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2017 Reads and Reviews ~ Anything goes
Bad Moon Rising, Jonathan Kirsch3 stars
This was a fun read, especially considering that it's a novelized true crime, too many of which are horrendous. The author started with John L. Frazier's murder of the Ohta family and seemed to try to ring as many changes as he could on the story without leaving it completely unidentifiable. He focused on everyone surrounding the crime -- investigators, reporters, neighbors -- and their reactions to the multiple murder, taking us through all the usual dead ends and trails that lead nowhere to get us to a solution which had very much the same feel, to me, as the resolution of the real case. It also has a wonderful late-'60s psychedelic feel I remember fondly from movies like ANGEL DUSTED and BLUE SUNSHINE.
The Illusion of Separateness – Simon Van Booy – 3.5***
Van Booy tells this interwoven story from different perspectives and in different time periods. Throughout we see how a small act of kindness – or cruelty – can reverberate through time and across continents. The writing is poetic and fluid. I felt immersed in the story, and was never disoriented by the changing perspectives or time lines. I want to read it again, and I would definitely read another book by this author.
LINK to my review
The Children Act – Ian McEwan – 3***
Fiona Maye is a High Court judge who presides over cases in family court, but while she is dealing with this heart-breaking legal case, her personal life also demands attention. The decisions she makes will have consequences for all. I like the way that McEwan explores hidden emotions and the effects of those feelings on the characters’ decisions and actions. I was interested in the subject, but McEwan lost me as the novel progressed. When it ended I felt like I was missing something.
LINK to my review
Murder in the Paperback Parlor – Ellery Adams – 2**
Number two in the “Book Retreat Mysteries” series set in Storyton Hall, “the perfect getaway for literature lovers.” This has all the elements of a typical cozy mystery: an amateur sleuth, a “cute” occupation / back story, a little romantic tension, and more suspects than you can shake a stick at. The premise of Storyton Hall, however, lost me a little – most likely because I had not read the first book in the series. I did love all the references to books, however. I think I’ll go back and read book # 1 before I give final judgment on the series.
LINK to my review
Mod
The Pride of the Yankees: Lou Gehrig, Gary Cooper, and the Making of a Classic
Richard Sandomir
3.5/5 stars
When I was young, I fell in love with black and white films, mostly James Cagney films and The Thin Man series which led me into other films from the 30's and 40's including The Pride of the Yankees. When I found this book, I was excited to read about the making of the film. Who didn't cry at the end of this film when Gehrig/Cooper says his memorable line - "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Sandomir does a nice job relating what is known about Gehrig and his death- unfortunately there is a lot of gaps in the story. No complete footage of the famous line was ever found if even recorded. There are even gaps in the story of the making of the film but still it was an interesting book about Gehrig, his relationships with his wife and mother and the making of the film and Sam Goldwyn’s involvement in getting the film produced. Definitely a book for film fans.
The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison, Pete Earley4 stars
A lot of books hint around about prison culture and what it's like to be incarcerated long-term; this book shows you what really goes on in one of the toughest porisons in North America. The author does a great job of explaining how it works for the prisoners, how it works for the men and women keeping them locked up in there, and does a good job of sketching the bottomless gulf in between. I was also gratified to find that the whole first chapter was an update on one of our local boogeymen, Ronald Bailey ("Jeffrey Hicks"), a little creep parents in this area still mutter about nervously. Not an uplifting read, but a very enlightening one. I feel like I largely understand now how it works -- as told by the people involved.
Norwegian By Night – Derek B Miller – 4****
An eighty-two-year-old former Marine suffering from PTSD, leaves his New York home to live with his granddaughter and her husband in Oslo, Norway. Isolated by language, Sheldon still recognizes a bad situation when the neighbor woman is attacked by a violent stranger. He grabs the woman’s small son, and flees. How he eludes both the bad guys and the police, while keeping the boy safe is the central plot. But Miller’s character study of this unlikely hero is what makes the novel shine. A wonderful debut!
LINK to my review
Heart and Soul – Maeve Binchy – 3***
This is a story of family, friends, patients and staff whose lives intersect at a heart clinic in Dublin. This was the right book for me at the right time – a gentle, engaging story that focuses on relationships. It is a sort of snapshot of a year in these people’s lives. This is a sequel to Nights of Rain and Stars, with many of those characters appearing here as well.
