Play Book Tag discussion
Member ChallengeTracking 2016-20
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Cindy/LibraryCin's 2017 Challenges
12x12 PBT, PBT, BingoDOG, CATWoman, AlphaKITWatermelon / Marian Keyes
3.5 stars
The day Claire has her first baby, her husband James tells her he’s been having an affair and he is leaving Claire. Devastated, Claire moves back to Dublin from London to live with her parents and two younger sisters while she tries to figure out where to go from here. Her youngest sister, Helen, is in college and one day brings home a friend, Adam.
Have to admit, I didn’t like Claire all that much, but there were humourous bits to the story and it was still enjoyable, overall. Actually, I’m not sure there were any characters I really liked much. Maybe Adam. Close to the end, it was a bit… odd and took some figuring out (as Claire was also figuring it out!). I did enjoy the book enough to put the next Walsh family book on my tbr.
12x12 Oh Canada, PBT Stairs, Trim the TBR, Travel Across Canada, AwardsCATFebruary / Lisa Moore
2.5 stars
In 1982, an oil rig sank off the coast of Newfoundland. This book follows Helen, now a young widow, as her husband, Cal, had been working on the oil rig. Helen is left to care for four children.
It wasn’t a boring story, but the book flipped all over the place in time, mostly between 2008 and other years, looking back. Each section did introduce the year, but it was really all over the place, I thought. I didn’t care about characters, and I didn’t believe the outcome of John’s (John is one of Helen’s children, an adult in 2008) storyline. Also, what is wrong with using quotation marks?
12x12 Oh Canada, PBT Stairs, CATWoman, AlphaKITThe Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great / Eva Stachniak
3.5 stars
This book primarily follows Polish orphan Varvara, who has come to Russian Empress Elizabeth’s court after her father died. She ends up doing some spying for the chancellor, then the Empress herself, before she becomes friends with Prussian princess, Sophie, who would later become Catherine the Great. This follows the time frame from just before Sophie’s arrival to shortly after she becomes Empress of Russia.
I liked it. Not quite as much as I’d hoped I would, but I still enjoyed it. There is a sequel that I will definitely plan to read. I was disappointed, though, that there was no author’s note, which I always appreciate in any historical fiction I read.
12x12 OverflowTechnically, this could fit in a few other places, but I decided to put it here since about 1/2 of it was read in December 2016.
Irina's Story / Jim Williams
3 stars
This book follows Irina’s family throughout the 20th century in Russia. It is told as Irina is an old lady, looking back on her life and telling the stories of her family. Irina herself is a hunchback and never did marry.
It was ok. There were a lot of characters to remember, and it didn’t help that I didn’t manage to read it without setting it aside for other monthly challenges. I found some stories more interesting than others; as usual, the women’s stories are usually more interesting to me. I was less interested when there was too much talk of politics (though, throughout 20th century Russia, there is a good chunk of that, affecting everyone!). I did appreciate the author’s note at the end, as I always do when I read historical fiction.
12x12 Trim, Trim, PBT Stairs, AlphaKITIntensity / Dean Koontz
5 stars
Laura and Chyna are college students and friends. When Chyna goes with Laura to her parents’ place for a weekend, she is awakened the first night by screams. Someone has broken into the house. Chyna hides, then tries to help Laura and her parents without the guy realizing she is there…
Wow! The book is titled well – it was definitely intense! After a brief set-up to the story, it was just bang, bang, bang, one thing after another! I think the audio helped with that. At first, I wasn’t sure I would like the narrator. She spoke quickly and mostly in a monotone, but after it got going, I think she was the perfect narrator for the story and it really highlighted the “intensity” of the book to do it that way. The story alternated between Chyna’s and the intruder’s (Vess’s) points of view. I was briefly uninterested in Vess’s philosophy, and I didn’t agree with some of Chyna’s decisions, but the rest of the story + the audio still made it 5 stars for me. Ever since I started listening to it, I’ve been trying to recommend it to people, but there are so many who don’t read horror!
12x12 CAT Challenges, BingoDOG, CATWoman, PBT StairsNaked in Death / J.D. Robb
3.5 stars
This is the first in the series. Sharon is a “licensed companion” (i.e. an upscale prostitute) who has been murdered. Her grandfather is a high-ranking conservative politician, who doesn’t want detail of the murder to get out. Eve Dallas is the lieutenant investigating the murder.
I really liked the story, and would have given it 4 stars, if not for the love interest, who I really, really disliked. If he’d been there, but not as a love interest, or not been there at all, or had a completely different personality, I would have liked it better. Oh, there was a big reveal “scene”, but I was slightly lost with the use of familial terms, as somehow I had missed some of those familial connections and how some of them were connected to others, so until the end of the reveal, I wasn’t quite sure who was doing what to whom! The ending was very good, with some edge-of-your-seat moments right up until the end and there was a little twist. I have the next two books in the series, so I will read them, but if this love interest sticks around, I’m not sure if I’ll continue beyond the books I have.
Interesting… with my review written (except for this little extra bit), I’m perusing other reviews. I see I’m in a minority for not liking the love interest. Also (though a few things confused me and this explains it), I seem to have missed that this was set in the future… Even worse, I see that someone (though they seem not to think it’s a spoiler… seems to me it’s a pretty big one), has spoiled the rest of the series for me, and apparently I may not be reading much beyond the next two books, unless something changes.
