EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club discussion
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The Last Book I Read Was...
Today, on the 76th anniversary of "D-Day," I finished:
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading:
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Today I finished:
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading:
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Of course I knew I'd enjoy a trip to Botswana with Alexander McCall Smith's Mma Ramotswe and her No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Morality for Beautiful Girls is the third enjoyable book, and there are more!
4★ My "Morality" review
I finished:
A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading (don't judge me):
Origin by Dan Brown
Jason DeParle's
A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves: One Family and Migration in the 21st Century - engrossing and nuanced examination of a hot button issue. My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3363673602
Slonský's First Murder by Graham Brack is a free short story that's a prequel to his popular series about my favourite clever and amusing Czech detective.
Link to my 'Slonsky' review which includes a link to the story online
Greta Thunberg is a young girl who has inspired people all over the world. Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara has told her story here for children, all of whom should know about her. . . and so should their parents!
Link to my review of 'Greta Thunberg' with illustrations
Finished reading Empire Falls by Richard Russo. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 2002. I highly recommend this book.
Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen. It's part travelogue, part detective work of diseases from remote pockets of the world, and mostly exploration of the next big one.My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3365331829
I just finished yesterday The Buckled Bag by Mary Roberts Rinehart, it’s the first in the Nurse Hilda Adams series. Here’s my Review.I just started Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls by Jessica McDiarmid, it’s very sad, but I think it’s important to know that this is going on.
Silver, by Aussie author Chris Hammer, follows investigative journalist Martin Scarsden from Hammer's popular mystery, Scrublands. He's perfectly captured my part of the beautiful NSW North Coast, with drugs, backpackers, developers, politics and murders. A good read.
4★ Link to my review of 'Silver'
The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas PrestonA true tale of intrepid filmmakers and archaeologists discovering a lost Mesoamerican civilization and returning with a "curse. "
My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3381207262
A favourite author is Aussie Sulari Gentill. I love her historical mystery series, and this episode, Gentlemen Formerly Dressed, is a treat! Rowland and his mates are in 1930s London, trying to elude the Nazis. It's a great mix of high and low society, politics, and murder in pre-war England.
5★ Link to my 'Gentlemen' review
All kids love dinosaurs, but not all dinosaurs love each other! I Will Never Forget You by Tatsuya Miyanishi is a children's picture book about a Tyrannosaurus and a little potential "lunch" who become friends.
My review with pictures
A Long Way Home by Saroo BrierleyHis memoir tells of how he became lost as a little child in India, got adopted by an Australian couple, and found his biological family 25 years later.
My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3365335405
The Arrangement by Robyn Harding
4 Stars
I really enjoyed this unique suspense book. It kept me up last night!
I recently read Missing William Tyrrell by Aussie investigative journalist and author Caroline Overington. It's a thorough, sensitive look at the puzzling and ongoing case of three-year-old William's sudden disappearance in 2014.
4★ Link to my William Tyrrell review
What's not to like about a selection of chapters from upcoming books? Publishers Lunch puts out a series of previews which I always look forward to, and Buzz Books 2020: Fall/Winter is as good as ever. Something for everyone, including non-fiction.
5★ Link to my review of BuzzBooks Fall/Winter 2020 including a link where you can download the BuzzBooks for free.
I just read the powerful #BLM memoir When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by BLM co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors about her growing up years and the price her family and friends paid - and are still paying - for ‘breathing while Black’. #Juneteenth
4.5★ Link to my Terrorist BLM review
I just finished a Dance with Dragons (the fifth Game of Thrones book). I'd been meaning to read the series for quite a while, since I've been a huge fan of the show from the beginning, and I'm really glad I did! Now if he'd only finish writing the damn series...
I just re-read the slaves of Soccoro the fourth Brotherband book. it was really exciting even though I've already read it 3 times! I really like the fourth and faith books from this series as they include my favourite ranger Gilan who is from another series set in Araluen instead of Skandia. I would give this entire series a 5/5!!
