrocuted during his show. Flavia’s curiosity leads her to investigate the case, with lots of sass, of course.
Clearly, I like series of books! The title of Morality for Beautiful Girls is derived from a case the agency takes near the end, which entails the Miss Botswana Beauty Pageant; however, this is much more going on in this book, including the depression of Mma Romaotswe’s fiancé.
Heist Society begins a series that I won’t be continuing. Like “I’d Tell You I Love You” (same author), this was a quick and fun read, but not worth continuing because it is a little too young adult. It is about a teenage thief who doesn’t want to be a thief.
I was looking forward to the Time Machine because it is a classic in science fiction and a whole Big Bang Theory is based around it. While not necessarily dull, it isn’t very interesting either, and was a slow read for a short book.
The Surgeon, The Apprentice, The Sinner, Body Double, Vanish, The Keepsake, Mephisto Club, Ice Cold, and the Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen (Rizzoli and Isles series.
I began this series, which had been recommended to me by a friend. When I started the second book, I found out one of my students was reading the same series, so I started passing the books to her. Since she was as into the series as me, I had to read them quickly in order to keep up with her. Thus, the reason I have read all of them.
The Surgeon was both good and awful. It was well-written and accurately portrayed violence against women and being female in a male field. However, it was also disturbing violent and gave me nightmares. It was about a male serial killer that targeted women.
The Apprentice was even worse that the first, yet also addicting. The Surgeon escapes from prison and begins working with a partner, while also stalking Rizzoli (the cop who caught him in the first book). The sinner was much more low key, but ended up with a whirlwind wedding that was a little disappointing (Rizzoli and Dean, when she becomes pregnant from a one-night stand).
Body Double follows Rizzoli’s pregnancy, but follows a case about Dr. Isles, in which she finds out she has a twin sister and her mother is a serial killer in prison. I am not as fond of Dr. Isles as Rizzoli, so this book wasn’t quite as good in my opinion.
Almost every book in the series has a different topic, though they all center around violence against women. In this book, the topic was sex trafficking, seen through the eyes of a young Ukrainian girl. Disturbing, as usual.
Keepsake returns to the normal perp/victim relations with another serial killer, then Mephisto Club takes it in a fantasy direction, with the Mephisto Club a group of people who band together to fight ancient evil. They see the evil exhibiting itself in the serial killers and traffickers that Rizzoli and Isles fight against.
Ice Cold moves more in the direction of a cult in Utah that forcibly prostitutes young girls and expels the boys from the group. Usually I am less interested in the Isles books, but found this one really interesting.
Finally, the Silent Girl was back to individual depravity rather than systemic depravity. It did delve into Chinese mythology and Chinatown, though, and introduced a new character.
The Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo,
The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith (#1 Ladies Detective Agency),
Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card,
The Summer of the Danes by Ellis Peters (Brother Cadfael Mysteries),
And Wickham’s Diary by Amanda Grange.
Bridge of Sighs was a long, boring book about a 60 year old man reflecting back on his life and reminiscences of his wife and childhood friend. I gave it a go, but couldn’t finish.
The #1 Ladies Detective Agency book was still a fun read, but with less of a plot this time and some loose ends. It was focused, in part, on Mma Makutsi’s plan to open a typing school for men for an additional income.
Ender’s Game was unexpectedly good and addicting. It is a scifi book about a 6 year old boy taken to train to defeat an alien race. I know it doesn’t sound all that good, but it really was and I intend to continue the series.
Summer of the Danes was a solid Brother Cadfael book, but not one of the best. It focused on a feud between two Welsh princes (one hires Danes to fight for him- thus the title) and, of course, a love story.
I had heard that Grange’s books on the Diaries of the men of Pride and Prejudice were good. Maybe the other diaries are better, but this one did not impress me at all. It was a brief book, acting as a prequel to when Wickham joins Pride and Prejudice. It doesn’t have much for character development and doesn’t add anything to Pride and Prejudice.
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