12x12 PBT, PBT, RandomCAT, TrimScarlet Feather / Maeve Binchy
3.5 stars
Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather are friends and are trying to start a catering business in Dublin. Cathy’s husband, Neil, has young cousins who show up at his rich parents’ place, needing a place to stay, but they rub his parents the wrong way, so Cathy and Neil end up taking them in. Tom’s wife, Marcella, wants desperately to be a model.
There is plenty going on, as this novel follows their lives for one year. There are many characters, and the perspective goes back and forth amongst many of them, but somehow, they are pretty easy to keep straight. I quite like that Binchy often has characters in multiple novels. I enjoyed the book, but problems can be seen coming from a bit of a distance. That is, I don’t think there are really any surprises in the book.
12x12 Audio, BingoDOG, CATWoman, TrimCopper Sun / Sharon M. Draper
3.5 stars
It is the 18th century. Amari is a 15-year old girl in her village in Africa when the village is attacked by white people and the survivors are chained up and taken away. Amari has a boy she was intending to marry, but obviously that will no longer happen (though he survived the initial attack, as well). To no surprise to the reader, they are shipped to the United States where they become slaves. On the plantation that Amari goes to, she becomes unlikely friends with a white girl around her age - Polly is an indentured servant.
It’s a YA book, so it doesn’t go into as much detail as adult books might, nor is it as complex, but it was still good. I’m still not sure if Fort Mose in Florida is real, though. It’s someplace I hadn’t heard of.
12x12 Oh Canada, CultureCAT, PBT Stairs, Travel Across CanadaBirdie / Tracey Lindberg
2 stars
Bernice (aka Birdie) is a Cree woman and has recently come to Gibsons, British Columbia, where The Beachcombers was filmed. Bernice has had a crush on the only Indian character, Jesse, since she was younger. The story goes back and forth in time from Bernice in Gibsons to growing up in Alberta.
I just didn’t find this book very interesting, so my mind wandered. The most interesting parts were when she was growing up, but in general, I wasn’t interested and didn’t really care. Even less was I interested in the little bit of poetry(???) at the end of each chapter and the bit of dreaming(???) at the start of each chapter. Those parts, I barely skimmed, if I didn’t skip them altogether.
12x12 Off the Shelf, BingoDOG, AwardsCAT, PBT StairsOn the Banks of Plum Creek / Laura Ingalls-Wilder
4 stars
In the 4th Little House book, following Laura Ingalls-Wilder and her family, they have just arrived in Minnesota, where they trade a few of their things with a Norwegian farmer for his land and sod house, built right in to the hill. The girls go to school and church for the first time. The Ingalls family has to deal with drought and grasshoppers on their farm, as well as winter prairie blizzards.
This is where many of the characters from the tv show are from; we meet Nellie Oleson in this book. One of my favourite chapters was their first Christmas tree at the church. These books are so very good at descriptions: the descriptions of the farm, the sky, the weather, the grasshoppers, the blizzards… These books are just really enjoyable!
12x12 KIT Challenges, HorrorKIT, BingoDOGA Stir of Echoes / Richard Matheson
4 stars
It started with a party at a neighbour’s place and one friend who said he’d like to hypnotize someone. Tom said he’d be hypnotized, but later that night, he couldn’t sleep… and there was a “woman” in his house. That is, possibly a ghost? From there, Tom seemed to be able to sense what others were feeling… then he seemed to be able to “see” things happen before they happened… And on and on…
I really liked this. Not only was all this going on with Tom, but Tom has a wife and young son. His wife, in particular, was very upset about the whole thing, so in addition to Tom trying to figure out what was going on with himself, the book also explored how this was affecting their relationship. And there was a surprise ending.
12x12 Mystery Subgenre, Mystery SubgenreA Stolen Life / Jaycee Dugard
4 stars
Jaycee Dugard was only 11-years old in 1991 when she was snatched from the street while she walked to school one morning. She was raped and imprisoned for 18 years before she got out with her two daughters, born to her at ages 14 and 17.
How horrifying! I can’t even imagine. I vaguely remember hearing the name somewhere along the way, but don’t remember hearing what actually happened. (But then (sadly), there seem to have been a number of these, so I may also be confusing some of them). This book is not for the faint of heart, as it does go into detail on the sexual abuse – at least to describe the first time Philip did each of these horrible things to her, though later in the book, it wasn’t mentioned as much... certainly wasn’t described in detail later. And Philip’s wife, Nancy, was a party to all of this, right from helping him the day they kidnapped her!
Jaycee mixes what she remembers from when it was happening with reflections (at the end of many chapters) to describe what she thinks/feels as she looks back, and with journal entries from the time - one journal focusing on one of the many cats that she had while in captivity and one journal that goes through some of the last decade or so of her captivity. Some of the writing was simple – Jaycee only had a grade 5 education before she was kidnapped – but that didn’t detract from my interest to keep reading and find out what happened and how she got out. The end does focus on some of the recovery and reunion with her mom, sister, and aunt after she got out with her daughters.