Taylor Stevens is better known for her Vanessa Michael Munroe series. I decided to try her out by reading her newer series, because of its unconventional characters. Book #1 was only a 3 star read for me.
Liars' Paradox my review:Www.goodreads.com/review/show/3401244670
Book #2 was much better.
Liars' Legacy my review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3404657982
The Body: A Guide for Occupants with the droll wit of Bill BrysonMy review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3396472137
Recently finished The Spider's House by Paul Bowles. Originally published in 1955, it is his third novel. Set in Fez, Morocco, during the 1954 nationalist uprising against the occupying French, it is the story of Amar, a 14-year-old, illiterate Muslim boy, of John Stenham, an author who knows Arabic, has lived in Morocco for years, and admires Islam from afar, and of Stenham's inability to understand Muslims' hatred of non-Muslims.
Finished reading Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington, It won the Pulitzer Prize for Novel in 1922.
My review is at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review is at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Aretha Franklin was certainly the voice of a generation (or two or three) and the first woman in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame! This is Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara's addition to the Little People BIG DREAMS series.
4.5★ Link to my "Aretha" review with illustrations.
Richard Russo wrote the short story Sh*tshow about three couples, old friends, discovering they don't agree as much as they thought they did after the Trump election. Interesting.
4★ Link to my Russo review
The last book I read was a historical fiction based on real events mixed with the concept of time travel. It's Mission 3-R by J. Michael. It's about how a treasonous General Ben Jackson steals a top secret trillion dollar time machine and leads a group of rogue African-American soldiers back in time 400 years, to prepare his African ancestors for when the first colonists set foot on the dark continent, and prevent the slave trade from taking place. The real kick to this story is all the deceit and conspiracies he uncovers on his journey. A friend recommended this book and I couldn't put it down once I started. You should definitely check it out on Amazonhttps://bit.ly/Mission3-R
I finished
The Mask by Taylor Stevens. It's #5 in the Vanessa Michael Munroe thriller series, but it can be read as a standalone.My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3416431929
A new series that I think kids would enjoy as well. (Who doesn't love a dog?) The Finders-(Mace Reid K-9 Mystery, #1) by Jeffrey B. Burton is about a special dog (and her owner, of course, plus a potential love interest).
3★ Link to my Finders review
I happened to find The Fire Next Time a novella/essay written in 1963 by James Baldwin, an author I read in my youth. Nearly 60 years ago, he explained that Black Lives Matter. Will we ever get the message?
5★ Link to my Fire Next Time review
Taylor Stevens's The Doll
was a real page turner. It's #3 in the 5.5 book-series, but it can be read as a standalone. My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3420233092
I finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins ReidMy review : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished two more books in Taylor Stevens's Vanessa Michael Munroe thriller series:
The Vessel #3.5 a novellaMy review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3425802832
The Catch #4My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3425860996
I loved Girl, Woman, Other, the fantastic recent Booker prize winner by Bernardine Evaristo. It's a most entertaining read about 12 black women (and some side stories) in England - how their families came to be there and how the current generation is living now. The characters have their own stories but are loosely involved in each other's lives in intriguing ways. Just wonderful and a great read!
5★ Link to my review of Girl, Woman, Other
Taylor Stevens'
The Innocent: A Vanessa Michael Munroe Novel is a poignant child rescue thriller. Its cult setting rang with authenticity as it reflected the author's personal history. My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3428233677
The last book I read was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I have read it many times and love it more each time. :)
Taylor Stevens's
The Informationist:. This is her debut for the unusual Vanessa Michael Munroe thriller series.My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3431175682
I just finished reading How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Michael Greger. I found this book totally eye opening! I recommend it to all.
I finished
Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern Istanbul by Charles King. It provided an impressionist portrait of the new republic of Turkey. My review: www.Goodreads.com/review/show/3414616732
I finished:
Origin by Dan Brown
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I was pleasantly surprised by this entry in the Robert Langdon series.
and I started reading:
The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins
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My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3347686475