LINK to my review
Jumanji – Chris Van Allsburg – 5*****
Two children find a mysterious board game and begin to play while their parents are away one afternoon. They certainly weren’t expecting THIS! A delightful flight of imagination, with wonderful illustrations that won the Caldecott Medal.
LINK to my review
The Electra Story: The Dramatic History of Aviation's Most Controversial Airliner, Robert J. Serling3 stars
I stumbled across this title and thought it might be interesting. Was it ever! It's a story of a series of airline disasters all revolving around what was, in 1959 when the story started, the newest and best-ever, most-wildly-excellent airbus designed by Lockheed. The author takes us through the string of disasters, the head-scratching investigations that followed, and the waves of dread and hostility directed towards that same plane, the L-188 Electra. The author did a great job of contrasting the way pilots and designers felt about the plane -- most of them insisted it was the best thing ever -- and the inexplicable way the Electra had of snapping off a wing in midair. At times I had to squint and re-read to understand some of the technical language, but for the most part it was very clear and accessible to a lay reader. This story focused not at all on the human interest element, only the politics, logistics, and physics. Serling skimmed over the fact that a whole planeful of people were impossible to provide with decent burials because of the way they were inextricably telescoped into a plane's fuselage, as if caught in a trash compactor. Dealing with that kind of element in more detail would have been a fine addition to this story. As it was there was just a notation towards the end of the damages awards the victims' families.
Mod
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
Erik Larson
5/5 stars
Larsen is one of my favorite non-fiction authors and he does not disappoint in this book about the sinking of the ocean liner, Lusitania during WWI.
In 1915, WWI was raging in Europe but the United States still had not become involved. Submarines had evolved and now were roaming the oceans aiming at non-military and military watercraft. The Lusitania was on its way to Liverpool filled with non-military men, women and children and though there were warnings about submarines, many passengers were not concerned or did not know about the warnings and thought that their ship would have an escort during the most dangerous part of the trip.
Larsen does a wonderful job describing the time period, the passengers and the crews aboard the submarine and the ocean liner. He also discusses the games Churchill was possibly playing. Was he using the situation to get the US to enter the war? And what was President Wilson’s reluctance to enter the war and who was distracting him from his job. A real page turner!
Mod
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race
Margot Lee Shetterly
4/5 stars
This is the wonderful untold true story of the 4 African-American women mathematicians who broke barriers by working as human computers at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton, Virginia. Starting with a shortage of staff to help during WWII at the lab, these smart, college educated women proved that they were reliable and as smart as the other women and men at Langley. Shetterly discusses the time period and the racial tensions going on in that era, all in the context around what was going on at Langley with the building and designing of aircraft for WWII and including their part in the space race. This book really fleshes out the story of these women and the lengths they and their families had to go to work in those industries and the sacrifices that they had to make to have a better life. They are a inspiration to all women.
Murder in the Mystery Suite – Ellery Adams – 3***
Book number one in the Book Retreat Mystery series. This was a delightful cozy mystery. The premise is a bit outlandish, but it makes for a colorful cast of characters. And I love all the literary references.
LINK to my review
Sundown, Yellow Moon – Larry Watson – 2**
I’ve read several of Watson’s other books and am a fan of his writing, but this was clearly not his best work. The narrator’s inability to let go of a murder/suicide in his home town during his teens, and his inability to connect with those around him make for a decidedly distant experience. At the end I’m left feeling “is that all?”
LINK to my review
Dark Harvest, Norman Partridge4 stars
This was a really fine Halloween read! I will read this one again, with pleasure, in future years. Great atmosphere and believable characters facing an unbelievable situation. I like the way the story, as dark and grim as it is, hints at much deeper chasms of horror waiting just outside the lighted circle of the October Boy ritual. Well written in a snappy style.
Karma – Cathy Ostlere – 3***
This young adult novel is told entirely in verse, making for a very fast read. While there is a “love story” in the plot, the book includes some pretty serious matter: religious strife between Sikhs and Hindus, civil and political unrest in India, and the treatment of women. Maya is a strong female lead, despite the trauma she’s faced and her withdrawal into herself.