12x12 AudioSomeone Else's Love Story / Joshilyn Jackson
3.5 stars
Shandi was drugged and almost raped a few years ago and now has a little boy, Natty. William lost his wife and little girl in a car crash exactly one year before he and Shandi are in a convenience store that is held up by Stevie. William takes a bullet to protect Natty and Shandi is head over heels!
I listened to the audio and the narrator was the author. She did a fine job, though I wasn’t crazy about some of the male voices, which were a bit stilted (though that could also have reflected personalities). Some of the story was told looking back, and some continuing on from the hold up. I really didn’t like William, though, nor was I interested in his and/or Bridget’s story. I found Shandi’s story much more interesting (once it got going, after the hold up).
12x12 TravelThe Secret Keeper / Kate Morton
3.75 stars
In 1961, Laurel is 16-years old and (from a distance) witnesses her mother put a knife into a stranger and kill him. By 2011, Laurel has become an actress and comes home to be with her mother and family (four sisters and a brother), as her mother is dying. She intends to find out who the man was and the circumstances behind her mother’s actions.
I'd love to give it 4 stars for the great build-up and ending, but it started really slow for me and didn't pick up until about 1/3 of the way in. Once it picked up, though, it just kept building and building to reveal the multitude of secrets (and twists!) behind Laurel’s mother’s past. The book went back and forth in time between Laurel trying to find out what happened and the war, to what was happening. I’m pretty sure, on looking back at this one, I will remember it more as a 4 star book, anyway.
12x12 Trim, RandomCAT, Trim the TBRSchooled / Gordon Korman
4 stars
Capricorn has been raised on a commune, by his grandmother, Rain. He has no experience in the “real world”, but when Rain is injured and needs time to heal, Cap is taken in by a social worker and has to go to the local middle school. Cap, the new kid, is nothing like anyone’s ever seen before… this weird hippie kid, who doesn’t understand the first thing about middle school or kids his own age. Because of this, he’s an easy target to pick on.
This was really good. Meant for a younger audience, it’s pretty simple and quick to read, but a good story. I have mixed feelings about the end of the book, but overall, I really enjoyed it.
12x12 Series, BingoDOG, RandomCATSecondhand Souls / Christopher Moore
3 stars
Charlie Asher used to collect souls. There has been a gap, when many souls that should have been collected, weren’t. Somehow this is all related to the Golden Gate Bridge.
This is the sequel to “A Dirty Job”, which was one of my favourites by Moore. Unfortunately, this one fell quite a bit short for me. I’m rating it ok at 3 stars, which might be a bit generous. It was nice to revisit some characters and I was interested as some events were happening, but I often missed connections on why something was happening (hence the sketchy summary in my first paragraph!). I listened to the audio, and I did think the narrator did a good job – he particularly did well with various accents.
12x12 PBT, PBT, PBT High Notes, CultureCAT, RandomCAT, AlphaKITThe Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet / David Mitchell
2.25 stars
Jacob de Zoet is a Dutch man working in Japan. He meets and falls in love with a doctor’s daughter (??? I think that’s how they are connected). When the doctor dies, the daughter is sent to live in a nunnery, but there is something very wrong at that nunnery.
Ok, so my summary is only a small part of the book. Too small for my liking because it was the only interesting part of the book for me and the reason the book got an extra .25 stars. If it had been even a bit more of the book, I would have raised the rating slightly higher; if it had been the focus of the book, my rating would have been considerably higher. The rest of the book – no idea what happened. It was boring boring boring. I wasn’t even a little bit interested, so I have no idea what it was really about, except I think Jacob was working for the Dutch East India Company. Which reminds me, it was set, mostly in 1799.
12x12 Nonfiction, RandomCAT, AlphaKIT, TrimThey Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children: The Global Quest to Eradicate the Use of Child Soldiers / Romeo Dallaire
3.5 stars
Romeo Dallaire was head of UNAMIR, the peacekeeping mission in Rwanda, just before the genocide in 1994. Since then, he has become involved in trying to stop the use of children as soldiers. This book looks at how and why children become soldiers, some as young as 7 or 8 years old, and offers ways to get this stopped. He also talks a lot about the group he has formed to try to stop it; his group is trying to get the military and humanitarian NGOs to work together. He has done a lot of research and has published papers on the topic.
This is terrible. I have read both Dallaire’s Shake Hands With the Devil (which I highly recommend) and Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone (also recommended). There were a few chapters where Dallaire created a fictional boy who became a soldier, then later a fictional peacekeeper who shot a girl soldier; I thought these chapters, in particular, were very powerful. I hadn’t realized how many girl soldiers were also involved, and they have (many sad) issues of their own. Although some of the nonfiction parts of the book weren’t as interesting (in the second half of the book, as Dallaire talks about trying to get agencies to help stop this), I did find myself reading the bibliography at the end for a couple more books to read on the topic. He does repeat himself a bit, but I forgave him that. He is obviously very passionate about what he is trying to do.
