Play Book Tag discussion
Member ChallengeTracking 2016-20
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Cindy/LibraryCin's 2020 Challenges
12x12 Travel, TravelKIT, BingoDOG, RandomCATThe Art of Hearing Heartbeats / Jan-Philipp Sendker
2 stars
Julia’s father disappeared, so she heads to Burma to find him. When there, she meets someone who tells her a tale of her father and another woman, a women who was not her mother.
Summed up in one word: boring. I have no idea what prompted me to add this to my tbr! Even just before starting, I looked at the title, and wondered about that – based on the title, it did not sound like something that I would like... and I was right. It actually started a bit creepy, I thought, what the man (who ultimately told the story) said to Julia. It might have been more entertaining for me had it stayed creepy! The end was super-unrealistic and eye-rolling.
12x12 Oh Canada, NonfictionCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic), Poll Ballot TallyYou Are Here: Why We Can Find Our Way to the Moon, but Get Lost in the Mall / Colin Ellard
3.5 stars
In this book, the author, a psychologist with a particular interest in navigation, explores why humans are so bad at finding their way. In the first section of the book, he compares us to various animals: birds, ants, bees, wasps, sea turtles, and more. In the second section, he looks at places/spaces like our houses, workplaces, cities, cyberspace and green spaces.
This was interesting. There were a few places where I tuned out a bit (during some of the scientific explanations mostly, but not all), but mostly I found it interesting. It’s no surprise that most animals are much better at navigation (for various reasons) than humans are. This was published in 2009, so the cyberspace chapter may be a bit outdated already.
12x12 Series, ScaredyKIT, AlphaKITThe Widow / Fiona Barton
3.5 stars
Glen Taylor has been hit by a bus and killed. It is very quickly obvious that he was not a nice man and that he’d likely done some terrible things. His wife, Jean, is left behind to deal with the reporters and her new life without him. One reporter, Kate, soon “befriends” Jean to see if she can get a story.
The book flips back and forth in time and switches viewpoints (between Jean, Kate, a detective, and a couple of other viewpoints - if I’m remembering correctly, though not as often on the others). But, it’s mostly easy to follow as each chapter is headed with whose POV it is and the date. Of course, as the book continues, we learn what those terrible things Glen might have done were. With short chapters, it kept me wanting to read. I did think the ending was a bit abrupt, though.
12x12 PBT, PBT, Poll Ballot, Trim the TBR (Classic), RandomCATWorld Made by Hand / James Howard Kunstler
3 stars
The world has run out of oil. There has been illness, and not a lot of people are left. Robert is living in his small world in Union Grove, New York. People don’t get very far from where they live, anymore, without vehicles. There is a settlement closeby with a criminal leader, where most of the townspeople avoid. A religious cult has just moved into the abandoned high school. When Robert heads toward the closeby settlement with a friend to buy some supplies, things go terribly wrong and Robert’s young friend is shot and killed.
Despite starting off with a “bang” (so to speak), I found the book moved really slowly. It was ok. There was a bit of weirdness involving the religious cult toward the end, but the happenings picked up a little bit (with a horrible thing happening!). Overall, it was still an interesting read on people trying to get by on a much older way of life – without electricity and so many other modern conveniences as we are used to.
12x12 Trim the TBR, Trim the TBR (Classic), PBT, Poll Ballot Tally, RandomCATEndangered / Eliot Shrefer
5 stars
14-year old Sophie is half Congolese and half American. She mostly lives in Miami with her father, but comes back to the Democratic Republic of Congo to live with her mother in the summers. Sophie’s mom runs a bonobo sanctuary. On the way to the sanctuary, Sophie insists on buying a baby bonobo from a trafficker. She only wants to save the little bonobo she calls Otto, but she doesn’t initially realize that although she has helped Otto, overall, it’s not a good idea to buy from the traffickers.
In any case, she is now in charge of taking care of Otto and helping him live. Not long before Sophie is to head back to Miami, her mother has to leave to release some of the bonobos back into the wild. Not long after her mother leaves, civil war breaks out...
Of course, I love animals, so right off the bat, I’m loving the bonobos and the sanctuary. Once the war starts, it is almost non-stop suspense. Not only – how will Sophie get out of this, but what will happen to Otto and the other bonobos? Keep Kleenex handy. Ugly crying all the way. Loved this book! There is also an interview with the author at the end. And, I am happy to see that this is part of a series.
12x12 Animals, MysteryKIT, Trim the TBRThe Cat, the Quilt and the Corpse / Leann Sweeney
4 stars
Jillian comes home from an overnight trip to find that not only has her house been broken into, one of her three cats is missing! When the police come, they find that there is nothing else missing. Was Syrah catnapped or did he head outside on his own? Only one of the police is interested in helping figure out if Jillian’s cat was stolen and was the reason for the break-in, but she is quickly taken off the case, so she and Jillian set off to see what they can figure out on their own. Jillian is certain Syrah was stolen.
I really enjoyed this one. The cats seemed extra-involved somehow, which of course, made it more fun for me. And there were a lot of them. I suppose they were a bigger part of the storyline, due to the catnapping. I liked some of the additional characters and some not-so-much. There was one conversation near the start of the book between Jillian and her new policewoman friend, Candace, where I rolled my eyes a bit and thought – neither woman is the brightest bulb, is she? But, it got (much) better.
