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12x12 Oh Canada, Travel Across Canada, PBT BingoFrom the Ashes / Jesse Thistle
4 stars
Jesse and his two older brothers (Metis-Cree) were abandoned by their parents when Jesse was only 3-years old (older brothers Jerry and Josh were 4 and 5). They spent a short time in a foster home before their paternal grandparents in Ontario came to get them. Jesse did not do well growing up – he got into trouble with alcohol and drugs, stealing, and he was off-and-on homeless. He was in and out of jail a few times before he eventually turned his life around.
This was really good. Jesse also writes poetry and it is sprinkled throughout the book. The chapters are short and overall, the book is fairly quick to read. So many times I shook my head, and thought: ok, this has to be rock-bottom, when you’ll turn your life around. But it wasn’t. So many times. I also wondered occasionally how he remembered as much as he did looking back on his life, given all the drugs and alcohol, but he addressed this in a note at the end.
12x12 KIT Challenges, TravelKITThe Invention of Hugo Cabret / Brian Selznick
4 stars
It’s 1931 and Hugo is twelve years old. His father died in a fire at the museum he worked at and his uncle, who had been taking care of him since, has disappeared. Hugo is living and hiding in the “bowels” of the train station where he helped his uncle fix the clocks. Hugo is good with mechanical things and when he comes across an “automaton” his father was trying to fix, Hugo is convinced his dad left him a message if Hugo can only fix it himself. He has been stealing from the toy vendor in the train station for the parts he needs, but things take a turn when the old man who runs the toy kiosk catches him stealing.
This book is a mix of text and many many beautiful black and white illustrations. I enjoyed it. Much of that enjoyment did come from the way the book was done. I am going to (right away) listen to the audio, as I am curious how that is done.
I'm not adding it into the challenges again, but having finished the audio a day after I finished the physical book, I am posting my audio review here, as well.(Audio) The Invention of Hugo Cabret / Brian Selznick
3.75 stars
It’s 1931 and Hugo is twelve years old. His father died in a fire at the museum he worked at and his uncle, who had been taking care of him since, has disappeared. Hugo is living and hiding in the “bowels” of the train station where he helped his uncle fix the clocks. Hugo is good with mechanical things and when he comes across an “automaton” his father was trying to fix, Hugo is convinced his dad left him a message if Hugo can only fix it himself. He has been stealing from the toy vendor in the train station for the parts he needs, but things take a turn when the old man who runs the toy kiosk catches him stealing.
Audio:
I’m going to give the audio 3.75 stars, although for both the physical book and the audio, I think the story is more like 3.5 stars. The extra – for the physical book – is the illustrations. The extra for the audio is the sound effects. The audio managed to fill in the gaps which in the physical book are illustrations by either describing in words what is happening in the physical book’s illustrations or by the sound effects, or a combination of both. I do think the audio was done really well, although if I’d recommend one form over the other, I’d have to go with the physical book for the illustrations.
12x12 Nonfiction, RandomCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic), Trim the TBR (PBT)Old Sparky: The Electric Chair and the History of the Death Penalty / Anthony Galvin
4 stars
This book not only looks at the electric chair, but it starts off looking at hanging as a punishment. In the late 19th century, in the US, they were looking to replace hanging as the default punishment for anyone sentenced to death. The author starts by looking at hangings and why they thought it should be replaced. Over all the decades that the electric chair was used (it has only ever been used in the US), it was never upgraded or improved. There was a moratorium on the death penalty in the late 60s until 1976, but even then, there needed to be more rules governing when it would or could be used. Also, in 1976, states were looking at replacing the chair, primarily with lethal injection.
The book points out the issues with all three of these types of capital punishment. They can all be botched, badly, even when trying to find the most “humane” way to administer the death penalty. The book looks at notable cases where the electric chair was used – Ted Bundy being the one name I recognized. They also looked at the youngest child (a 14-year old innocent black boy) to be put to death, and also the youngest girl (16 or 17, I think). The author also has two chapters near the end on innocent people being put to death.
Not exactly Christmas reading, but I found this really interesting. Having always lived in a country that doesn’t have the death penalty, I have waffled. Must admit – it doesn’t make me sad that Ted Bundy was put to death. However, when you hear of innocent people, I’m not convinced. And innocent people being put to death may be a higher number than people want to believe. It’s also more expensive to hold someone on death row (I knew that already). I was horrified to read that – even when there is additional evidence found to prove that someone is innocent, the Supreme Court is ok with that innocent person being put to death! As long as they were convicted in a proper trial, there is no need to release them! It would require a new trial, but that will only happen if the trial was not done properly the first time around. THAT is horrifying.
12x12 Off the Shelf, BingoDOGThese Nameless Things / Shawn Smucker
3.5 stars
A village of only 9 people (all the others have already left, with the rest likely to leave soon, as well) is in the shadow of a mountain. A mountain that holds bad memories for everyone, though none of them remember those memories. Nor do they remember any memories of before the mountain. Dan vaguely remembers, though, that he has a brother. A brother who’s still in the mountain. Dan won’t leave until his brother comes out.