12x12 Off the Shelf, AwardsCAT, AlphaKIT, PBT High NotesThe Snow Child / Eowyn Ivey
4 stars
This is the retelling of a Russian fairy tale. An older couple, Mabel and Jack, have recently moved to Alaska. They never had children, but one evening when they build a snowman (child/girl), she comes to life…
I really liked this. It’s funny that I’m not a big fan of fantasy nor of magical realism, but I like fairy tales. I didn’t know this Russian tale, but I really liked this retelling! I loved some of the snowy/wintery descriptions (though I’m not always a fan of elaborate descriptions, either) – they really were magical – and it was a great story
12x12 KIT Challenges, HorrorKIT, PBT, BingoDOG, TrimFatal Vision / Joe McGinniss
4 stars
In February of 1970 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Green Beret and physician, Jeffrey MacDonald, survived what he said was a break-in that resulted in the murders of his wife and two little girls, aged 2 and 5 years. It was only after 9 years that Jeffrey himself was finally charged and put on trial (though there was a hearing via the army back in 1970). Unfortunately, there were many errors during the army’s investigation into the murders. Jeffrey’s father-in-law, and early supporter, was later convinced of his guilt (after reading the transcripts of the army hearing) and pushed for years to get MacDonald on trial for the murder of his stepdaughter and grandkids.
I’ve had this book since high school and I don’t believe I ever did read it back then. I’m glad I’ve now finally read it. There were some chapters interspersed, mostly at the start of the book, but also occasionally later on, called “The Voice of Jeffrey MacDonald”. At the start, much of this was recounting his and his wife Colette’s history. I didn’t find these parts nearly as interesting, though I suppose it gives the reader a bit of insight into Jeffrey, himself. Overall, though, it was a fascinating read.
Personal opinion on the case: I have no doubt that he did it. He story just doesn’t hold up for me, not even a little bit. And this is before the physical evidence.
Oh yes, I read that book as a teenager--I remember finding it very disturbing. And yes, I believe he did it as well.
12x12 CAT Challenges, CATWoman, RandomCAT, PBT Stairs, PBTThe Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra / Helen Rappaport
4 stars
This book focuses on the lives of the four Romanov sisters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia – the daughters of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his wife, Alexandra.
Though the author did try to focus on the four girls, I found that there was a lot of other information, as well, that (at times) overshadowed the girls. I suspect there isn’t as much info out there about the girls, specifically, but the author did find letters and diary entries. Much of the start of the book focused on Nicholas and Alexandra; of course, there was also a good amount of information on their son, Alexei. It did focus a lot on the family, as a whole. And, historical events were also prominent (but there’s no way around that!). I think most of the information about the girls was as they got older, especially the older two, who acted as nurses during WWI before the family was imprisoned. It was very interesting – I did enjoy the book. I listened to the audio – the narrator was good, though I did, on occasion, lose focus.
12x12 TravelMaid of the King's Court / Lucy Worsley
4 stars
This is a YA book, with a fictional main character, Eliza, who was meant to be a cousin to Henry VIII’s 5th wife, Katherine Howard. Eliza is sent away at 12-years old, after a marriage proposal doesn’t work out, basically to learn to be a courtier. She and her cousin, Katherine, are later sent to Henry VIII’s court to be ladies to Anne of Cleves, Henry’s 4th wife.
I quite enjoyed this story! It was quick to read, and somewhat simple and easy to read, but then it’s YA, so that’s to be expected. I thought it was an interesting take on why Katherine did what she did (though I still didn’t particularly like her!).
12x12 Mystery Subgenre, Mystery Subgenre, RandomCAT, Trim the TBRMurder at the Vicarage / Agatha Christie
4 stars
This is the first Miss Marple book. Mr. Protheroe is found murdered at his desk. Very soon after, two different people confess to the murder. Miss Marple lives not far away, so she must have seen or heard something! What could have really happened?
I am always mixed on Agatha Christie’s books. I decided, this time, to try the BBC dramatization instead of the book itself, and I’m certain that made a difference for the higher rating. I think it made it a bit more interesting to me, and I am glad that’s the version I listened to. I do like Miss Marple.
12x12 Off the Shelf, CATWoman, TrimCatherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France / Leonie Frieda
3.75 stars
In the 16th century, Catherine de Medici came to France from Italy to marry the future king of France, Henri II. She loved him, but had to share him with a mistress, the woman he loved, Diane de Poitiers. Over the years, Catherine and Henri had ten children and Catherine outlived all except two of them. Three of her sons became kings of France, and Catherine was always there to help them rule. There were a number of religious wars in France over the years she ruled.
I’ve only read a little bit of fiction about Catherine (this is nonfiction). It was good. Being nonfiction, though, there were dry parts to it, but there were plenty of interesting things going on, as well. It’s funny, from the fiction I read, I remember the rivalry between Catherine and Diane more than anything else, yet she is apparently best remembered for her part in a massacre pitting Protestants against Catholics (which I don’t recall from the fiction at all, though it must have been there!). I did feel particularly bad for her when Henri was alive and she had Diane de Poitiers to contend with, but she did have a ruthless side, particularly when it came to protecting the crown for her sons.
12x12 Nonfiction, PBT, AlphaKITInto Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster / Jon Krakauer
5 stars
In 1996, Jon Krakauer climbed Mount Everest as an assignment for the magazine he worked for, but also as a personal goal, as he had done a lot of mountain climbing when he was younger. He signed on with Rob Hall’s group (Rob was the head guide of their group). Little did they know that in 1996, Everest would claim a number of lives, guides and clients both.
