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What are You Reading / Reviews - February 2016
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood
4 stars
Although this was not as Lemony Snickettish as I was hoping, it certainly held its own charm and I enjoyed reading it. The overall atmosphere for this first book in the series is generally more sweetness and light than the Series of Unfortunate Events with much credit going to the children's governess, Penelope Lumley, who is only 15 and loves ponies. She has just graduated from the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females and certainly wants to make a good impression. But suddenly becoming responsible for 3 young children who were recently found living in the forest and who behave much more like wolves than humans may be too much for her. A great quick read that I think preteen girls would really enjoy.
Michael Wood,
In Search of the Trojan War
[1985] 272 pagesMore on the Trojan War. . . This was written in conjunction with a PBS Television series, which probably influenced the way it was organized. It takes a historical approach, beginning with Heinrich Schliemann's excavation of Hissarlik, then going on to the excavations at Mycenae and the other Bronze Age sites in Greece, to the excavation of Knossos, and ultimately to the Linear B tablets and the Hittite archives. It was actually fairly interesting. The author's conclusions: the question is still open, but the Trojan War probably was an actual event, Hissarlik (specifically Troy VI) was probably Troy, and was probably sacked by the Greeks sometime around 1260 BCE; this may be connected with the dispute between Ahhiyawa and Hatti over Wilusa; and Troy VIIa was probably destroyed about 1180 BCE by the Sea Peoples.
Mod
TEXT –
A Brief History of MontmarayAUDIO in the car -
All the Light We Cannot See / Anthony DoerrPortable AUDIO -
Dream When You're Feeling Blue
The Picture of Dorian GrayRating 3.25
The youthful beautiful Dorian Gray. Vanity at its finest. Dorian is left with a nice inheritance and acquired Lord Henry and the painter Basil as friends. Basil envies Dorian and when Dorian sits for a painting Basil pours everything into the painting. One that that happens to poor Dorian is the painting shows Dorian for his true self. Dorian never ages or changes but the picture does. Every evil thing that Dorian does shows up on the face of the painting. Dorian doesn't want the world to see him for who he truly is so he hides away the painting. After years of struggling with hiding Dorian finally faces the painting for who he has truly become. The painting is so horrible it forces Dorian to kill himself.
This book was going to receive a lower review because parts were dry and very hard to follow but the last half of the book wraps up the story nicely.
A good quotes from the book:
"Man is many things, but he is not rational."
The Marriage MishapThe Marriage Mishap - Judith Stacy (4 stars) 2/15/16
Haley awakens to a naked husband and a wedding she doesn't remember. Adam Harrington remembers the wedding night but little of the ceremony, but he has the license to prove it. He is very satisfied with his new wife and can't understand her objections. This mishap occurs in Sacramento, CA in 1894.
As they begin to adjust to their new life, Haley must deal with Adam's controlling father, alcoholic sister and rebellious younger brother. She also is attempting to assist her cousin in revitalizing the building business that their deceased fathers have left them. With her husband owner of their larger competitor many problems face the couple.
I enjoyed how these two resolve their issues. There are some classic misunderstandings but quickly addressed. Good romance.
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of EverythingRating 3.5
This is a fun read of connecting things that most people wouldn't necessarily connect. Sort of like when abortion was legalized there was a huge drop in crime. Levitt goes on to explain lots of these abortions that took place were from a situation where the child would have grown up in a bad situation.
A quote from the book:
"If morality represents an ideal world. Economics represents the actual world." This is the theme of the book. Levitt looks at life through his Economist glasses and likes to see the things that are, rather than how we want them to be. In the closing paragraphs he wants us the reader to try to do the same. To look at everything and question WHY.
Annie L. Burton and others,
Women's Slave Narratives
[2006] 154 pagesOctavia V. Rogers Albert, American Slaves Tell Their Stories: Six Interviews [1890] 87 pages
Two Dover anthologies of slave narratives written between 1863 and 1909, that is much earlier than the bulk of slave narratives which were collected from very old ex-slaves during the Depression by the Federal Writers Project; but their earlier date is balanced by the fact that they are a much less representative sample and were written and published for religious edification more than history.
Women's Slave Narratives consists of five short books originally published separately, Annie Burton's Memories of Childhood's Slavery Days (1909, slightly abridged here), Memoir of Old Elizabeth, a Coloured Woman (1863), Dr. L. S. Thompson, The Story of Mattie J. Jackson (1866), Lucy A. Delaney, From the Darkness Cometh the Light, or Struggles for Freedom (c. 1891), and Kate Drumgold, A Slave Girl's Story 1898.