LINK to my review
House of Horrors: The Shocking True Story of Anthony Sowell, The Cleveland Strangler, Robert Sberna4 stars
This book made me so heartsick that I had to take a break from reading it for a while before I could finish. I learned more about the victims, more about their relationships to each other, and above all more about the timeline of events, filling in gaps I didn't know existed after reading Nobody's Women: The Crimes and Victims of Anthony Sowell, the Cleveland Serial Killer. The author was able to get farther into the nooks and crannies of the story than I dared to hope. Both the books I've read on this case are more than worth your time, and I don't think you can have a good sense of the story without both. So many serial-murder cases involve finger-pointing at the police, saying they didn't take the victims seriously; this book shows you exactly why they felt this way. I came away even angrier at the plight of the surviving victims than I was already for the women whose problems are now over.
Mod
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Mary Roach
3.5/5 stars
Author Mary Roach does love to push the bar with her book subjects and I loved her book Gulp which is all about the alimentary canal. In this book, she still is probing an unusual subject, cadavers. She writes all about the physical process of death, what happens to a person’s body after death, funeral customs, donating a body and other topics. I found this very interesting and she is quite funny and informative. This book is not for everyone but if you like unusual subjects this might appeal to you.
The Treatment: The Story of Those Who Died in the Cincinnati Radiation Tests, Martha Stephens3 stars
This book not only takes you back to your old, half-forgotten Cold War paranoia; it takes it to a whole new level. This is the story of something the Pentagon was doing behind our backs. That something combined the worst features of Nagasaki with Dr. Mengele's science lab, and they did it right here in the U.S. of A. With all that said, this was a frustrating, unsatisfying read. The author really only hints at what she found out about this case over the years. She likes to summarize, not really draw us a picture of what went on. I don't know how many of these experiments were going on, how many died, how many survived and how many of the wrongdoers were called on the carpet for what they did. On top of that, Martha Stephens is one of those people who never writes "Gaffney's doubts" when she can use "the doubts of Gaffney" instead, cramming as many words as she can into every sentence. I would have expected an English professor to know better than to write an entire book in the passive voice. I wonder how much shorter and more accessible it would have been if she had handled it differently. The really affecting part of this book was reading the testimony of the survivors -- and that was too little too late. I give this one 3 stars because the story is so important, not because of the way the author presented it.
Hidden Brutality: Life of Serial Killer Carl Eugene Watts, Jack Smith3 stars
Finally, another book on my old nemesis, Coral Eugene Watts. This was a very quick read but it included details I've never seen before about the murders he may (or may not) have committed. I have serious reservations about this one because there were quite a few obvious mistakes, e.g. when he said that 'George Harrison' was the mass murderer who opened fire on the customers at 'Lucy's Cafeteria' -- dude, it was George Hennard at Luby's Cafeteria -- and that tends to throw doubt on everything else he said. There were other clear mistakes in his biography of Watts. But if other details he provided turn out to be correct, I can come away from this read with a little more insight into why the police might consider Watts a suspect in certain other killings. I also learned more about the joint police investigation into these cases, and that information was serious food for thought. I recommend this one.
not the real killer
Ukulele Murder – Leslie Langtry – ZERO stars
This is just bad. The writing is hackneyed, the dialogue is tortured, the plot is ridiculous, and none of the characters is believable. Even worse, in my opinion, is the lame attempt at humor in re Nani’s mother’s alcoholism. Alcoholism is *never* funny.
LINK to my review
Drums of Autumn – Diana Gabaldon – 3.5*** (rounded up)
Book number four in the bestselling Outlander series, has Jamie and Claire making their home in the mountains of North Carolina. I just love this series. Gabaldon writes compelling stories with characters I care about. Even the ones I hate (Brianna) keep me interested and engaged, and the action is non-stop.
LINK to my review
Educating Rita – Willy Russell – 3.5***
A marvelous play about one young woman’s desire for an education, and the professor who teaches her, and learns from her. I much prefer to watch plays performed, but this was an enjoyable read. Rita is a marvelous character, and I loved watching her grow.
LINK to my review
Mod
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Gail Honeyman
4/5 stars
Eleanor has fallen in love and he is the one for her. The only problem is that they have not met yet. She has seen his singing act and it has struck a chord within her. She knows that she needs to improve herself before she can approach him and in this single act of falling for him changes her whole life. However there is horrible secret from her past that keeps interfering with her going forward in her new life and she has to face up to those past events.
I really enjoyed this book and really was rooting for Eleanor who had everything against her and still manages to prevail with the help of a few friends and her own will to improve.