12x12 Reading Thru Time, Reading Thru Time, Poll Ballot Tally, BingoDOGThe Invention of Wings / Sue Monk Kidd
4 stars
Hetty is the daughter of a slave woman. When the “missus’” daughter, Sarah, turns 11, Hetty (at one year younger) is given to Sarah to be her own personal slave. Sarah doesn’t want a slave and tries immediately to free Hetty, but that just doesn’t work. The two grow up together, but eventually Sarah leaves for Philadelphia to get away from the culture and the oppressiveness of being a woman who is unable to do what she wants with her life (she always wanted to be a lawyer).
The story is told from both Hetty’s and Sarah’s points of view. What I didn’t know until the author’s note at the end (though close to the end, I started wondering) was that Sarah (and her younger sister, Angelina) were real people. They left South Carolina and became abolitionists who spoke publicly about ending slavery, and they were among the first feminists, also speaking out (and writing) for women’s rights. This was in the 1830s.
This was really good. I liked both women’s stories. I thought the author’s note at the end was very interesting.
12x12 Travel, TravelKIT, BingoDOG, Trim the TBR (Classic)Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange / Amanda Smyth
3.25 stars
Celia’s mom died just after Celia was born, and she was raised by and lives with one of her aunts (and her twin cousins) in Tobago. Aunt Tassi lives with an awful drunk man whom no one likes. When Celia is a teenager, she runs away to Trinidad and finds work in the home of a doctor, helping with the housework and caring for the two kids. But, Celia can’t seem to keep herself out of trouble.
The book was ok. It was kind of slow-moving, and there weren’t very many characters whom I actually liked (Celia included). There were a couple of interesting “twists” at the end.
12x12 Travel, BingoDOG, Poll BallotBig Little Lies / Liane Moriarty
4.5 stars
It’s trivia night at the school and the parents have been drinking when there is a ruckus and no one seems to be able to say exactly what happened or how someone was killed.
Six months earlier, it was Amabella’s and Ziggy’s orientation to kindergarten. When Amabella ended the day crying because one of the boys tried to choke her, she pointed to Ziggy as the culprit. At this point, Renata (Amabella’s mother) goes on a tear, keeping Ziggy away from her daughter and ostracizing the little boy and his mother, Jane, who believes Ziggy when he says he didn’t do it. Meanwhile, though Jane and Ziggy have just moved here, Jane has already made friends with Madeleine (whose youngest child has just started kindergarten) and Celeste, whose twin boys have also just started.
The story has a lot of characters and it’s hard to get everyone straight, especially at the start... although even toward the end I had to stop a few times to think about who someone was. There are little snippets of interviews interspersed throughout the story, as well, with still more characters (mostly parents who were at the trivia night). There are a lot of serious topics in this book (including bullying and abuse) as we dig into some of the parents’ (and their families’) stories, but it’s often done in a lighthearted, still entertaining way. I thought this was really good, and it was done well, even with the lightheartedness. And I was certainly kept trying to figure out who the heck died at the start (it was never clear until we got to the end!) and what happened there.
12x12 KIT Challenges, TravelKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)Lost in NYC: A Subway Adventure / Nadja Spiegelman, Sergio Garcia Sanchez
4 stars
Pablo and his family have just moved to New York City. His first day at his new school, he discovers the class has a field trip planned on the subway to the Empire State Building. Although he is paired up with a buddy, Alicia, they get a bit lost when they accidentally get on the wrong train!
This is a graphic novel and it was very good. There is history of the subway and the Empire State Building, along with real historical photos included. I’ve only been to New York once (and I was on the subway, but found it pretty confusing!), but found the information really interesting. The story itself was also about friendship, but really I think the point was the historical information (geared toward younger readers, but still really interesting).
12x12 Nonfiction, NonfictionCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic), AlphaKITHer Little Majesty: The Life of Queen Victoria / Carolly Erickson
4 stars
When Queen Victoria was a child, she was treated fairly coldly, and mostly “used” by her mother and a friend of her mother’s, knowing that she would likely be on the throne one day. This backfired on them when Victoria did reach the throne just after her 18th birthday. She married a cousin she loved, and once they were married, he did most of the political work, but he died young. Victoria mourned for the rest of her life for Albert. They had 9 children. Victoria varied on whether or not she got along with various elected Prime Ministers over time. She ruled for decades and she lived to be 81 years old.
I really liked this. The book is not that long, so I’m sure there was plenty left out, but I thought it was very readable and almost read like fiction. Despite all her kids, I didn’t have too much trouble following who was who, but maybe the author made sure to remind us? I didn’t notice. I have read a couple of fictional works about her, but this, I think, is the first nonfiction. I liked some of the extras thrown in about things that were happening at various points in time over the course of Victoria’s life, including fashion.
12x12 Audio, Trim the TBR (Classic), AlphaKIT, BingoDOG, Reading Thru TimeThe Thorn Birds / Colleen McCullough
3 stars
This tells the story of three generations of a family based on a ranch in Australia. Fiona (Fi)’s daughter Meggie (short for Megan) falls in love with the local priest when she is only 10 or 11 years old. The priest, Rafe(?), seems to also fall for Meggie as she grows up. Meggie goes on to marry a neglectful husband, Luke, but she misses home too much and leaves him to return, but only after having two kids of her own, Justine and Dane.