American Slaves is a republication of a single book of five conversations, originally published in 1890 under the title The House of Bondage or Charlotte Brooks and other slaves: original and life-like, as they appeared in their old plantation and city slave life; together with pen-pictures of the peculiar institution, with sights and insights into their new relations as freedmen, freemen, and citizens. (Why does Dover do this?) It was published first as a series of articles in the magazine South-western Christian Advocate, then reprinted as a book.
All of the works in both these books have a very strong religious content, and were written more as religious "testimonies" than as factual descriptions of slavery, but apart from the memoir of "old Elizabeth" they do give a certain amount of information about the conditions of the slaves. The women's narratives are all by domestic servants ("house slaves") rather than field slaves, so in that respect they could give a somewhat distorted impression of the economic importance of slavery, and are mostly from the northernmost states of the slave region; the second book has interviews with actual field slaves, in Louisiana.
The House of Bondage is the book that contains the quotation, "the half has never been told" which Baptist uses as the title of his history of slavery, which I am currently reading and which puts the narratives into their context.
Abandon by Blake Crouch, 4****s
This was definitely a wild ride! -- about a small mining town in which the whole population seems to have simply disappeared on Christmas, 1893. Now, in 2009, a group of interested travelers: a couple interested in the paranormal, a historian, his journalist daughter, and a couple of guides, go up into the mountains of Colorado to try to find out what happened to the town of Abandon, CO. And, oh my -- hang on, and wear your seatbelt! ;)
Terris wrote: "Abandon by Blake Crouch, 4****s
This was definitely a wild ride! -- about a small mining town in which the whole population seems to have simply disappeared on Christmas..."
After I watched the TV series--Wayward Pines--last summer, I read the 3 books by Blake Crouch that the series was based on. Then I started Abandon but for whatever reason only read a few pages and put it down. Thanks for the incentive to start it again. :)
Beverly wrote: "Terris wrote: "Abandon by Blake Crouch, 4****s
This was definitely a wild ride! -- about a small mining town in which the whole population seems to have simply disappear..."
I did not realize Wayward Pines was the writer behind that series! Thanks for the info. This is not the type of book I usually read -- The Housekeeper and The Professor is more to my liking :)
But a friend asked me to buddy read it and even though it was 400 pages, it was a really quick read. Pretty gory & even gruesome at times, so watch out for that, but the story & mystery of it all is good. Hope you enjoy it!
Terris wrote: "Beverly wrote: "Terris wrote: "Abandon by Blake Crouch, 4****s
This was definitely a wild ride! -- about a small mining town in which the whole population seems to have ..."
I would expect the gore after reading the Wayward Pines trilogy. Not crazy about it but I can stand some!! :)
Mod
The Moving Finger – Agatha Christie
2.5**
The fourth installment in the Miss Marple series has the reader visiting the small village of Lymstock. Jerry Burton has come to the quiet town along with his sister, to recuperate from a bad accident. But they are greeted with a vitriolic anonymous letter, and soon discover that someone has been sending such poison pen missives to most of the women in town. The local solicitor’s wife commits suicide after one such note … or does she?
This is an intricately plotted mystery, but Miss Marple doesn’t appear until page 153 (out of 216 total pages). Most of the detective work is done by Jerry Burton and the local investigator, Superintendent Nash. They don’t lack for suspects; it seems that almost everyone in town is a potential culprit, including the vicar’s wife! But of course, after hearing a few casual remarks Miss Marple solves the entire case.
There are a couple of romantic subplots which are really ridiculous and do nothing to further the mystery. I recognize that Christie frequently included such elements in her earlier works, but it just irritates me.
Mod
Finders Keepers by Stephen King
431 pages
★★★★
This is the second of the Bill Hodges Trilogy by Stephen King. The author of many genres, this one is in the realm of hardboiled detective writing and bravo to King for once again do a fabulous job at whatever genre he decides to write. If you’ve read the first one in the trilogy, Mr. Mercedes, I suspect you’ll like this one. If you haven’t read the first….then read it and then this one and then we can be friends again ;-)
Really don’t have much to complain about Finders Keepers. It is fast-paced and kept me interested from the beginning. It took a while for Bill Hodges to make his way back into the picture in this book and honestly it had been long enough between reading the first and second that it took me a bit to get reintroduced to all the main players found throughout. I’m not sure how much I liked the very ending, it felt very much like he plans to take the last book in a whole new direction and I’ve really liked how this trilogy has gone without practically changing the genre for the last one. But we will see what happens and I will have an open mind as the last book comes out in few months. My one last gripe is the same one I had with the first book…the frequent name brand use throughout. I mean, at points I felt like I was reading an advertisement for this or that brand. How much did this guy get paid to throw in all these references (which he could easily have used a generic or made up name without losing any part of the story line)? Regardless, I found myself very engrossed in this 431 page book and look forward to what the end of the trilogy brings for good ol’ Bill Hodges.