I did get a peek at a review ahead of time that indicated something about religion in this book. Lucky for me, it wasn’t super obvious or hit-you-over-the-head with it. I mostly enjoyed the story, but the end was a bit... I don’t want to say too much, but I could have done with a bit of a different ending. (view spoiler)
12x12 AnimalsShelter: Lost & Found / R.A. Conroy
4.5 stars
It’s 1974. When Peggy moves to a city in New Jersey, fresh off a bus with only her suitcase, she comes across some boys tormenting a dog. She helps the dog by bringing him to a nearby shelter. She is convinced by the look of the dog that he has been abused and is horrified when she learns that the shelter staff know the dog (the owner calls him “Boy”, but the staff call him “Lucky”) and are legally required to return him, since abuse cannot be proven. After a short time, though, Peggy is offered a job with the shelter.
The shelter is very run down and as Peggy learns about what it takes to run an animal shelter, she helps with new ideas for raising some funds. The shelter currently cannot even afford to keep the heat running, and winter is coming. Their van could use help, too. Unfortunately, when the manager of the shelter has an accident and will be laid up for potentially a year, he puts Peggy in charge, and Peggy agrees, but is very unsure of herself. Not only that, a very rude vet has just started at the shelter as an intern, and he and Peggy aren’t seeing eye to eye.
No surprise (animals, especially rescue animals) – I really liked this! The focus wasn’t always on the animals, though. It showed a lot of what it takes to run a shelter, and it also showed the “holes” in the law for taking care of the animals in their care. Like Peggy, I was very emotional about much of it. There are definitely parts that hit the heartstrings, so have a Kleenex. At first, I didn’t like any of the staff – they all seemed crotchety. I only liked Peggy and Terry (the manager) – at least at the start. Terry was the only person who seemed nice to her and willing to train her (before his injury).
The book has some beautiful pencil illustrations, and I will add that even one of the illustrations had me briefly in tears! The author includes an author’s note about the laws at the time and she has worked in shelters and she knows about animal welfare. I did know most of what’s covered in the book, but I did learn a few things, as well. It’s just unfortunate that the animal welfare/cruelty laws really haven’t changed much. Last book of the year and one of my favourites!
My top 10 (4.25+ stars):[Endangered] / Eliot Scharfer
[Big Little Lies] / Liane Moriarty
[7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga] / David Alexander Robertson, Scott B. Henderson (ill.)
[Deep Freeze] / Lisa Jackson
[Elephant Speak: A Devoted Keeper’s Life Among the Herd] / Melissa Crandall
[Rescue: Lost & Found] / R. A. Conroy
[Go Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie & Clyde] / Jeff Guinn
[Outlaw] / Angus Donald
[Educated] / Tara Westover
[The Turn of the Key] / Ruth Ware
Dishonourable mentions (1.5-2 stars):
[Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883] / Simon Winchester (audio)
[The Art of Hearing Heartbeats] / Jan-Philipp Sendker (audio)
[The House of Doctor Dee] / Peter Ackroyd
[Enchantments] / Kathryn Harrison (audio)
Interesting stats for me:Stats
179 books
63,152 pages
= 353 pages / book (average)
Canadian authors: 26 out of 179 = 14.5%
Some genres (some of these will overlap, and I probably missed some, too):
Nonfiction (not including Biography/Memoir): 38 out of 179 = 21.2%
YA + Children’s: 18 out of 179 = 10%
Biography/Memoir: 27 out of 179 = 15%
Graphic novels: 7 out of 179 = 3.9%
Mystery/Thriller: 29 out of 179 = 16.2%
Historical Fiction: 26 out of 179 = 14.5%
Nonfiction + Biography/Memoir: 65 out of 179 = 36.3%
Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
Shelter: Lost & Found (other topics)These Nameless Things (other topics)
Old Sparky: The Electric Chair and the History of the Death Penalty (other topics)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret (other topics)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret (other topics)
More...
A Thousand Splendid Suns / Khaled Hosseini
2009 review:
4.5 stars.
Mariam is the illegitimate daughter of a rich father and his housekeeper. The story follows her, from the 1970s through the 2000s during her lifetime in Afghanistan. I won’t summarize anymore, as I don’t want to give anything away.
Wow! This may shape up to be one of my favourite books read in 2009. A couple of times I had to double check that it was written by a man, he does such an incredible job of telling the life of two women in Afghanistan, and the struggles that they go through. I liked it better than The Kite Runner.
2020 reread (audio):
4 stars
It took a while to get into it. I wasn’t sure if it was the story this 2nd time around or if it was the audio. I rated it higher (4.5) the first time around and because it took a while to get into it this time, I kept my rating at 4. Which is still really good, so it did pick up. At the end, though, they revisited some characters from early in the book and because I missed some at the beginning when the story seemed “slower” I wasn’t even sure who some of those people were. The bulk of the story is very good, though.