I listened to the audio. It was fairly slow all the way through. It did pick up – at least enough so that I didn’t lose focus – particularly after Meggie got married, I thought. I wasn’t as interested in Rafe’s point of view. That was some of when I lost interest, during his parts. (Oh, look – see what happens when you listen to the audio... apparently his name was Ralph! And for a while, I couldn’t tell if it was Rafe or Wraith!) I’m not sure I really liked any of the characters. Looking at some of the other reviews, it seems there was romance? Hmm, really? I didn’t notice. Overall, I’m rating it ok. For a while, I thought about upping that to good, but I’m dropping it back to simply ok. I did like that the audio kept my attention (mostly, especially after Meggie and Luke got married). It was mildly entertaining.
12x12 Overflow, RandomCATThe Summer List / Amy Mason Doan
3.75 stars
Laura is 35-years old when she receives an invitation in the mail to come home. It’s from Casey, her high school best friend, though they’ve been estranged since Laura moved away to start college 17 years earlier. Laura decides she’s curious enough to see what’s going on, so she heads home. Turns out Casey didn’t send the invitation, and a scavenger hunt has been set up for them.
I enjoyed this. In addition to following the current scavenger hunt, the book backs up in time to when Laura and Casey were teenagers and the years that led up to the estrangement. There were additional chapters in italics thrown in that I didn’t find as interesting. At first, of course, you don’t know who these chapters are following, but after a bit I thought I figured it out, then a name was provided and I was right. It got a bit more interesting after I knew whose story we were following at that point, but I thought Laura and Casey had the better storylines.
12x12 Nonfiction, NonfictionCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic)The Woman Who Can't Forget: The Extraordinary Story of Living with the Most Remarkable Memory Known to Science / Jill Price
4 stars
Jill Price can remember everything she did and any major or minor events that took place on any date from the time she was about 11 years old. Before that, she remembers some, starting from when she was 2- or 3-years old. Problem is, the memories bombard her all the time; it just doesn’t turn off. When she was younger, she didn’t know this wasn’t the case for everyone. But, as she got older and tried to explain, people didn’t understand.
Her memories include both the good and the bad, everything. This book explains what’s going on in her head, then goes back to explain how it has affected her at various points throughout her life.
I found this really interesting. I don’t understand the low ratings, though from reading reviews, it seems like some didn’t like the biography/memoir part of the book, but I thought that really illustrated things. Apparently, she was the first person (in the early 2000s?) diagnosed with this: what they called “hyperthymestic syndrome”, but there are others now, as well. Scientists have been studying her (and she seems happy to have them do so to figure out how her brain works), and papers have been written about her, using a pseudonym.
12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), KITastropheThe Brief History of the Dead / Kevin Brockmeier
3 stars
When someone dies, there is a place – a city – they go until the last person who remembers them dies. Then they disappear from the city. In alternating chapters, this book is in that place, alternating with Laura, who is stuck in Antarctica. She is by herself, as the two others she was there doing research with went for help when they could no longer radio home. But, they didn’t come back, either. What Laura doesn’t know is that an epidemic has hit the rest of the world.
I was ready to rate this 3.5 stars (good), but I dropped it right at the end. I mostly preferred following Laura’s story in Antarctica to the chapters following the various people in the “dead” city. But, the last chapter following Laura was just... weird, I thought.
12x12 Series, TravelKIT, AlphaKIT, Poll BallotA Cat Abroad / Peter Gethers
3.5 stars
This is Gethers’ second book about his travels with his Scottish Fold cat, Norton. In this one, Gethers, his girlfriend Janis, and Norton head to France for a year in the countryside. The author would just like to relax at the house (castle?) they are renting for the year, but Janis wants to see as much as she can. Of course, Norton joins them on all their travels.
These are enjoyable stories. A little bit of humour thrown in. A lot of food on this trip (they are in France, after all). It looks like I rated the first book slightly higher at 4 stars. There is one more and I will plan to read it.
12x12 Off the Shelf, BingoDOG, PBT, Trim the TBR (Classic)After Visiting Friends: A Son's Story / Michael Hainey
3 stars
Michael Hainey’s father, a “newspaperman”, died when he was only 35, and Michael only 6. As an adult, Michael took a look at the obituaries, but they didn’t really “line up”. There was something odd, and he wanted to find out how his father died. He and his family (mother and brother) had only been told he’d died on the street, after visiting friends.
It was ok. It was a somewhat interesting search for the author to find out what had happened, but I didn’t like the writing style. He wrote in very short choppy non-sentences (well, some were sentences!). It also jumped around in time quite a bit, maybe more in the first half (that, or I got used to it and didn’t notice as much in the second half). The short sentences and short chapters made it quick to read.
12x12 PBT Challenges, NonfictionCAT, AlphaKIT, Poll Ballot Tally, Trim the TBR (Classic)Giant George: Life with the World's Biggest Dog / Dave Nasser
3.5 stars
George was the runt of his litter, a Great Dane who came home with Dave and Christie when he was only 7 weeks old. By the time he was fully grown, though, he was almost 250 lbs! (Almost 100 lbs larger than the average adult Great Dane!) He was also very friendly and loved people. George eventually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s tallest dog.
This was a good story. He’s a sweet dog. There are photos included, as well.