The Hidden Child – Camilla Läckberg – 4*****
This is the fifth book in the series featuring crime writer Erica Falck and Detective Patrik Hedström, in the village of Fjällbacka, Sweden. However, it’s the first one I’ve read. Läckberg uses a dual time line to tell this story. There are the events of 1945, when one young couple’s plans are shattered by prejudice and violence. And there is the current-day mystery of an artifact that threatens to reveal long-held secrets. I look forward to reading more of this series.
LINK to my review
Bookplate Special – Lorna Barrett – 3***
Book number three in the Booktown Mystery series. This is a typical cozy mystery, with a cast of colorful characters, and a nosy amateur sleuth who simply cannot help herself when it comes to investigating a crime on her doorstep. It’s not great literature, but it’s entertaining and a quick read.
LINK to my review
Just finished Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt Andersen; what a great book, I highly recommend it.
Innocent Victims, Brian Karem5 solid stars!
If you want to really get the full effect of this atrocious story, open it and start reading WITHOUT looking at the jacket copy or the photo section. They were clearly designed to spoil the story for readers -- and is this one ever full of twists and turns! It's an infuriating case that made me want to tear the whole criminal-justice system right down to the ankles so someone can rebuild it from scratch. The screw-ups in the system managed to almost blot out the terrible, terrible crimes under discussion. The author never descended into trying to interpret this head-scratcher of a story for you. There was no shoot-from-the-hip psychoanalysis going on, for instance -- he tells you what everyone saw and lets you make up your own mind. There's a whole lot of room for debate left after the story ends. If it has ended. I came away with the feeling that there were even more disasters in store after the last page. I can't recommend this one too highly.
Miss Julia Hits the Road – Ann B Ross – 3***
Book number four in the popular series starring Miss Julia, a widow of a certain age. I just love Miss Julia, who frequently gets embroiled in one scandal / scheme or another when she jumps to conclusions and/or fails to fully understand the implications of what she’s been told. But her heart is always in the right place. Miss Julia is just a hoot, and I was laughing aloud at several scenes.
LINK to my review
Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan’s Disaster Zone, Richard Lloyd Parry5 stars
Having opened this book, I simply could not stop reading until the last page. The author returned again and again to Miyagi Prefecture over the course of at least 5 years to learn about developments, and record how they were experienced by a number of different people who survived the 2011 tsunami. The author does not focus on the emotional devastation of the people left behind after 22,062 people died -- he is after all a Brit writing about the Japanese, so our informants have some of the stiffest upper lips anywhere in the world -- but he does try to give an idea of the scope of the disaster, never leaning too heavily on facts and figures but simply letting people tell their stories, always reminding us that the full impact is unbearable and probably, literally, unthinkable. He even gives us the POV of several unquiet ghosts, in an attempt to give us really complete coverage. I'm not sure it's possible to really write the book he set out to write, and Parry seems to agree with that, but this was a valiant effort.
Mod
When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II
Molly Guptill Manning
4/5 stars
Who would think a book about the distribution of books to WWII soldiers would be interesting? I certainly didn’t but then I read a review from someone on GoodReads and thought I would give this book a try.
During WWI, there was a book distribution program for the troops but when that war ended the governing body of the program was not disbanded but funding for it ended. When Hitler encouraged the burning of books, librarians were up in arms over the desecration of books and took up the gathering of books to send to the troops and from there it grew until the government and publishers took it over. It certainly was a life saver to the men and women fighting the horror of war and over 141 million books were distributed to soldiers. Manning does a wonderful job in portraying a possibly boring subject into a real page turner and I even found several books to include on my never ending reading list.
I remember finding some books, paperback books, in my house that must have been from this time. Altho my Dad was older and only went thru WWI he must have received some of these from other guys. Don't have these anymore since we have moved out of that house and sold or given away pretty much everything. What a great story. I'll have to see if I can get this at my Library or as an ILL.
Mod
My dad has passed away but he was in WWII and I wish I could have asked him he remembered those books.
An American Family: A Memoir of Hope and Sacrifice by Khizr Khan4 stars
For those that followed the United States elections a year ago, you will remember the author's speech at the Democratic convention, when he spoke of his soldier son's death in Iraq and challenged Donald Trump to read the Constitution. This is his story of coming to America and becoming a citizen. It is inspirational and heartwarming and the only disappointment is that he barely mentioned the convention, which only took a couple of pages.