The Truth about Toby - Cheryl St. John (4 stars) 2/17/16 [249]
Shaine Richards has been having dreams about her nephew Toby who was lost a year ago when his mother's car plunged into the river. Maggie was buried but Toby's body was never found. He appears to be his current age not the age he disappeared. When she senses the location of another lost boy and helps locate his body and then a pair of lost hikers are located with her help, she decides there may be something to her dreams about Toby. Her local work with a psychic researcher has led nowhere. He then reluctantly gives her the name and location of a recluse psychic who has withdrawn from the torment of using his talent who might be able to help her understand her dreams.
Austin Allen is not willing to help because all his experiences led to finding dead victims and being in the tortured minds of the killers or experiencing the torture of the victims. He has learned to block his talent. But Shaine's talent is envisioning a future event and she 'knows' Toby is alive. Working together they must learn how to interpret both of their talents to find Toby. A very different and satisfying series romance.
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
4 stars
This is a book that I read for one of my F2F groups. The audio book was read by the author and I really think that made a world of difference in my interest in the material because you could hear the emotion in the author's voice. Even though I found the material presented interesting, falconry is not something that I've ever wanted to know more about. Because of the author's tone, which I thought was wonderful, I could tell how committed to the art she is and so it made me more curious to understand that commitment. It's always surprising to see what activities different people are attracted to and then become immersed in.
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood
4 stars
Although this was not as Lemony Snickettish as I was hoping, it certainly held its own charm and I enjoyed reading it. The overall atmosphere for this first book in the series is generally more sweetness and light than the Series of Unfortunate Events with much credit going to the children's governess, Penelope Lumley, who is only 15 and loves ponies. She has just graduated from the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females and certainly wants to make a good impression. But suddenly becoming responsible for 3 young children who were recently found living in the forest and who behave much more like wolves than humans may be too much for her. A great quick read that I think preteen girls would really enjoy.
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
4 stars
This is a book that I read for one of my F2F groups. The audio book was read by the author and I really think that made a world of difference in my interest in the material because you could hear the emotion in the author's voice. Even though I found the material presented interesting, falconry is not something that I've ever wanted to know more about. Because of the author's tone, which I thought was wonderful, I could tell how committed to the art she is and so it made me more curious to understand that commitment. It's always surprising to see what activities different people are attracted to and then become immersed in.
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
3 stars
I read this for my Page Turners book discussion group this month. These reads, and this book is no exception, are usually from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. Although I can't say that I enjoyed reading this book, there were certainly aspects of it that at least held my attention most of the time. As the main protagonist, Chichikov, roams around the countryside attempting to purchase the souls of dead farm workers, the reader meets an assortment of quirky characters who each have a different take on what Chichikov is doing and so a different response. He is convinced that he will be able to make an easy profit off these purchases and throughout the book I just kept thinking...if he could just use his intellect for something good rather than profiting from the "easy" way. Then at some point (I wish I had bookmarked the spot and could quote it), someone in the book actually makes that same reference. I really enjoyed the sections when Gogol described the countryside, or the foods or the interiors of some of the homes that he visited. His descriptions were so wonderfully done that it was easy to picture these settings. I thought it was interesting that there were so many sections, towards the end of the book that had been lost or were illegible. The truth of the matter is that I really didn't miss those sections nor did they seem to interfere with the reading, which just emphasizes the fact that I really didn't follow the entire story line very well.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
5 stars
My Page Turners book group read and discussed this book in December but I was unable to attend and just now got around to reading it. I have seen so many movies based on this book but never actually read the book. Interestingly enough, although we all know the story along with a lot of the dialogue, I still really enjoyed hearing it exactly as written. The reader of this audio on Lit2Go was Rick Kisner and I thought his reading was exactly the way I wanted to hear it and the story of the grumpy and miserly Scrooge meeting the 3 spirits who were then able to turn his attitude around was really brought to life.
Out of This World Lover - Shannon Stacey, Summer Devon, Charlene Teglia (2 stars)
Three erotic romances featuring heroes who fulfill their heroines fantasies. Interstellar Sparks involves an alien ambassador on earth to negotiate a treaty. But an XXX movie sends her looking for an electrician, like the one in the movie, to satisfy her urges. However, the one she finds and their interactions lead to some problems the next day. In Futurelove, a protest at a time travel research center pushes our hero into an unplanned trip back to 2006 where he lands on the park bench by our heroine. Hero is a virgin who finds himself willing to learn all about the wild side of this primitive era. The last story involves a woman who was unwillingly made a werewolf when she happened upon a murderous rogue werewolf killing a victim. She is now out to seek revenge on him and thinks she has located him. But the 'man' she has picked up has other ideas. All very sexy and explicit. No great stories.