12x12 Off the Shelf, ScaredyKITThe Other Child / Joanne Fluke
4 stars
It’s 1972. Karen and Mike have only been married a few years. Karen had a daughter before Mike; Leslie is now 10 years old. They want to move out of the city and fall in love with an old fixer-upper out in a nearby small town. But things change after they move... and not for the better. Karen was an interior designer before she married Mike, so she takes on the renovation project for the house. Leslie has a hard time fitting in with the local kids, but she makes a friend in the resident ghost, Christopher. Although Mike is still working his photography job for a magazine, he falls back into some old bad habits.
So, this is an older book of this author’s, published in 1983, I think before she started writing cozies. The writing seemed a bit odd at times, and Leslie (at times) seemed much older than she was, but overall, I liked the story. Not only that, I really liked what she did with the ending. Creepy... (Interesting - some didn’t like the ending, yet it increased the star rating for me.)
12x12 Off the Shelf, PBT Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), NonfictionCATBeyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape / Jenna Miscavige Hill
4 stars
Jenna is the niece of the head of the Church of Scientology. From a young age – 6 years old, I think – her family was very high up in the Scientology world, and this kept her mostly separated from her parents as she and her older brother were indoctrinated into the Church. It seems their lives were very different from what they call “public Scientologists”, who mostly live normal lives, but are part of the Church. They really didn’t get to be kids.
I really knew nothing about Scientology before reading this. Wow, crazy – the manipulation – of kids, no less! I guess you brainwash from a young age... There is a lot of terminology (and acronyms) that she has to define, and much of it I forgot, even as I read the words (or acronyms) later, but mostly had the gist of them (but there is also a glossary at the back). Of course, I would like to read more now. I think I have one celebrity biography on the tbr, so hopefully I can get to that one sooner rather than later.
12x12 Audio, BingoDOGThe Fault in Our Stars / John Green
2016 Review:
3.5 stars
16-year old Hazel is fighting cancer and needs help to breathe via a machine. At a support group meeting (which bore Hazel to tears), she meets Gus. Gus is 17 and managed to fight off his cancer, though not without losing a leg first. This is their love story.
It was good, but I didn't find it anything special. I guess there was too much poetry and philosophy in it for my liking? I also didn't like Hazel's favourite author and could not, for the life of me, figure out why she liked that book so much! I wasn't surprised with how it turned out. What did surprise me is that I didn't cry. My favourite by John Green easily remains Will Grayson, Will Grayson.
2020 Review:
3.5 stars
Rating remains the same as the first time I read it, and my review could be pretty much the same. I listened to the audio this time and the narrator did a good job. I really wasn’t interested in the whole Peter Van Houten (author) storyline at all. Didn’t like the storyline, didn’t like the character. There was so much of that storyline in the book, unfortunately, that the book wasn’t great for me, either. I actually only remembered one thing from the first time I read it, and that was the beginning – how and where Hazel and Augustus met. Although part-way through, I either vaguely remembered, or just guessed (again) at how it might end.
12x12 PBT Challenges, Poll Ballot Tally, TravelKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa / Keith B. Richburg
3.75 stars
The author is a black reporter, and in the early 1990s, represented The Washington Post in Africa. He was excited to go, to follow his “roots” in Africa. In his three years there, he experienced the civil war and famine in Somalia, the genocide in Rwanda, the many corrupt authoritarian and dictator “governments”, kids in the streets bearing AK-47s. He thought about his African-ness vs his American-ness, and came home (as many reporters in Africa do) beaten down.
The first part of the book is more about his childhood. He grew up in inner-city Detroit in the 1960s and 70s. Initially, he was a minority in his neighbourhood, but that changed. While he continued to go to school with mostly white kids and had friends there, he hated choosing “sides” between his white school friends, and his black neighbourhood friends.
The book included specific chapters on Somalia and Rwanda, and later on, South Africa (and the relative success of the introduction of democracy there vs the mess of it in the rest of Africa). He also has lots of examples throughout the rest of the book on the health care and AIDS in Africa, and plenty on the politics and governments of various countries.
I found the country-specific chapters more interesting, as well as the health care one, rather than the political chapters. I think it was because there are just too many names to remember and who is related to which country/city, etc. I also found the author’s own thoughts and introspection on what he encountered in Africa and his own feelings about being black and being American vs having those African roots. I also found his own biographical details quite interesting.
The edition I read came out in 2009, though it was originally published in 1997. So, this one had an additional foreword, written shortly after Obama was elected president.
12x12 Oh Canada, KITastrophe, PBT, Poll Ballot, Trim the TBR (Classic)American War / Omar El Akkad.
3 stars
It’s 2075. Tomboy Sarat (Sara T.) and her family live in Louisisana, one of the border states to the “Red”/Southern zone of the US. The Free Southern States are a group of only 4 states that are defying the order to not use fossil fuels. This will lead to the Second American Civil War. Not long before the war starts, Sarat’s father tries to get papers to travel north, but the building he is in is blown up. Sarat’s mother manages to get them on a bus heading to a refugeee camp in Georgia, one of the Red states.
I liked the first half, but I didn’t like Sarat as she grew up. I didn’t like her; I didn’t like the people she was associating with/learning from; I didn’t like the things she was doing. It was a bit boring for a portion after the refugee camp, where the focus of the book really was on the war. (Trying to stay away from spoilers!), it got slightly better for a bit, but I was confused toward the end. Not sure I liked the end, either. Overall, I’m considering it ok.