Probably very few people need a summary of this one. In fact, it was a reread for me, as well, first read at least 10 years ago. It was my first mountaineering book and I’ve read many since, including (but not limited to) other versions of the same year on Everest, so the same disaster, but from other points of view. Krakauer is such a great writer, though. I just didn’t want to put the book down! I feel like the start was “slower” (though that’s not to say “slow”!) with some of the history of Everest and explanations of mountaineering terms, etc, but the last bit of the book is just riveting... and heartbreaking.
12x12 SeriesSon / Lois Lowry
4 stars
This is the 4th book in Lowry’s The Giver series. Claire has been assigned to be a birth mother. Once she has her first child (or “product”) - at only 14-years old - there are complications and she is reassigned to the fish hatchery. In the meantime, her son has gone to the Nurturing Centre, where he lives up to his first year before he is assigned to a family. But, Claire can’t seem to let go and volunteers there to keep tabs on him. When she learns that there is a problem with her son, her son is taken from the community at the same time as Claire escapes. Now, Claire is focused on finding and reuniting with her son.
I really liked this one. It’s been a few years between reading each of the books, so I had to go back to see what I thought of the others. I thought this one and the first one were the best ones in the series. Books two and three, I rated “ok”, but I really liked this and The Giver. The characters from the first three books come together in this one. I listened to the audio. Funny thing, I also listened to the audio of the third book and wasn’t crazy about that one. I liked this one much better.
12x12 Oh Canada, HorrorKIT, AlphaKITThe Mystery of Grace / Charles de Lint
4 stars
Grace is of Mexican descent, is a mechanic, and is covered with tattoos. John is a really nice guy, an artist. When John and Grace spend a night together, they seem to be super-connected. Imagine John’s surprise when Grace literally disappears from his bathroom the next morning! I’d like to say more about the book (much more is revealed in the second chapter), but the big reveal is not mentioned in the blurb about the book, so I will keep it to myself (but you can see it based on tags if you look; don’t look if you don’t want to see!).
The chapters were told from alternating points of view. I really liked this. Really good urban fantasy (which de Lint is so good at!). I liked both main characters and I liked Grace’s world and the friendship she made with Conchita. The mythology/superstition was interesting, as well.
12x12 Mystery Subgenre, Mystery Subgenre, AlphaKIT, AwardsCAT, Trim the TBRFaithful Place / Tana French
4.25 stars
When undercover detective Frank was 19, he’d planned to leave his family, and leave Dublin to head to London with his girlfriend, Rosie. When Rosie doesn’t show up at their planned meeting spot, he finds a note and continues on, on his own. 22 years pass, and a frantic phone message from his younger sister, Jackie (the only family member he kept in touch with), brings him back “home” to Faithful Place, and his dysfunctional family to find out exactly what did happen to Rosie.
I really liked this one. It pulled me in right away! I also “enjoyed” the interactions between Frank’s family members (well, enjoyed at first, I suppose; as we learn more about his family, they are not so enjoyable, after all!). Have to admit that I wasn’t shocked by the outcome, though.
12x12 Travel, BingoDOG, CATWomanThe Shattering / Karen Healey
3.5 stars
In a beautiful, touristy small town in New Zealand, Keri has just lost her older brother to suicide. When an old friend, Janna, comes around and suggests Keri’s brother may actually have been murdered (like Janna’s older brother years before, who was also assumed to have committed suicide), the two meet up with someone from out of town who’s older brother also “committed suicide”. There is an odd pattern here and the three of them are going to find out what’s going on and who actually killed their brothers.
I enjoyed this. It’s YA, so not earth-shattering, but it was enjoyable. Each chapter switches viewpoints between Keri, Janna and their friend Sione, so we get a little bit of everyone’s point of view.
12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR, CultureCAT, AlphaKITFirst Test / Tamora Pierce
3.5 stars
Keladry is 10-years old and it’s been 10 years since girls have been allowed to apply to be a page, in order to later become a knight. However, no girl has tried for it, until Kel. Unfortunately, the trainer of the pages, Lord Wyldon, doesn’t think girls should be allowed, so he puts her on a 1-year probation; no boy has ever had a probationary period. So, she is not only set apart from the others because she’s a girl, she is also on probation. This doesn’t bode well for how many of the other boys treat her.
I enjoyed this! It’s children’s or YA, so not “deep”, but certainly enjoyable. Kel did seem much more mature than 10-years old, but mostly I just ignored that. It’s less than 200 pages, so also a quick read. I definitely enjoyed it enough to continue the series. I’m happy to see there are only 4 books to this series (though it is also part of a larger “world” with other books focusing on other characters in that world, as well).
12x12 Audio, BingoDOG, AlphaKITThe Underground Railroad / Colson Whitehead
2 stars
Cora is a slave and escapes from Georgia using the (in this book, literal) underground railroad.