2 stars
Interesting walk though the mind of a man trying to find out the truth of his existence and his birth family. Book has way to much speculation on peoples thinking and what happen. I am giving it two stars because it does make you stop and think about the evidence and that time line filled with coincidence.
Mod
All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr
Book on CD narrated by Zach Appelman
4****
A blind French girl and a young German orphan find their lives intersect in the walled Brittany town of Saint-Malo in August 1944. Marie-Laure is 16, and has been blind since age six. Her father works at the Natural History Museum in Paris and she has learned much by exploring with her other senses – touch, smell, sound, taste. As the Germans occupy France, Marie-Laure and her father flee to Saint-Malo and the home of her great uncle Etienne (an agoraphobic since his return from fighting in WW I). Meanwhile Werner and his younger sister Jutta grow up in an orphanage in a mining town, where his genius for electronics comes to the attention of the Nazis and gains him entrance to an elite boys’ school.
The story is told in alternating chapters, and with alternating time frames. Each section begins with what is happening in Saint-Malo in August 1944, as the allies bomb the city, and the residents and occupying German forces seek shelter from the onslaught. But the story then separates as we follow these two different characters from 1934 onward, discovering how they come to both be in the town at that fateful time.
Doerr gives us wonderful descriptions, letting the reader experience the world as Marie-Laure or Werner does. The sections narrated by Marie-Laure are full of the use of her other senses as she tries to compensate for her lack of vision. We can smell the warm yeasty aroma of freshly baked bread, taste the salty air of a beach, feel the smooth yet textured shell of a whelk, or hear the soft strains of Clair de Lune or the screech and roar of incoming aircraft. Werner’s sections are much more internal, as he struggles with what is morally right in the face of his training (indoctrination) and obligation as a soldier of the Reich. He bears witness to horrors that Marie-Laure cannot see, or even imagine.
By the time their stories intersect I am as anxious as they are for relief from the war.
Doerr peoples the novel with a wide assortment of characters … from the competent housekeeper, to the single-minded sergeant major, they are all fully fleshed out, providing support on the one hand, or bringing cruel danger on the other.
The audio version is performed by Zach Appelman, who does a marvelous job. His gift as a voice artist makes it easy to believe he is speaking for a blind teenaged girl, a confused German boy, an elderly uncle, or a gruff soldier. As an added bonus the audio book begins and ends with the strains of Clair de Lune …. A haunting melody that is a perfect metaphor for this beautifully told story, and is still playing in my head.
Mod
A Brief History of Montmaray – Michelle Cooper
2 **
From the book jacket: Sophie FitzOsborne lives in a crumbling castle in the tiny island kingdom of Montmaray, along with her tomboy younger sister Henry, her beautiful, intellectual cousin Veronica, and her uncle, the completely ma King John. When Sophie receives a journal for her sixteenth birthday, she decides to write about her day-to-day life on the island. But this is 1936, and the news that trickles in from the mainland reveals a world on the brink of war.
My reactions
I was bored, and finished only because it satisfied a challenge. I found Sophie’s musings repetitious (How often do I need to hear about how cranky Rebecca is? How handsome Simon is? How stubborn Henry is?). At first I was reminded of We Have Always Lived in the Castle but that quickly subsided. I didn’t find the underlying intrigue about Sophie’s brother and who will inherit the throne from Uncle John terribly interesting. We’re to believe they are completely isolated, with little or no modern conveniences (no electricity, no phone, no motorized boat), yet when they need help they hoist a flag and miraculously a passing ship sees it and comes to their aid.
One of my pet peeves is cliffhanger endings that “force” the reader to get the next book to find out what happens. And that is exactly what this book gives us.
I know this is a YA novel and I do cut the genre a little slack, so I’m still giving it two stars. Some of the scenes were quite suspenseful, and some of the interactions between characters not only advanced the story, but were plausible. I also liked that the young women were portrayed as strong, intelligent, resourceful and determined.