12x12 Nonfiction, Trim the TBR (Classic), Poll Ballot, March MysteryKITA Cast of Killers / Sydney D. Kirkpatrick
3.5 stars
In 1967, movie director King Vidal decided he wanted to make a movie about the 1922 murder of a silent film director William Desmond Taylor. The murder was never solved. So, Vidal started doing his own investigating. Prime suspects, at least in the media, included actresses Mabel Normand and Mary Miles Minter, as well as Minter’s mother, Charlotte Shelby. Vidal looked at media, police reports, and did many interviews (of people involved who were still alive). Vidal never made his movie, so Sydney Kirkpatrick took a look at Vidal’s notes to write this book.
It was mostly interesting, but there were still dry parts in the book, so I did lose focus occasionally – although that may also be, in part, due to plenty of things on my mind. The book also includes biographical information on many of the main “players”. I’ve only read one other book that included info about this murder – have to admit, I don’t recall if there were any theories in that book, but this one certainly sounds quite plausible to me.
12x12 Oh Canada, RandomCAT, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic), Travel Across CanadaHands Like Clouds / Mark Zuehlke
3 stars
Elias is the coroner in the small town of Tofino, on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. When a local environmentalist/activist (or “ecoterrorist”) is found hanging from a tree, the initial thought is suicide, but Elias quickly figures out that Ian was strangled before he was hung. The local RCMP, though, is busy preparing for a US Senator to tour the area, looking at the ancient rainforest (and the already clear-cut sections) that the logging companies want to continue to raze.
Especially with the environmental angle, I had hoped this would draw me in more. The mystery itself was interesting, but the characters weren’t as much so – at least to me – until at least the second half of the book. Zuehlke puts a lot of description in the book, which does paint a clear picture of Vancouver Island, but it’s a bit too much for me, overall. I did love the setting, though.
12x12 Oh Canada, BingoDOG, Travel Across CanadaThe Brideship Wife / Leslie Howard
4 stars
It’s the mid-19th century, and Charlotte, at 21-years old, is desperate to find a husband. Well, she isn’t that excited about it, but her sister and brother-in-law, high society people, are insisting. The match they want her to make, however, is a jerk, to put it mildly. But, Charlotte doesn’t have a lot of options, until she finds out about a “brideship”. England is sending unmarried women to the colonies in the New World, specifically to Vancouver Island and British Columbia, in what would later become Canada, to provide the men there with potential wives. Although Charlotte is initially hesitant, she ends up on one of the ships...
I really liked this. I liked Charlotte – she is more independent than many women at the time, I think – certainly those of her social class. Although quick to read is nice, I did feel like the book could have gone into more detail/spent more time on many of the topics.
As I always hope for, the author did include a note at the end where she talks about where she learned of many of the issues she covered in the book, including treatment of women, social classes, smallpox in the Native population, the gold rush towns in BC, the culture in those towns, as well as the tendency toward fire in the buildings, and more. She also provided a master list (can’t think of what it’s called) of actual women who sailed on one of the brideships (she used many of the names). Many of the things that happened in the book were events happened to someone in real life.
12x12 Reading Through Time, Reading Through Time, NonfictionCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic)Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde / Jeff Guinn.
4.25 stars
Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker (later known as “Bonnie and Clyde”) both grew up extremely poor in the slum of West Dallas, Texas. They both loved their families very much and visited as often as they possibly could, even while on the run. They knew they would die young, likely violently. They stole fancy cars, and robbed some small banks and small stores and gas stations, which really only gave them enough money for food and gas. They had very little left over, and mostly had to sleep in “their” car. When they had extra, they often brought it to their families.
I knew nothing of Clyde and Bonnie beyond their names and that they were criminals/gangsters on the run in (I thought) the 1920s (it was actually only for a couple of years in the early 1930s). This book was so well-researched. I feel like, if it’s not (it might already be), it should be the go-to book about the two of them. Their crimes did mostly start off as robberies and stealing cars, but in their haste to not get caught, there were shootouts and people got killed. There were a few other murders thrown in that weren’t part of shootouts, as well.
It was slow to read, but nonfiction often is. That being said, it was fascinating and I was interested all the way through. Now, there were multiple confrontations and shootouts, so I did get a few confused toward the end, and some of the criminals who came and went from the “Barrow Gang” also got a bit confusing, but overall, this was really good. There was also a section of photos included in the middle.
12x12 Series, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic), Poll BallotBig Cherry Holler / Adriana Trigiani
3 stars
This is the second book in the series. Marginal *****SPOILER***** for the first book (view spoiler)******END SPOILER******
It was ok. Not as good as the first one, in my opinion, particularly the first half. It picked up a bit in the second half, but I was annoyed with both Jack and Ave for much of the book. I am undecided on whether or not I’ll read the 3rd book... I probably will, anyway.
12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), NonfictionCATThe Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir / Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
3.5 stars
The author thought she wanted to be a lawyer. She had known since she was a child that she didn’t believe in the death penalty. When she took a position in a firm in Louisiana that defended people on death row, she was shown a video of a confession by Ricky Langley, a pedophile who murdered a 6-year old boy in 1992. She learned of the story just after his second trial that found him guilty of second degree murder, which took the death penalty off the table, although his original trial had put him on death row. The author then had to face her own family history, and writes in this book about both Ricky’s life and trials, as well as her looking back on her own life and confronting what had happened to her.
It took a bit at the start to get “into it”, as I couldn’t figure out where the two stories intersected, or why she went back and forth between the two. It’s a good thing she started each chapter with a place and year, as she did jump around quite a bit between time periods in both her and Ricky’s lives. It took me a while to get interested in her own story, particularly, but it did get more interesting as the book went on.
