Katy’s
Comments
(group member since Aug 04, 2010)
Katy’s
comments
from the Reading with Style group.
Showing 241-260 of 1,214
10.3 Police Force of Nature by Jane Harper
+10 task
+10 combo (20.7 - 91,270 ratings, 20.10)
Task Total: 20
Season Total: 80
10.1 Series Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths
This is book 3 in a terrific series featuring a fascinating detective, Harbinder Kaur. In the first two books she was a detective in Sussex but has been promoted and is now a DI (detective inspector) in London. This is her first big case and it's a truly big one - a member of Parliament has been murdered at a school reunion. Like the other books in this series, the author uses multiple perspectives really effectively to build excitement and misdirection, taking advantage of unreliable narrators without breaking the implicit contract with your readers, to make the puzzle figure-out-able! It was another twisty, interesting read and I really enjoy the character of DI Kaur. I hope there are more to come in this series!
+10 task (#3 in the Harbinder Kaur series which I've read before)
+10 combo (10.3 - mc is a DI with London police, 20.10)
+10 review
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 60
15.2 Alpha Omega Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
+15 Task (F-N)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 30
15.1 Alpha Omega A Scatter of Light by Malinda Lo
Lexile 790
+15 Task (M-O)
Task Total: 15
Season Total: 15
I'm reading The Man in the Brown Suit right now and wondering if it fits - most of the book has been either on a boat or train journey, and the intricacies of traveling from the UK to Africa and then around Africa seem pretty central to the plot as they're also solving a mystery - but not sure if it's too much mystery!!
20.9 ABCs Battling the Big Lie: How Fox, Facebook, and the MAGA Media Are Destroying America by Dan Pfeiffer
Dan Pfeiffer, the author, was an Obama aide and now hosts a podcast – I haven’t listened to his podcast but have read his other book. Both books I think have a similar issue (for me) – they’re super informative, interesting, and relevant, but there’s something about the style that makes me take them verrrrrry slow. I just don’t have any kind of urgency to finish. This book in particular only sped up toward the end. In this book he tackles mis- and dis-information, how it came to be such a prominent part of the US political landscape, and ultimately what we might do about it. I’m fascinated by the topic and really wanted the information, and that alone made it worth the read, although I’m still uncertain about the style.
+20 task
+5 combo (10.2 - US)
+10 review
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 485
10.6 Bless the Animals Wish You Were Here by Rita Mae Brown
This was technically a reread, though it’s been so long since I read it that it felt basically new. It’s the first in Rita Mae Brown’s series where the cat and dog belonging to Harry, the town postmistress, solve crimes in the small Virginia town of Crozet. In this story, people in town keep getting murdered – after receiving an ominous postcard with the note “Wish you were here.” Mrs. Murphy and Tucker, the cat and dog, along with a few other local animals who help out, have to figure out the mystery AND help alert the less-observant humans to their discoveries. Fluffy, fun, quick read that was a nice blast from (my personal) past.
+10 task (a cat and dog solve the mystery)
+15 combo (10.2 - U.S.; 10.4; 20.10 - 1990)
+10 review
+5 oldies (pub. 1990)
Task Total: 40
Season Total: 450
20.10 Birthday Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
This was a thoroughly fun (and dark!) telling based on a similar idea as Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (which is one of my favorite books). I don’t know that it’s a retelling per se, but it’s definitely in that vein and Alice Feeney makes some specific references to the book as well. Alice Feeney is a master of twisty domestic thrillers that seem on the surface to be similar to others in the genre, but she always seems to have a slightly MORE twisted take on things and usually manages to surprise me – this one was no exception. This is a hard one to review without spoilers but I think I can safely say that if you like atmospheric locked-room mysteries, twists, and quirky (often unlikeable) characters, you will probably enjoy this one.
+20 task (pub 2022)
+10 combo (20.8 - "Nana cooked a lot of her special chicken soup", 20.9)
+10 review
Task Total: 40
Season Total: 410
20.3 VonnegutNever by Ken Follett
I picked this up because the premise – political drama and intrigue -- is right up my alley. But also, Ken Follett is an author who actually made me interested in medieval history (which is NOT up my alley) so I was eager to see what he could do with a topic I was already intrigued by. In true Ken Follett fashion, this is an epic with multiple perspectives. We get to know the U.S. president and her family, several Chinese intelligence leaders, some US and French intelligence operatives in Africa, and various other characters. The entire book is leading readers toward the (grim) idea that war, especially nuclear war, is unthinkably awful and evil – and, if things don’t go right and more hotheaded leaders prevail, sometimes inevitable. I believe part of his inspiration was the lead up to WWI, starting with one seemingly minor situation and snowballing. I think the worldbuilding here wasn’t quite as amazing as in his Kingsbridge trilogy, but I did enjoy the read and didn’t want to put it down, which is saying something for an 800+ page book!