I listened to the audio and it never did keep my attention. Because it couldn’t hold my attention, I found it difficult to follow, as every time I started paying attention again, there would be a new group of characters (or so it seemed). I assumed each time that Cora had moved on to a different place. Much later on, though, I figured out that the book was also jumping around in time and between Cora and her mother, Mabel (possibly also Cora’s grandmother, but I’m not sure; I know there was some about her grandmother at the start of the book, but that would still have been chronological order). So, ultimately and unfortunately, this just wasn’t for me (at least on audio).
12x12 CAT Challenges, RandomCAT, CultureCATBoy, Snow, Bird / Helen Oyeyemi
3 stars
I think the book started in the 1930s. Boy is a girl who was raised by her abusive father; her mother wasn’t around. She doesn’t leave until she is 20ish, when she hops on a bus to take her anywhere else. She ends up in a small town and tries her best to fit in. She does marry and inherits a stepdaughter, Snow. Boy later has a daughter of her own named Bird.
This was told mostly by Boy’s point of view, but the middle section is from Bird’s point of view when she’s 13. It was… different. I’m rating it ok, as some parts of it were interesting, but some of it wasn’t. It started off really promising, when Boy was younger, and I probably found that the most interesting part of the book. It wasn’t a long book, so it didn’t take long to read. It was hard keeping track of some of the characters. I skimmed over some of the long paragraphs. At first, I enjoyed the letters between the two sisters, but then they got wordy and talked about things I really didn’t care about… things that I’m not sure really meant anything to the story. Boy made some odd decisions/choices and I didn’t like her much of the time.
12x12 Oh Canada, Travel Across Canada, Trim, RandomCAT, AwardsCAT, BingoDOGLives of Girls and Women / Alice Munro
3 stars
Del is a young girl growing up in small town Ontario. This follows her from a girl through high school. It’s set around WWII and a bit after.
There really wasn’t much to this book. I’ve been wanting to try Alice Munro for a while, but am not a fan of short stories, so that pretty much left me with this book. It was ok, but really nothing happened, so for anyone looking for some kind of plot, this won’t provide it.
12x12 PBT, PBT, AlphaKIT, Travel Across CanadaTsunami: The Newfoundland Tidal Wave Disaster / Maura Hanrahan
4 stars
In 1929, Newfoundland was still its own country; it wouldn’t join Canada for another 20 years. In November of that year, under the ocean closeby, there was an earthquake, followed shortly after by a tsunami that hit the small island nation – three successive waves that hit the shores of the Burin Peninsula the worst. Many small fishing communities in that area lost food and fuel that was meant to get them through the upcoming winter, they lost homes, livelihoods, and 27 people’s lives, many women and children. The following day, as communication lines were still down, a blizzard hit the area.
The author describes people and families as they feel the tremor, wonder what’s happened, then relax when it ends... then, as the waves first arrive. Later, she follows one nurse, Nurse Dorothy Cherry, as she travels (with two local men to accompany her) through the blizzard between the small communities to offer help. Later, the word finally gets out to a wider world, and more help arrives in the form of clothes, building supplies, food, coal.
This is a disaster I hadn’t known about. This book is mostly facts, but the author does add in dialogue and even invents some background for some key people when she couldn’t find out enough. There is a note at the end of the book to explain this. Very interesting and heartbreaking, in some cases.
12x12 Trim, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBRCurtains of Blood / Robert Randisi
3.5 stars
It is1888 in London, England. Three prostitutes have been murdered and they say it’s likely the same guy who has done it. Bram Stoker is running the Lyceum Theatre, and Henry Irving is playing the lead in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. They are approached by the police to shut down the show, as it may be encouraging the killer. Bram gets interested in what’s going on and starts doing some research for a book he might like to write. He also becomes obsessed with the killer and may be getting a little too close…
I liked this. Far fetched, but I still found it entertaining. I thought it interesting the way the author weaved in the various author characters into the story (Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde are friends of Stoker’s). To be honest, though, I’m not sure Jack the Ripper needs to be fictionalized; this is one true story that certainly holds its own as true crime.
12x12 KIT Challenges, AlphaKIT, TrimThe Truth about Catalogers / Will Manley
3 stars
This is a little book of humour, poking fun of library cataloguers – little stories, as well as cartoons.
I am a cataloguer and I suspect this will mostly appeal to cataloguers and maybe to librarians and library staff, in general. Overall, though, it was ok. Some were funny, others not as much. I read it over a couple of days, and maybe my mood made a difference, as I found things funnier in the second half of the book, on the second day I was reading it.
12x12 Audio, RandomCATSecrets of Eden / Chris Bohjalian
3.75 stars
Steven is a minister in a small town. ****This may be a SPOILER, but it’s revealed fairly early on.**** Little do most people know, he’s been having an affair with one of his parishoners, Alice. ****END POSSIBLE SPOILER**** Alice is married, but her husband is abusive toward her. Alice and her husband have a teenage daughter, Katie. When Katie’s parents are discovered one Monday morning by Alice’s best friend, Ginny, it appears that Alice was murdered by her husband, who then killed himself.