12x12 PBT Challenges, PBT Bingo, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)Seeing Voices / Oliver Sacks
3 stars
Oliver Sacks takes a look at deaf people in this book. There are three sections. The first one focuses on history (how deaf people were treated, communicated with (if at all), etc.), the second on the brain/psychology/science, and the third on deaf culture, with a focus on a deaf university.
It was ok. I don’t know anyone who is deaf, but I was always interested in sign language, at least from high school, when a friend and I got a book out of the library to try to teach ourselves. I later (15-20 years ago) did take an actual class. But, the book itself – some parts were interesting, particularly the culture/university section, but I found other parts quite dry (the middle section). The book is short; almost half of it is Notes.
12x12 Off the Shelf, PBT Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), AlphaKITThe Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World / Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Douglas Abrams
3 stars
Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Abrams (who had collaborated with Tutu over a number of years) headed to India for the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday and to spend a week discussing joy and how to get there, and celebrating his birthday.
I’m not much into self-help books (this was a gift), but I enjoyed the relationship between Tutu and the Dalai Lama, the camaraderie, the humour. I loved the photos of them dancing, smiling, laughing. For those interested, there is a section at the back that includes meditations and ways that both religious leaders wind down and contemplate things. Overall, the book itself, for me, was ok.
12x12 Reading Through Time, Reading Through Time, Trim the TBR (Classic)Mary Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley / Alison Weir
3.5 stars
Mary, Queen of Scots was suspected of murdering her second husband, Lord Darnley. Darnley died in an explosion, but it was definitely murder. Many people at the time thought she’d done it, as well as many historians since. Weir looks at many sources to try to sort out whether or not Mary was, indeed, involved. This does pretty much amount to a biography, with a strong focus on events as relating to Darnley.
This is a long book! With lots of detail. That being said, I went back and forth between being really interested and falling back a bit with some of the detail. Now, Weir really was looking at a lot of information to try to sort out who was involved. Boy, talk about “fake news” of the time! And sham trials with a political bent (i.e. predetermined outcome)... Overall, I’m rating it good, but it does take a while to read.
12x12 Reading Thru Time, Reading Thru Time, NonfictionCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic), Poll BallotAlone: The Classic Polar Adventure / Richard E. Byrd
4 stars
In 1934, the author headed to Antarctica to spend a few months on his own inland (while people he was working with were a ways away, and they were in radio contact on specific days/times), while taking weather readings at various times throughout the days. They had built him an underground shelter to live in. In June, as it got colder outside, things started to get dicey for the author. This book includes his memories, as well as some excerpts from his diary while there.
It took a little bit to get going, as I wasn’t as interested in the technology in how they built his shelter and such, but once it was built and the rest of the crew left Byrd alone, it got much more interesting. The cold, oh, the cold! Described very well. (Of course, it’s relative when anywhere from 0 to -30F was “warm”! The coldest day was -83F) He was there over winter, so between April and October (this book covers April through August when he was on his own). It read in kind of a conversational tone, which I liked.
12x12 KIT Challenges, KITastrophe, Poll Ballot, Trim the TBR (Classic)Whiter Than Snow / Sandra Dallas
4 stars
In 1920, an avalanche hit the mining town of Swandyke, Colorado, just as school let out. There were kids on the street, just heading home, as the snow came tumbling down... The book starts by letting us know this, then backs up to find out about the lives of some of the parents (and one grandparent) of those children. Then, the book leads up to the avalanche itself.
There was no historical/author’s note, so I had to look this up to see if it really happened. It appears that Swandyke was a real town; now it’s a ghost town with some items and buildings, but I couldn’t find any mention of an avalanche that buried children there. However, this is a really good story. It was easy to get the characters mixed up a bit, as there were so many, and with one chapter on each family’s history, it took a minute when they were mentioned again to remember who was who. Even still, I enjoyed all of those families’ stories, though one stood out a bit more than the others for me (the black man working at the mine who had a young daughter).
12x12 Audio, PBT Bingo, Poll BallotAlaska / James A. Michener
3.5 stars
This fictional chunkster pretty much tells the entire history of Alaska from before humans, through to about 1990.
It was good, but LONG. It took me 2 months to listen to the 57 hour audio. Because it was so long and covered so many time periods, events, families/people/characters, some sections were more interesting to me than others. (Although it’s so long ago now, it’s hard to remember), I think I liked the section at the start before humans. I also particularly enjoyed the gold rush and the characters that appeared then and continued later on.
12x12 KIT Challenges, AlphaKIT, Poll Ballot, Trim the TBR (Classic)The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do / Eduardo Porter
3 stars
The subtitle is: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do. This is nonfiction and consists of chapters such as “The Price of...” Things, Life, Happiness, Women, Work, Free, Culture, Faith, and Future.
Have to admit that it was interesting as I read it (most of it), but unfortunately, it’s already fading. I won’t remember it. The conclusion (most fresh in my mind) does refer to the 2008 financial crisis quite a bit, and hopes that people will have learned a few things. I do wonder what the author would write now, after things have shut down due to COVID, and are just now starting to reopen for the economy.
12x12 TravelEscape from Syria / Samya Kullab
4 stars
This is fictional, but the author was a reporter who spent time in Lebanon as Syrian refugees came pouring across the border. To write this story, she compiled common happenings of many of the refugees and made it into this graphic novel, told from the point of view of a teenage girl as her family fled Aleppo City amidst the war in Syria. Her family spent time in Lebanon until they were able to get out to come to Canada (this is known from the start of the story).