Mod
Bellman & Black
Diane Setterfield
3.5/5 stars
Bellman, a young ambitious man, has had a hard life but soon finds himself in a good place with a family and a good job. However, life has different plans for him and the deaths of all but one of his family members occur. That night after they were buried, he meets a Mr. Black and strikes a bargain with him. Bellman than throws himself into his new venture but does not encounter Mr. Black till years later when he realizes he has made a huge mistake. This was definitely a page turner for me and also provoked a lot of thought.
Cold Storage, Don Lasseter4 enthusiastic stars
Don Lasseter really outdid himself with this one. He collected a staggering amount of information from who-knows-how-many primary sources and put it all together into a very readable, well-organized TC book that never gets confusing, repetitive or wild-eyed. For instance, he doesn't make the elementary mistake of telling you everything about the crime, then making you read all the same details for a second time during the trial. He never indulges in shoot-from-the-hip psychoanalysis and never tries to tell the reader what to believe about the evidence. This is also (I hope) a very unusual case worthy of the reader's attention. I highly recommend this one.
The Burning of Evelyn Foster, Jonathan Goodman4 stars
An intriguing read about a real head-scratcher of a case. The investigation rivals that of the Hall-Mills murder, and all the loose ends in this case could be knitted up into a tea cosy big enough to envelop a bank building. At the same time, it seems rather obvious what happened here -- once again, not unlike the Hall-Mills murder. My only complaint about this book is that Goodman seemed to want to keep the known facts of the case to himself, commenting acidly on the shaky time-keeping or honesty of this or that witness without spelling out for us what he thinks really happened, and where and when. I got all bollixed up trying to follow the wildly scattered timelines. The nearly-blank maps didn't help at all. I finally stopped worrying about knowing who saw what, when and where and focused on identity of the elusive killer.
A Piece of the World – Christina Baker Kline – 3.5***
As she did in Orphan Train , Kline uses multiple time lines to tell the story. I thought Christina Olson was a marvelous character, and appreciated the way Kline took what little is known of this real woman and expanded it to weave this narrative. I liked that she focused more attention on Olson’s relationships with her family and friends than on her connection to Wyeth.
LINK to my review
Mod
The Bone Clocks
David Mitchell
2.5/5 stars
This dark, epic story of Mitchell’s surrounds a young English girl, Holly Sykes, who has run away after learning her boyfriend has cheated on her. She returns when she finds out her brother, Jacko has disappeared but not before encountering a mysterious character named Marinus who is a horologist (beings who are reincarnated) and who she will encounter off and on throughout the book in different time periods. I loved the first chapter and loved the main character, Holly but after that first chapter I just got mired in all the characters (most of them very despicable and unlikable) and the different story lines, wondering when this was all going to end and in the end was just disappointed with the outcome of the story line and the book. However, I have not given up on Mitchell. Cloud Atlas is one of my favorite books and I look forward to reading more of him.
Invisible Killer: The Monster Behind the Mask, Diana Montane and Sean Robbins3 reluctant stars
I read this book in spite of the writing quality, not because of it. I found the writing pretty clumsy and purple, but the story was written from an unusual perspective and the case itself was pretty unusual. I was thrown throughout this book by the author's odd statements. For instance, he said again and again that a certain 13-year-old girl was probably his subject's "first killing" even though he'd been crystal clear that the first killing had been committed years earlier and the whole world knew about it. He also seemed to call mental retardation a "controllable condition" at one point. In spite of this kind of goofiness, I found the book intriguing because it focused on how completely normal the killer was when he wasn't disemboweling someone -- it's a point too many true-crime writers forget, that even serial killers are 99% normal and unremarkable.
All Creatures Great and Small – James Herriot – 4****
I am definitely *not* an animal person but Herriot’s reminiscences of his early efforts to build a veterinary practice in Yorkshire in the mid to late 1930s were delightful, if a bit repetitious. This is a re-read for me, and my rating reflects my first impressions when I first read it in the early to mid-1970s.
LINK to my review
Mod
All Creatures Great and Small
– James Herriot – 4****
I am definitely *not* an animal person but Herriot’s reminiscences of his early efforts ..."
I loved that series.