+20 task (approved in thread)
+10 combo (10.3, 20.8 - "the meal was flatbread and a vegetable soup")
+15 Jumbo (816 pages)
+10 review
Task Total: 55
Season Total: 370
20.1 Jemisin She Memes Well by Quinta Brunson
This is the memoir of Quinta Brunson, comedian and genius behind the show Abbott Elementary (which I love!). I got this book on Audible because of the promise of the bonus chapter on the making of the show and that alone was honestly worth it. The book itself is good – not necessarily amazing writing but interesting to learn more about Quinta’s life and career, and full of compelling details. But the “bonus” chapter was outstanding! It really showed Quinta’s most powerful skillset, because she seemed to be talking it out more (rather than reading from her already-published book) and it was hilarious, informative, and touching. If you’re at all interested, I do recommend the Audible version!
+20 task (author is Black)
+5 combo (10.2 - born in US)
+10 review
Task Total: 35
Season Total: 315
20.1 Jemisin Are You Sara? by S.C. Lalli
Fun, dark premise – two people with the same first name get into the Uber meant for the other one, and one ends up dead. The book goes on from there, and ends up spiraling into a plot that would fill several pages to outline. There are some parts that remind me of John Grisham, and that’s not a bad comparison – this is like a more modern Grisham novel (Grisham of The Firm, not the Grisham of football and holiday memories!) in both level of enjoyment and sense that really there were some holes in the plot. Didn’t take away from the fun of reading it though!
+20 task (MC is Bengali)
+20 combo (10.2 - hometown Canada https://sclalli.com/about/, 10.9 - set in New England, 20.2 - her debut, 20.10 - 2022)
+10 review
Task Total: 50
Season Total: 280
20.10 Birthday We Were Kings by Courtney C. Stevens
Not shelved at BPL
+20 task (published 2022)
+10 combo (10.2 - born in US, 20.8 - "Ben dishes soup, doles out soda crackers, and fills four glasses with Kool-Aid")
Task Total: 30
Season Total: 230
10.9 NFL The Ivies by Alexa Donne
+10 task (set in New England - specifically Massachusetts)
Low lexile
Task Total: 10
Season Total: 200
I know you're being pretty liberal with the definition of anti-war here, but I just want to see if my thinking makes sense. I just read Never and a big message I took away was anti-war. It's described in a lot of reviews and interviews with the author as a cautionary tale about the dangers of war and how easy it might be to have a war start (it seems he was writing sort of a what-if-WWI-happened-now plot). All the heroes in the book are anti-war and the villains are pro-war. Would this fit?
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Katy wrote: "Would you accept Isabel Cañas? She is described as Mexican-American and I can't track down where she was born, but it seems like it would have to be either Mexico or ..."Makes sense, thanks!!
10.8 House The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
This book was tailor-made for this task! (It's even in the title!). The plot is a fairly straightforward haunted house setup - Beatriz moves to the country to the home of her new husband, and discovers a house that is alive. She sees visions, hears voices, and the house quickly begins more frightening pursuits. She befriends a young priest, Andres (who also narrates about half the story) who is not only a priest but also secretly a witch and is willing to help. I really enjoyed this - it was creepy and atmospheric, with characters I came to really root for (and even the less pleasant characters were well drawn and engaging to read about!). I became fascinated with the setting - Mexico in the wake of the revolution - and want to know more, and the author really skillfully wove in fascinating details about life in the time period, everything from clothes and food to abortion and racism.
+10 task
+25 combo (10.3, 20.1 - one MC is indigenous Mexican, 20.2, 20.8 - "...used it to fish a piece of pork from my soup", 20.10 - 2022)
+10 review
Task Total: 45
Season Total: 190
10.2 Oktoberfest Sidelined: Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America by Julie Dicaro
This was not what I expected but an interesting read nonetheless. I sort of expected more about female athletes and this was definitely about the world of sports media and women in that field. (And the Goodreads summary kind of contributes to that!). However, once I figured out what the topic was, I did come to enjoy the book. It was a look into a field (sports media) that I have very little knowledge of and hadn't really thought about. Unsurprisingly, it's rife with minefields for women breaking in, and in our current era, it's also full of really awful situations with fans on social media - I'm sure journalists in any field experience this but it seems to be heightened in sports media where there already is a bit of that culture in place. I did walk away with some new things to think about and I will definitely notice a little more the next time I watch a game and listen to commentary!
+10 task (born in the US)
+5 combo (10.3)
+10 review
Task Total: 25
Season Total: 145
Would you accept Isabel Cañas? She is described as Mexican-American and I can't track down where she was born, but it seems like it would have to be either Mexico or the US, either of which would work for the task!
20.10 Birthday Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris
I am a big fan of David Sedaris and this collection didn't disappoint. (Though one of my favorite things was when I would laugh out loud reading it, my four year old would ask what was so funny, and I would have to try to explain the essay in child-appropriate terms). In this collection he takes on some heavy topics, like his father's death, and the pandemic, and hits a nice balance of emotionally resonant and funny - as I think he's done more and more effectively over time. Only a few essays didn't quite hit for me, but mostly I would say this is David Sedaris in his usual good form.
+20 task (published 2022)
+10 review
+10 combo (10.2 - born in US, 20.9)
Task Total: 40
Season Total: 120