Overall, I thought this story was very good. I listened to the audio, which was done well; there were four different narrators for each of four parts, each part told by someone different. We got points of view from Stephen; Kathleen, a lawyer; Heather, an author who is famous for her books about angels, whose parents also died when she was a teen via a murder-suicide by her father; and Katie. I would have given it 4 stars, except for a quarter star deduction for Heather’s boring angel stuff. I could have done without any of the angel stuff. Heather’s part of the story was the least interesting to me (though not all bad), but add in those angels, and the book lost a ¼ star. I quite enjoyed the rest of the book, though.
12x12 Travel, CATWoman, RandomCAT, Trim the TBRThe Perfect Royal Mistress / Diane Haeger
4 stars
In the mid-17th century in England, Nell grew up in a brothel. Her single-mother was a prostitute and a drunk, and her sister followed her mother’s footsteps to become a prostitute. Nell wasn’t going to do that, so she started off selling oranges outside a theatre. From there, she moved on to become a famous, well-loved actress, where she managed to catch the eye of King Charles II and she went on to become one of his many mistresses.
I really liked this. I had read one previous fictional account of Nell, but on looking back at my review, I wasn’t crazy about how that one was written, but I found this one very readable. There were parts that focused more on Charles and a bit of the politics of the time that wasn’t as interesting to me, but overall, I quite enjoyed this story. Just an fyi that Nell was a real person.
12x12 Oh Canada, Trim, PBT Stairs, AlphaKITI'll Be Watching You / Charles de Lint (as Samuel Key)
4.5 stars
Rachel has just gotten out of an abusive relationship, but her husband doesn’t want to let go. She has a job and only a couple of good friends to help her out. Little does she know, she also has an “admirer” (a peeping tom, really) who will come to her “rescue” when she needs it. But, from his perspective, the perfectly beautiful Rachel will need to be “tested” herself.
Ok, I tried to keep that somewhat vague, as the blurb on the book doesn’t say a whole lot, so I didn’t want to give anything away. This is one of the books de Lint wrote as Samuel Key, a pseudonym he took to distinguish his darker works from his fantasy. It was told in the third person, but the reader got to know more about what was going on, as we did follow a few different characters, than the characters knew, themselves. Certainly by the end of the book, it was a page-turner, keeping me on the edge of my seat, wanting to keep reading to know what would happen! I really really liked this one!
12x12 Nonfiction, AlphaKIT, CultureCAT, Trim the TBRYour Water Footprint: The Shocking Facts about How Much Water We Use to Make Everyday Products / Stephen Leahy
4 stars
The subtitle pretty says what the book is about. The first and last two chapters (the introduction, conclusion and “Water Saving Tips”) are more text, while the rest of the chapters are made up, primarily, of infographics to make it easier to visualize how much water is used on making those everyday products.
This was interesting. I think the graphics really help to understand the measurements a bit better than just a giant number in litres or gallons. The chapters that were all text did get a bit bogged down, so parts were a little bit dry. There was just a lot of information, but I think the book (and particularly, the infographics) helps open our eyes to how dire the situation is and may become. The “Water Saving Tips” at the end does help provide suggestions of things we can all do to help.
12x12 PBT, PBT, RandomCAT, AlphKITShotgun Lovesongs / Nickolas Butler
4 stars
Lee, Kip, Henry, Ronny, and Beth all grew up in a small town in Wisconsin. Henry and Beth got married, had kids, and are running a farm. Lee became a famous musician who misses home. Kip moved to the city and made lots of money, but also wants to come home – he has bought the old mill in town to fix it up and make something out of it. Ronny was a cowboy on the rodeo circuit, but due to some trouble with alcohol, he hasn’t been able to do that for a while, and many people think he’s “simple” now. The book starts off with Kip getting married, so everyone is home for the wedding.
The book changes perspective with each chapter; each chapter is named with the initial of the person whose perspective it is we are following. It also goes back and forth in time from what is happening now to everyone’s memories of what happened before.
I really liked this. I thought it did a good job of portraying small towns. I just wish Beth had had some female friends of her own – mostly she was friends with Henry’s friends, but there wasn’t much in the way of other women friends in her life. I didn’t agree with everyone’s decisions in the book (especially at the end), but overall, I really enjoyed the book.
12x12 (view spoiler), PBT, AwardsCATWe Are All Completely Beside Ourselves / Karen Joy Fowler
4 stars
Rosemary is growing up with her brother, Lowell, and her sister, Fern, before Fern disappears when Rosemary is about 5 years old. Later, Lowell runs away and she doesn’t see him for years. When she does see him, he is on the run from the FBI. There is a lot more going on, particularly with Fern, but I don’t want to spoil it (just don’t look at the tags, though… it’s hard to avoid!)
I would have rated the first half (or 2/3) of the book “good”, at 3.5 stars, but I really liked the end, and wanted to give it 4.5. In the end, I averaged it out to 4 stars. I’d really like to say what I liked about it, but anyone who has read it and who knows me can probably guess. It might be a bit of a spoiler to say. Ugh! Hard to write a review without spoilers on this one! I listened to the audio and it was well done. I rarely lost focus.
12x12 Animals, CATWoman, CultureCAT, Trim the TBRThrough a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe / Jane Goodall
4.5 stars
This was originally written in 1990, 30 years after Jane Goodall went to Gombe National Park in Tanzania to study chimpanzees My edition was published in 2010, so there is even extra info with a preface and an afterword written by Jane in 2009. This continues/updates her first book on the chimps of Gombe, In the Shadow of Man.