The illustrations were very well done, I thought. There were even a couple of iconic images represented (one, much more well-known than the other, though the other, maybe known more in Canada as some of the Syrian refugees arrived; the more well known image is the little boy who drowned as he and his family tried to escape). I quite “enjoyed” the story, as well. I read a memoir not long ago of a boy who got out and also came to Canada, and this graphic novel was interesting from a girl’s perspective (the families had no money – or very little – so many young daughters became child brides, though this was only a very small section in the book). At the end, the author takes many of the quotes and images throughout the story and explains more about them.
12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), TravelKITGrounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World / Seth Stevenson
4 stars
Seth and his girlfriend Rebecca decide they want to travel all the way around the world by surface travel (i.e. no flying). They set out via ships (cargo and cruise), buses, trains (regular speed and bullet trains), and bicycles. Their journey takes them across the Atlantic Ocean, Germany, Estonia, Moscow, across Siberia, down to Japan, China, Cambodia, Thailand, and back east to and across Australia to New Zealand and back to the US. (And I know I’ve missed some places!).
I really enjoyed this (though I disagree on his assessment of cruise ships!). There were some funny moments. Although, despite the leisurely travel pace, there were times where they really seemed rushed, and weren’t able to enjoy where they were. I guess some of it depended on the timing of the travel away from where they were, as it was sometimes difficult to find a way to their next destination, so unless they wanted to wait a week, they might have to continue on right away. He did talk about the different modes of transportation, the history, etc, which I also found interesting.
12x12 Oh Canada, AlphaKIT, Travel Across Canada, Poll BallotLouis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography / Chester Brown
3.5 stars
Louis Riel was a charismatic Metis leader in the late 19th century who led a couple of rebellions as the government of Canada wanted to set up Manitoba and West differently from how the First Nations, Metis, and others already settled there wanted it done. Riel was later hanged. This is a graphic novel that depicts his battle with the government.
It was good. I think the graphic novel format does make it more interesting than I remember it from high school (what little I do remember, and I’ve even been to Batoche, one of the sites in Saskatchewan where he fought). The illustrations were simple, black and white images, but I think they portrayed things well. There is a large notes section at the end that expands what was included in the story. I think the notes took as long or longer to read through than the graphic novel portion itself, but it does add quite a bit of extra info.
12x12 PBT, PBT, Poll BallotThe Humans / Matt Haig
3.75 stars
An alien has taken over the body of mathematics professor Andrew Martin. It takes a bit of time for the alien to learn the ways of the humans, but at the same time, he has a purpose. The humans are learning too much about technology (though it’s not nearly as much as there is to know), and this needs to be stopped. Professor Martin, his friends and family (and whatever they know) must be stopped.
I listened to the audio and quite enjoyed it. It had funny moments, and that really drew me in at the start, though it lagged a bit for me in the middle. Overall, I quite liked it.
12x12 PBT Challenges, Poll Ballot, ScaredyKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)The Witches of New York / Ami McKay
3.5 stars
It is the 1880s. 17-year old Beatrice heads to New York to try to get an advertised shop girl job at “Tea and Sympathy”. It turns out the ladies who run Tea and Sympathy (Eleanor and Adelaide) are witches, and Beatrice is showing tendencies towards such, as well as seeing and hearing ghosts. We learn about all three women, their histories, and how things go forward at this time in NYC while the three are considered witches.
I liked Beatrice’s story, in particular, but what I wasn’t crazy about was all the different changing perspectives of so many different characters. I don’t like when I’m a good chunk of the way in and a new character is introduced and I have to try to fit them in. This happened quite a bit in this book, as there was a lot of flopping all over the place, following all the different characters. Toward the end, the story picked up speed a bit, so overall, I’m still rating it good.
12x12 Audio, Trim the TBR (Classic)Green River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer - America's Deadliest Serial Murderer / Ann Rule
3 stars
In the early 1980s, the Seattle area had a serial killer running around, mostly killing prostitutes. True crime author Ann Rule, by then having published her book on Ted Bundy, lived in the area, and followed very closely what was happening. The killer wasn’t caught for almost 20 years, but when DNA testing came available, he was not only caught, but he admitted to many more murders than they would have been able to link to him via DNA.
Unfortunately, I (once again) ended up with an abridged audio. I was only a kid in the early 80s, and not in the area, so it was more recently that I heard of the Green River killer. The book was interesting, but I would have liked to have listened to the entire book. It did seem to jump abruptly from talking about the victims to following the killer’s life. Not sure if the book actually felt that way or if it felt such because it was abridged.
12x12 KIT Challenges, ScaredyKIT, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)The House of Doctor Dee / Peter Ackroyd
2 stars
Two storylines – Matthew has inherited a house from his father in the current day (book was published in the early 90s), and there is a brief mystery in figuring out whom it once belonged to. Turns it out, Doctor John Dee once lived there (during the time of Queen Elizabeth’s reign in the 16th century). No idea what the Doctor Dee storyline was all about.
This was incredibly boring, especially the Dee storyline. I have no idea what happened in that part except that (I think) his wife, Katherine, was sick. He was apparently a doctor (and possibly a “sorcerer” of some type?). Anyway, not really worth the time, in my opinion.