Bliss by Kathryn Littlewood
2 stars
The best part of this book was the cover photo. The basic premise is, Purdy and Albert Bliss have a popular bakery in Calamity Falls. They have 4 children, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, who help out at the Follow Your Bliss bakery but none of them have any idea how special their little bakery is until the day Rose watches her mother fold a lightning bolt into a bowl of batter, bake a cake and then save the life of a child who was in the hospital. Now the mayor of a neighboring town comes to ask the Bliss bakers if they can come to his town and stop a flu epidemic. They decide to leave the children in charge of the bakery while they go on this special mission and give Rose a special "whisk" key that gives her access to all their special ingredients and the Bliss Cookery Booke, with the warning not to let anyone else near the book. Almost as soon as they leave, a woman claiming to be their Aunt Lilly shows up and let's them see the ladle birthmark she has. Since this is something that everyone in the family has, they take her at her word and allow her to stay to help them out. Rose is the only one who retains some reservations regarding this new relative. From here, true to the name of the town, calamity ensues and continues until just before the parents return to the bakery. At this point, Aunt Lilly takes off, leaving the kids with the fallout. I really wanted to like this. At first I thought it would be a cute, fun read but when all the problems started, it just lost its continuity and things started being nonsensical. I finished it hoping that maybe the chaos of everything going wrong may have just been too much for me and it would get better again but no. I would not recommend it and would not bother reading the next one in the series.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
5 ★
It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . .
Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.
This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.
My Thoughts
An interesting book told by a surprising narrator. This is the first book I have read that is told from a Germans point of view during Hitler's reign and I was pleasantly surprised. I actually did some of my own research because I was surprised that the Germans had it bad as well. The characters are likable (most of them) and I found myself really drawn into the story. The book is broken up into parts, and I found tears coming to my eyes as I read one of the last parts. It takes a good author to make the characters so relatable that you feel for them when something bad happens. That was my reason for the 5 star rating. The author also does a great job wrapping everything up and not leaving any lose end.
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, 4****s
The story of a very old, sacred, and valuable book; its restoration and history, and colorful tale of its background and mysterious beginnings. It starts with the present and goes backward to 1940, 1600, and 1490! With an unexpected twist at the end -- a very enjoyable read :)
Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker
4 stars
I read this for my Mystery Book Club this month and was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed the character of Bruno--a very laid back, thoughtful kind of police officer who is certainly capable of carrying a firearm but does not. Instead, he lives in a small home, which he has mostly remodeled himself, and is an excellent cook. I was hungry throughout much of the book. But he does his job with an intelligent, thoughtful approach. With the sudden death of an elderly man in the village, the father and grandfather of people he interacts with on a regular basis, he is suddenly thrown into a situation that needs very special political handling. And the further the investigation goes, the more complex the situation becomes. Although there was quite a bit of information presented about troop activities in Europe during World War II and how some groups were sent into various French towns to terrorize, kill and plunder, the political and military aspects didn't bog me down too much, For the most part, this is a mystery that will keep you guessing right up to the end--at least it did me. And I really liked the way the story ended. It wrapped up just exactly the way I'd expect Bruno to handle it.
Dumplin' by Julie Murphy
3 stars
I read this (or rather listened) for my YA book discussion group this month. What I really enjoyed about the book was that our protagonist, Willowdean, is a teenager who although overweight is very comfortable in her own skin and perfectly willing to try just about anything--including enter a beauty competition that her mother won when she was young and now has organized for years. Along with attempting to prove to her mother that everyone should have a crack at the title, Willowdean is having her first dating experiences, dealing with just losing her aunt who she was really close to and trying to understand why she and her best friend are moving apart. I believe that I may have rated this higher overall if I had read it rather than listened. I did not like the voice of the reader, Eileen Stevens, particularly when she was doing the male voices. There were 2 males, Bo and Mitch, both love interests to Willowdean and to me they sounded exactly alike and unfortunately they both sounded like they were high school dropouts. Perhaps they were supposed to just sound like Texans but that's not the way it across to me. I think this would be a great book for young high school girls because of the great examples set by the main character.
Mod
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doeer
530 pages
★★★★
This is one of those books that I don't know how to really review it. It has rave reviews left and right and I doubt I could really add much to the elaborate wording so many others have already done. This story mostly follows the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner during the WWII. Completely different upbringings and cultures, and yet their paths and stories will eventually converge.
I really enjoyed this novel. I honestly didn’t know what to expect from it, I sort of dove into the story without even bothering to read a synopsis. I just sort of jumped on the hype and hopes it was as god as everyone else was stating it was. I wasn’t disappointed. What a wonderful, well-written story. I didn’t want it to end. It’s not a super-fast paced book but one the weaves a beautiful tale of two very different, yet similar teenagers. I’m not much for reading fiction but this one was right my alley with the subject matter. The only reason it didn’t get 5 stars from me is that I DID ride the hype and I think for that reason I was always going to expect far more than the book could ever give, an unfortunate side-effect. Glad I finally go to this one.