I read In the Shadow of Man a number of years ago, but I loved revisiting the same chimps and their offspring, and following them later in the their lives! Jane is also an adamant activist/conservationist, so at the end of the book, after all the extra chimp information and updates (which really is the bulk of the book), she writes a little bit about human-raised chimps, chimps used in experiments, chimps losing their habitat, etc. There are a number of photos of the chimps included, as well. Overall, I really really enjoyed reading this!
12x12 Animals, Trim the TBR, RandomCATA Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog / Dean Koontz
4 stars
Author Dean Koontz and his wife, Gerda, were married a number of years and had no children before they decided to adopt a dog. They brought home a golden retriever who was unable to complete her time as an assist dog due to surgery. In addition to this book being Trixie’s story, there is also philosophy about dogs and humans, and things Dean and Gerda learned from Trixie; there is also inspiration/spirituality in the book.
What a wonderful dog Trixie must have been. She brought so much love and joy to the Koontz’s lives. Koontz is mostly known for his horror novels, but he brings humour to Trixie’s story, as well. There was more of the book that wasn’t focused on Trixie than I expected – it wasn’t very long and much of the Trixie bits were anecdotes of bigger things that happened throughout her life and things that particularly affected Dean and Gerda. I still really enjoyed it.
12x12 CAT Challenges, CATWomanReal Murders / Charlaine Harris
3 stars
Aurora (Roe) Teagarden is a librarian in small-town Georgia. She is part of a group of people who call themselves the “Real Murder Club”. This group is interested in discussing real-life historical murder cases. When Roe finds one of the club members, murdered, just before one of their meetings, the entire club is under suspicion, especially since the manner of the murder is similar to one of the historical cases the club has discussed. More murders come later, also in similar fashion to historical murders.
The book was ok, but it wasn’t as interesting to me as the premise made it sound. I listened to the audio and did lose focus at times. I liked Roe and I enjoyed following her personal life. However, I’m not sure if I’ll continue the series or not.
12x12 Animals, Trim the TBRRest in Pieces / Rita Mae Brown
3.25 stars
“Harry”, the town’s (female) postmistress and a farmer, has a dog, Tucker, and a cat, Mrs. Murphy. The pets talk to each other and other animals in this series (and help solve mysteries). In this one, shortly after an attractive man buys the neighbouring farm to Harry’s, a (non-local) man is found, murdered and in pieces.
It took a long time for this one to get going for me, I wasn’t really interested until about 1/3 of the way in (or maybe a bit further). There was a lot of description going on at the start: of the town, of the people, and their relationships. After the murder was discovered is when it started to pick up for me (though not completely). The end did leave me with enough interest to read the next in the series, though. The animals are cute, but to be honest (and as a bit of a surprise), they aren’t the main draw for me, though they do make the series a unique.
12x12 Off the ShelfThe Girl on the Train / Paula Hawkins
4 stars
Rachel is depressed and is an alcoholic. She has been divorced for a while now, but is having trouble letting go of her ex-husband. She rides the train to and from London every day and passes a house where she watches a couple who lives there. She has fantasized a wonderful life for “Jess” and “Jason”, but it’s not long before “Jess” disappears, and Rachel finds that their lives were not so wonderful while she tries to help figure out what happened to “Jess”.
The book is told from three different points of view: Rachel, Megan (aka Jess), and Anna (Rachel’s ex’s new wife).
I really enjoyed this. I got pulled in early on and was kept entertained. It was quick to read, but possibly because I wanted to keep going. I didn’t figure out the end ahead of time. The suspense did ramp up for me at the very end.
12x12 Series, PBT, Trim, Travel Across CanadaThe River / Gary Paulsen
4 stars
In the first book, 13-year old Brian survived in the woods by himself for almost 2 months. A couple of years later, he is asked to go back to the woods, along with a psychologist, to show how he survived the first time so those skills can be taught to others. Unfortunately, things go wrong when they get out there, and Brian needs to save not only himself, but the psychologist, as well.
I really enjoyed this. Ok, not a realistic scenario, but the book was still entertaining. I listened to the audio, which was well done. I just wish it had been a little longer – it was over so fast! Despite being short, it is fast-paced (which maybe made it feel shorter, still!).
Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
The Girls (other topics)Welcome Home: An Animal Rights Perspective on Living with Dogs & Cats (other topics)
The Medievalist (other topics)
Glory in Death (other topics)
The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World (other topics)
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Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think / Brian Wansink.
3.5 stars
This book explains why so many of us eat mindlessly, without thinking about how much we are eating, resulting in weight gain. Portion sizes are a big one, including packaging and plate size. But, there are plenty more reasons than that. The author describes plenty of studies that explain this and includes tips on how to cut back.
I thought this was very interesting, though much of it makes sense when you think about it. The nice part of this book is that he has the studies to prove these things. I would love to be able to do some of the things he suggests. I actually wish I owned the book, so I could refer back to it later. I didn’t even go into the book looking for ways to lose weight, just to read some interesting information! I listened to the audio, read by the author, and he did a fine job.