12x12 Nonfiction, NonfictionCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic), Poll Ballot, AlphaKITSix Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet / Mark Lynas
4 stars
In this book, the author divides the chapters to look at what would happen as the global average temperature rises 1 degree Celsius, 2 degrees, 3, 4, 5, and 6 degrees. More fires and drought in California and Australia. Melting of ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic. Melting of glaciers in mountainous regions in Pakistan, Nepal, and China near K2 and Everest, leading to less runoff for places that rely on that water. Water levels rising to wipe out New Orleans, put more of New York and London underwater, hurricanes and flooding in Houston, Gakveston, New York. Sand dunes and no water in Africa. All of these causing humans to starve and die or to move to other places already suffering themselves who won’t want newcomers to take up the precious resources that remain. Oceans and forests will be taking on more carbon than they can handle, often speeding up the warming and other consequences.
The author used scientific models and peer-reviewed articles to research this book.
I really liked the way he organized this book. Unfortunately, in the conclusion, he talked about ideally reducing emissions in the next decade. The book was published in 2008, and as far as I’ve been paying attention, things have (really, to no surprise, sadly) only gotten worse. There is no slow down, let alone reduction in emissions, I don’t believe. I feel like this is something everyone should read to educate themselves.
12x12 Off the Shelf, PBT Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), AlphaKIT,Powder Burn / Carl Hiaasen
3 stars
Architect Chris Meadows gets caught up in a drug war in Florida when he witnesses an old flame and her daughter get hit (and killed) by a car. He unwittingly ends up the next target, as he was a witness and can identify the people responsible.
Unlike Hiaasen’s other books, this one did not include humour, nor did it have an environmental theme. I do believe this was co-written with someone else, as well. There was one brief “scene” near the end that was somewhat amusing. I don’t think I really liked any of the characters (including Chris, aka “Meadows” (I am also not a fan of referring to characters by last name only)). Not my favourite topic – drugs – and not as good as the others I’ve read by him. At the same time, I’d consider this one “ok”.
12x12 Animals, RandomCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic)Great Cat Tales / Various Authors
2.5 stars
This is a book of short stories, poetry, and I think some short nonfiction essays by various authors (including Jerome K. Jerome, Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, and more), all about cats.
I’m just not a fan of short stories. I don’t know why I have the book (my guess is a gift?). Everyone knows I love cats, but short stories just mostly don’t hold my interest much. There were a few that I liked. Overall, though, it may have been that I was trying to read quickly, maybe that I just know I’m not “into” short stories and didn’t give it enough of a chance, via mostly skimming through. Likely if I’d slowed down and taken more time to pay attention, it would have garnered a better rating from me.
12x12 Travel, Poll BallotEscape to the Wild: A Family's Return to Simplicity / Abrea Hjejlskov
3.75 stars
This Danish author and her husband decided to take their family and live off the grid in the forest in Sweden for one year. Though it doesn’t say it in the book, the back cover says it has turned into six years. This included four children – 15-year old twins, an 11-year old, and a something(11?)-month old.
I love the idea of it, of anyone who is able to do this. It was really hard (no surprise, really). They had some help from another guy who’d done it once before and decided to “join” them (a little ways away) and do it again. Others came by, as well, as the author did write a blog, so people knew what they were doing (though she didn’t mention it often, nor mention how she was posting, how often, etc – though eventually she did mention having a generator that was rarely used; it died in the fall, anyway). Boy, those two sure did have some anger issues, though. There was a lot of fighting between them. I imagine it was incredibly stressful, but I certainly didn’t expect all the anger. The author did address this later in the book – that she had focused more on the conflict and not the things they enjoyed.
12x12 Oh Canada, Travel Across Canada7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga / David Alexander Robertson, Scott B. Henderson (ill.)
4.5 stars
In this graphic novel, Edwin learns from his mother the history, going back seven generations, of their family and his people, the First Nations Cree. We learn about fighting between the Cree and Blackfoot, then when smallpox hit, then the residential schools in the 1960s, where Edwin’s father and uncle attended.
Wow, this started off with a very powerful chapter, as Edwin tries to kill himself as his mother rushes to him in the hospital. Particularly powerful, again, with Edwin’s father and uncle at the residential school. It was a story of Edwin not only learning about the past, but having to come to terms with all of it and to forgive his father. It is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel, in colour.
12x12 Animals, PBT Bingo, Poll Ballot Tally The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal / Jared Diamond
4 stars
This one looks at humans as animals and compares them to our wild counterparts. It looks at evolution, culture, genocide, language, sex, art, and more. It also looks at how we are affecting the planet and other species.
This might be my favourite Diamond book. I think the closer look at other species is what did that for me. I listened to the audio.
Play Book Tag
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Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof / Blaize Clement
4 stars
Pet sitter Dixie is watching (with the help of her elderly friend, Pete), a service dog to a little 3-year old boy (who needs to be in the hospital for a surgery). Next door, Dixie meets Laura, a beautiful woman who recently moved in. Dixie and Laura quickly become friends when Laura reveals that she recently left her husband and is hiding from him. It’s not long before Laura is found murdered in her house.
This is a pretty good rating for a cozy mystery from me (often they are 3 or 3.5 stars). It’s a light book and a light series, but I really enjoyed this one. Of course, I love the pets in these stories and I love some of the secondary characters – Dixie’s friends and family – particularly her brother Michael, and his partner, Paco.