Food Whore by Jessica Tom, 3***s
Tia is enrolled in the NYU culinary department's grad program, but doesn't receive the internship she desires. So when the New York Times restaurant critic requests her services (since he has lost his sense of taste), in return for free meals at all the best NYC restaurants and a new wardrobe from Bergdorf's, she agrees. And since her new life must remain a complete secret, she finds herself in all kinds of scrapes that she must find her way out of. It was a light, fun read.
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the LusitaniaRating 3.75
In typical Larson fashion this is not just one story, but 2 stories that coincide. We follow the passengers of the Lusitania and the crew of U-20. The Lusitania despite the warning tried sailing from New York to Liverpool. Many of the passengers were not worried of German Sub attacks at all. They were having the time of the life on a state of the art steamliner. U-20 had a the job of patrolling the waters of southern Ireland. Their fuel and torpedo supplies were starting to run low. On the Lusitania life was fun. Many socialites and families were enjoying the peaceful journey. As part of the crossing was covered in fog so thick that Captain Turner was unsure of how far they really had traveled tried to find a landmark. While they were getting their bearings straight they spotted the torpedo. Some of the passengers were in disbelief because they knew that German would never sink a passenger vessel. When the ship went down many people died in the explosion and many more from the chaos that ensued as staff tried to get people into lifeboats. of the 1900+ people on board only around 700 survived. British Military apparently knew that there was a lethal sub in the area but some speculate that this was deemed a necessary disaster to pull the United States into the war.
Warren wrote: "Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the LusitaniaRating 3.75
In typical Larson fashion this is not just one story, but 2 stories that coincide. We follow the passengers of the Lusitan..."
I have this book sitting on my side table, I just need to get to it! Thanks for the review :)
Mod
Rating 3.75
In typical Larson fashion this is not just one story, but 2 stories that coincide. We follow the passengers of the Lusitan..."
I have this but just haven't gotten to it. I love Larson's work.
Hector Berlioz,
Les soirées de l'orchestre
[3rd ed. 1878] 436 pages [in French, Kindle]This wasn't originally on my reading list, but a Shelfari friend recommended it as one of Berlioz's best books. The premise is that the players in an orchestra have conversations during boring operas, telling stories and so forth. It is a miscellaneous collection of satire, music criticism, music biography and other things; very uneven but some is very funny. There's even a science fiction story set in 2330. Some of the items are in other works by Berlioz which I had already read.
4 stars
I had never heard of Barney until the cover caught my eye. Being a lover of animal stories the title made me want to read it. What an amazing dog and dog owner. Television reporter Dick Wolfsie opens his heart and soul, walking you through his life and adventures with Barney. Barney made such an impact with the TV views and a few non TV views. Highly recommend.
The Witness - Nora Roberts (5 stars) 2/24/16
Elizabeth Fitch's highly controlled teenage life suddenly falls apart on the day she witnesses a brutal murder and runs to the police for protection. When that also falls apart she runs again, spending the next 12 years on the run. Now as a solitary computer security analyst living on the fringes of a small Ozark community she begins to think of settling in one place. But this change caused by her developing relationship with Brooks Gleason, town sheriff, his family and a town that wants to get to know her forces her to make some tough decisions about her past.
This story had a great mix of action and humor. Abigail (aka Liz) is a genius, who led a programmed and now reclusive life. Her interactions with various characters is often humorous, not over the top geek humor, but fraught with awkward situations. But her powers of logic and finding solutions to difficult problems are amazing. Though you need to suspend belief in believing all of this could work out, it is a fun, exciting journey. Highly recommended.
Give In To Me (H.O.T. Cops, #3) - Lacey Alexander (2 stars) 2/25/16 Corporate lawyer April Pediston has a lot on her plate when she is asked by a former client to help her obtain a divorce. During their meeting at a local cafe they are harassed by the client's abusive husband. She is saved by a cop undercover and finds herself strangely attracted to him.
The story follows their kinky sexual relationship that eventually helps her free herself from her other life pressures and gives him a sense of purpose. For those with an interest in dominant/submissive sex scenes. Not really my thing.
Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas
3 stars
I was really disappointed with this book. I had read True Sisters, The Persian Pickle Club and Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas and I really enjoyed all of them. This one just didn't live up to my expectations. Hennie Comfort, who is in her 80's and has lived in the Colorado mountains in a mining town for over 50 years is being pressured by her only daughter to come and live with her because they think she is at the point where she'll soon be unable to take care of herself. Hennie has decided that this will be her last year in Middle Swan. One day a young girl appears at her door in response to seeing the sign on Hennie's fence that states: prayers for sale. She has recently delivered a stillborn child and would like to purchase a prayer for her baby who lies in a grave far away. This is the beginning of a friendship between Nit Spindle and Hennie Comfort. The remainder of the book is basically about the growth of that friendship and Hennie's planning to move off the mountain at the end of the year. The reader was Maggi-Meg Reed and her voice certainly had a mountain twang which lent credibility to the characters but it was just too much for me and I got tired of listening to her. While I was listening I kept thinking that the story seemed so loose and disconnected because Hennie just told story after story. The majority of these stories were depressing because either a husband or a child (or both) would end up dead. The interim between each story was just never very compelling, it was just a casual link to get to the next story--at least that's how it seemed to me. At the end of the audio was a brief interview with the author and she said that originally this was a bundle of short stories and her publisher encouraged her to string them together so...now I know! I guess that's exactly why I reacted to the book the way I did. Not a bad book but certainly not her best.
Edward E. Baptist,
The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism
[2014] 528 pages [Kindle]This book was an excellent synthesis of the history of slavery, which integrated slave narratives with economic and political history to explain the reasons for the rise and fall of slavery in the American south. Baptist explained many of the events of U.S. history from a very different perspective than I had read previously.
Stone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood4 stars
Margaret Atwood continues to be a hit or miss author for me--mostly hit but I'm always leery. This book of nine tales (and she calls them tales because we can then assume that they are all fiction) was an overall hit for me. My favorite of the nine was the title tale, where long deserved justice is finally achieved. But "Torching the Dusties", although horrifying for a person of my age, was a close second, as was "The Freeze-Dried Groom" (which should be a favorite of those we love to watch Storage Wars). The first 3 stories in the book are interrelated and concern the loves/relationships among a group of artistically inclined friends--seen from a different perspective in each. If you're a fan of Atwood, I would recommend this collection.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, 3***s
Woohoo! Finally finished -- that's all I can say! ;)
Pure Dead Magic by Debi Gliori
3 stars
Many years ago, a librarian friend of mine recommended a couple of books written by Debi Gliori--2 more in the Pure Dead series). She knew I enjoyed children's books and thought these reminded her of "A Series of Unfortunate Events". At the time, I didn't realize these were actually in a series so I just read them, enjoyed them and forgot about them. In transferring my books over to GoodReads, I was reminded and decided to pick up the first one to see if I would still enjoy them. In this first adventure, Signor Luciano and Signora Baci Storega-Borgia, have had a little tiff and Luciano leaves the house to cool off. Before he knows it, he's lost his way in the countryside and then he's kidnapped by some men in a big black car. Meanwhile, back at home, Signora Baci and the children are interviewing nannies and have finally found one they think will do. But then the 13 baby rats are lost, Grandma is defrosting and Damp, the baby, stuffs bacon rinds into the open disc drawer of the CD-ROM on her brother's computer. To add to the confusion, Mafia gangsters are now attempting to enter their home. Pandemonium ensues. To me, they are only like the Snicket books in that there are 3 children and one is an extremely intelligent baby. I think these books are even darker than those and bring in many more fantastical elements, such as mythical dungeon beasts, magic and a frozen great-great-great.......grandmother who is being kept in a cryogenics slumber until a cure for old age is found. They feel like children's books written by Gregory Maguire mixed in with the Addams Family. Overall, still a fun read and I think I'll probably reread the next two and then finish out the series (there are now 6 books). Since I read this one in a day, I think they would be kind of a "brain cleaner".
On writing well by William zinsserRating 4 stars
Zinsser is a writer. He teaches writing. He loves writing. I think he is more into what the writing means than actually writing. He loves the moment and the story. He loves when that has been captured. This book gives many examples and ideas for getting your story down. This is less about the technical side and more about finding your voice.
Mod
Those Who Save Us – Jenna Blum
4****
Dr Trudy Swenson is a professor of history at the Univ of Minnesota. After she goes home for her father’s funeral she begins to question her history, and her mother’s silence. She has always know that Jack wasn’t her real father – that he had married Anna and brought her and her daughter from Weimar Germany to the USA after WW2. But the questions about her past will not be silenced, and a research project to record interviews with German survivors of the war forces Trudy to confront her past.
The novel is told in dual timelines: the adult Trudy in 1990s Minnesota, and her mother, Anna, as a young woman in war-torn Germany (1941-1944). The reader is all too aware of Trudy’s past, while watching Trudy struggle to make sense of her dreams, her vague recollections, and the one clue she has found among her mother’s belongings.
I was not expecting much from this “book-club favorite;” I’ve been disappointed by so many books that were popular with book clubs. But I’m certainly glad I put my pre-conceived notions aside and read it. I found complex issues, well-developed characters, and a compelling narrative.