The Missing, Sarah Langan3 reluctant stars
After seeing that Peter Straub raved about this one, I had to check it out, but it was kind of disappointing. The story moved right along and kept me turning the pages until the end, but overall it was just another mysterious-infection-turns-everyone-into-cannibals story. The horror wasn't all that horrifying. The characters did build up some depth as we proceeded, but the author put me off them from the get-go by using what I think of as the Updike Gambit: describing people completely in terms of their raggedy nail polish and speech impediments, and then telling you much later that they have good points, too, and that they love each other terribly, although by then it's too late for the reader who thinks of them only as badly dressed and spraying spit whenever they talk. I don't think I'll read the rest of this series.
The Making of the President 1960 – Theodore H White – 3***
Subtitle: A Narrative History of American Politics in Action. About a year before the November 1960 election, Theodore H White began studying the likely candidates for President. He followed them through primaries, state caucuses, the national convention and the campaign for the Presidency. It’s somewhat dated – the process is different more than half a century later. And yet, there is something timeless about this story.
LINK to my review
Mod
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy
Rachel Joyce
4/5 stars
This is the heart warming sequel to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and in it the author focuses on the character, Queenie. Queenie is at the end of her life in a nursing home. When she finds out her former co-worker, Harold Fry is taking a pilgrimage to see her, she reminisces and writes about their friendship and her awkward relationship with his son, David. Harold's trip has also charmed the other nursing home residents and changed life for them too as they look forward to his visit.
I read Joyce's first book in the series, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and enjoyed it but you can read either book on its own and in any order, IMO.
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League, Jeff Hobbs4 reluctant stars
I have to say that all the raves I heard about this book, it did not quite live up to expectations. It's won half the awards available, for Pete's sake, but what I read was a non-overwhelming, non-heartbreaking, non-shattering, but still thoughtful and elegaic biography of one of the author's college roommates. He never seems to just say right out that his friend's THC addiction is what kept him from using his Yale degree to really get himself somewhere. A quote from another friend, Oswaldo Gutierrez, sums it up best: "so smart, but so dumb." It's a terribly sad story of a life that ended too soon, but the author also does a great job of helping us understand how Rob rightly made a tremendous impression on everyone who knew him. It's a story of good people in bad situations, and how only some of them found their way out into something better. Well worth your time. Would make a great companion read with Dead Opposite: The Lives and Loss of Two American Boys.
The Magician’s Assistant – Ann Patchett – 3.5***
What I have come to love about Patchett is the masterful way she draws her characters. The story unfolds in bits and pieces, much as it would in real life. You don’t tell everything at once to someone you’ve just met, and likewise Sabine and Dot each keeps some things to herself. The environment also plays a role; Sabine is a different person in Los Angeles than she is in Nebraska.
LINK to my review
Mod
Rabbit Cake
Annie Hartnett
4/5 stars
Elvis, a young girl and her sister Lizzie live an unusual life with weird but wonderful parents. However, one night when her father drinks too much, he is unaware that his wife, who walks in her sleep, got up and left the house only to drown while trying to swim in the lake. The house is thrown in chaos as they deal with her death. To make matters worse, Lizzie starts to sleep walk. But there are some bright spots with Elvis, who starts volunteering at the zoo and Lizzie, who is trying to make a world record by making the most rabbit cakes ever made. I would read more of this author.
Mod
Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography
Laura Ingalls Wilder Edited by Pamela Smith Hill
2.5/5 stars
This is the annotated version of Laura Wilder's autobiography. I was excited to read it and I love it when there is extra material to flesh out a book but this book just dragged for me. The annotations were excessive, pulled you away from the story and were sometimes much longer than the actual written selection. I do think this book is historically valuable and if you are Wilder fanatic or scholar, you will probably love it but for the average reader you might just want to skip it.
I would love to hear if any others who read this felt the same way!
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Books mentioned in this topic
Notorious 92: Indiana's Most Heinous Murders in All 92 Counties (other topics)The Alchemist (other topics)
The Birchbark House (other topics)
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (other topics)
The Winter Garden Mystery (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Kate Summerscale (other topics)Kate Alcott (other topics)
Laura Ingalls Wilder (other topics)
Annie Hartnett (other topics)
Rachel Joyce (other topics)
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Double Indemnity - James M Cain – 5*****
Cain is a master of the roman noir. His writing is every bit as seductive as the temptress at the heart of his story. You just know this is going to end badly but you cannot tear yourself away, you just HAVE to continue.
LINK to my review