Are we doomed to love “Those who save us,” despite their otherwise reprehensible behavior? I was nearly as frustrated by Anna’s obstinate silence as Trudy was. Learning her story, what she felt forced to do to save her child (and herself) gave me some understanding into her character, her motives, her fears, and her reluctance to examine the past. However, my sympathies lie more with Trudy, whose life and potential for happiness is so damaged by the secret Anna refuses to reveal. And I am left wondering whether Jack ever made peace with Anna’s past … and if so, how?
Just finished A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. I really enjoyed it!
Mod
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys – 2.5** In 1941 Stalin’s Soviet Army invaded Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and deported many of the residents of those countries to Siberia. Sepetys based this novel on the story of her own grandparents. There is an important historical story here, but the writing left me cold. The teen narrator really irritated me. Emily Klein didn’t help with her narration on the audio book. I found her performance overly dramatic to the point that I wanted to “boo” her.
Full Review HERE
Adrienne Koch,
Jefferson and Madison: The Great Collaboration
[1950] 294 pagesThis book was recommended reading for my high school AP American History course (1968) and has been on my reading list (and my bookshelf) ever since; I finally decided to read it for a Goodreads challenge to read something on Jefferson. The book was originally published in 1950.
Ostensibly an account of the life-long friendship/collaboration of Jefferson and Madison, it is (despite being based on original scholarship) actually a political rather than a scholarly book, designed both to idealize the two subjects and to bring them into the fold of New Deal Democratic Party liberalism. Although twentieth century concerns are not mentioned explicitly except in a very vague way, they seem to me to underlay much of the emphasis and selection of the material. The focus of the book is to emphasize Jefferson's position that the Constitution should be revised every generation to accommodate the current majority, while diminishing his strict constructionism (against those in the 1930s and 1940s who idolized the wisdom of the Constitution and the founders, as an argument for conservatism); to reinterpret the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions as a defense of civil liberties rather than "States' Rights" (the conservative code-word for preserving Jim Crow); and to suggest that the Supreme Court and the judiciary is more dangerous to liberty than the elected branches of government (an issue in the 30's; I wonder whether she would have emphasized this so much four years later, when it became a conservative argument against desegregation by court order.)
There was much of interest in the book about the history of the early republic, and particularly the struggles between the Federalists and the Republicans, but it is very selective. The biggest omission is any mention of slavery -- there is one paragraph on page 13 defending Jefferson as being against slavery (on the basis of a very early position he took in 1783) and that is literally the only mention of slavery in the entire book. After just finishing Edward Baptist's book which interprets the history of the U.S. from the Jefferson administration on as being mainly about slavery and its extension (this may be an exaggeration as well, but certainly the question was important from the beginning, and didn't just pop up at the time of the Missouri Compromise as one might gather from the usual high school history) it seemed very odd to hear Jefferson talking about the Louisiana Purchase as an "empire of liberty" without the author ever pointing out that it was in truth an empire of slavery. The entire account takes Jefferson's and Madison's rhetoric at face value, without questioning the actual tendency of their actions.
Partly of course, this was because of her interests in writing it, but it is also a symptom of the treatment of slavery and Jim Crow by American historians in general, compartmentalizing them in particular chapters as specific aberrations rather than showing them as important and even dominant factors in the general history of the country (apart from the immediate pre-Civil War period.)
I had expected to like this book, as I have always considered Jefferson and Madison as our most intelligent and among our best presidents -- as they were from a perspective of freedoms for white citizens. The country would have been much less democratic in the short term if the Hamiltonians had succeeded; but on the other hand, the North would have become dominant much earlier, had manufacturing been encouraged as Hamilton wanted. Certainly if one looks at their writings rather than their actions, Jefferson and Madison would have to be considered better than most of those who came after. I was struck by the way they emphasized education and tried to be as well read as possible; I can't help but contrast an incident in the 2008 U.S. election, where the Bush and Obama supporters argued about which candidate was better educated -- the Bush supporters accusing Obama of being better educated, and the Obama supporters retorting that Bush was. That sums up everything wrong with our electoral system today.
The book was worth reading, but not particularly great; and probably some at least has become outdated.
The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder, 3***s
A bridge in Peru collapses in 1714, killing five people. Brother Juniper decides to examine the lives of these five people, trying to discover whether their deaths were caused by divine intervention or if it was just fate.
Terris wrote: "The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder, 3***s
A bridge in Peru collapses in 1714, killing five people. Brother Juniper decides to examine the liv..."
This sounds interesting. Is it a 1001 read?
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The Housekeeper and The Professor by Yoko Ogawa, 5*****s
This is a simply lovely story, set in Japan, of a housekeeper tending to an elderly ge..."
I just loved this book!