Play Book Tag discussion
Member Challenge Tracking 2021
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Cindy/LibraryCin's 2021 Challenges
12x12 Nonfiction, HistoryCAT, GenreCAT, AlphaKITThe King's Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy / Mark Logue
3.5 stars
Mark Logue is the grandson of Lionel Logue, who left Australia with his wife to move to England in the early 20th century. This was after he’d started helping people with their public speaking. When he arrived in England, he continued his business there, and ended up with the future King of England as one of the people he was helping.
“Bertie” had a stutter and was terrified of public speaking (not so good when you are royalty!). Initially, he was not meant to become king, but when his older brother abdicated, Bertie (now King George VI) was next in line. Lionel was a lifeline for the king, as Lionel helped Bertie before every speech he had to make for a very long time. They became friends, as much as the king and a commoner could.
This was good. I have seen the movie, but I don’t think much time was spent on Lionel’s life. The book actually did spend more time on Lionel than the movie did. In addition to Bertie/King George’s life. Mark used many letters between the two men to write this biography.
There was a section in the middle, describing events during WWII that I lost a bit of interest in, but I quite enjoyed it before and after (and it wasn’t all the events of the war where I lost interest, so it may just have been that I was tired when I read that part!). We also get small glimpses into (now) Queen Elizabeth’s young life, as well. The book also follows both men to their deaths – though Logue was 15 years King George’s senior, Logue outlasted the king, but not by very long.
12x12 Trim the TBR, Trim the TBR (Classic), RandomCATSuffering Succotash: A Picky Eater's Quest to Understand Why We Hate the Foods We Hate / Stephanie V. W. Lucianovic
4 stars
The author was a picky eater growing up and wanted to look into why people hate the foods they hate. As an adult, she has managed to, not only overcome her food pickiness (for most things), but she has become a foodie. In this book, she describes information from scientists on taste, smell, and how other senses affect how people taste things; she was also able to visit a taste lab. Other chapters talk about moms dealing with their picky eater children, emotions and food, eating out, and relationships, among other things.
I found this quite interesting. I am not nearly as picky as many of the people she described in her book, but I’m not very good about trying new foods, and I have issues with various textures. She did talk about textures at one point, and we agree on one item: bananas! (I also hate bacon, and the smell, but surprising to me, apparently that’s one meat that is supposedly appealing to most people, including some vegetarians. Blech!) I found the science very interesting and I found myself annoyed with some of the people in the relationship chapter! She also included plenty of humour, as well as her own stories, and plenty of 80s and 90s references, which were fun.
12x12 BIPOC, PBT, Pursue It, Fly the Skies, AlphaKITCrazy Rich Asians / Kevin Kwan
3.5 stars
Rachel is a Chinese-American professor in New York. She has been dating history professor, Nick, for two years. Nick grew up in Singapore and was educated at Oxford. Although he is ridiculously wealthy (or his family is), he has told Rachel nothing about this, nor about his family. Rachel is in for a shock when she travels with Nick for the summer (and for Nick’s best friend (from elementary school… also ridiculously rich)’s wedding. The wedding is front page news in Singapore.
Unfortunately for Rachel, Nick has also told her nothing about his snobby, gossipy family. The family (especially his mother) who gets in their heads before they even meet Rachel that Rachel is a gold-digger, and the family will do everything they can to make sure the two never marry.
Ok, the first few chapters left me reeling and confused. There were so many characters and I never did really figure out who was who in many cases, or how they were related. Though – for most – I did figure out who the nicer friends/family were and who the horrible snobs were. Once we were introduced to Nick and Rachel, though, it got better. And some of their nicer friends I liked. In the end, I liked it, and I will continue the trilogy.
12x12 Audio, KITastrophe, HistoryCATPale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World / Laura Spinney
3 stars
The subtitle pretty much tells you what the book is about. I listened to the audio. The male British narrator is always a warning for me, and that warning “fit”. My mind wandered in and out, and it was interesting in parts. In addition to a broader outlook, the author looked at different countries around the world and how it affected those countries. I think I lost interest a bit more looking at the countries individually than looking at the pandemic in a broader sense. It sure was interesting to see the parallels to today – one of those parallels being the health measures that governments try to take with varying results of compliance.
12x12 Read Through Time, Read Thru Time, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic), BingoDOGThe Shoemaker's Wife / Adriana Trigiani
4 stars
It’s around 1900 in Italy. Ciro and his brother are only about 5 and 6 years old when their mother, who has just lost her husband (the boys’ father) and just can’t cope, drops them off at a convent. She tells them to be good, help out, and she’ll be back in 6 months for them. Well, she doesn’t come back. At 15-years old, Ciro is hired out to dig a grave for a little girl, when he meets, Enza, that little girl’s oldest sister. There is an instant connection. But, something happens soon after and they are kept apart.
Some time later, they both separately arrive in America – New York City, to be exact. Ciro is a shoemaker’s apprentice, while Enza is working as a maid (very ill-treated), and also finds a job as a seamstress at the Metropolitan Opera. We follow their lives as immigrants in the US in the early 20th century.
I really liked this. It didn’t move fast, but I really enjoyed the story, and was rooting for Ciro and Enza. I liked the characters and their relationships. The author’s note at the end tells us that this is based on Trigiani’s grandparents’ lives.
12x12 BIPOC, GenreCAT, HistoryCATBuses Are a Comin': Memoir of a Freedom Rider / Charles Person
5 stars
In 1961, a small group of people, both black and white and of a variety of ages from the author at 18 years old up to a retired white couple, got on a variety of buses, planning to head from Washington, DC to New Orleans. The idea was to test what would happen when they sat at various places on the bus, front or back, regardless of their colour. They also (black and white), in some cases, sat together. Supreme Court Decisions in the 1940s (before Rosa Parks) and the 1950s said that anyone should be able to sit anywhere on interstate buses, and that anyone should be able to sit anywhere, use any washroom, order from any food place, etc. inside the depots.
Wow… what an amazing group of very brave people! Granted, some of them didn’t realize how bad it would get (including Charles, though he had grown up in Georgia… but Georgia wasn’t the worst), but this was the first group of “Freedom Riders” that set off a chain of others to continue when they were unable to finish their trips. It’s crazy to me how the KKK was still alive and well in the deep South, and even police were involved. Obviously, this book includes violence (though the Riders themselves had vowed to be nonviolent), and some awful subject matter. It was heart-wrenching at times.
The first chapter tells of the climax of the trip, but then backs up to tell us about Charles’ life growing up. In May 1961 for those two weeks that the first Freedom Ride was happening, he was at the tail end of his first year of college. He had previously been involved in some protests in Atlanta with other college students regarding the segregation of blacks and whites in restaurants and cafes. But this was something else. When I finished, I “had” to check a few videos on youtube.
12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), (Jan.) ScaredyKITDeath: The High Cost of Living / Neil Gaiman
3.75 stars
Sexton is 16-years old and thinking about killing himself. He is writing a note when his mother interrupts him and asks him to leave so she can do some spring cleaning. While out, Sexton meets Didi… who it turns out is Death personified, though she does “remember” her young teenage life as Didi. She appears to be a teenager like Sexton, so they spend a day and night just “hanging out” doing normal teenage things (while still aiming to do an odd errand – there is a 250 year old woman who has asked Didi to find and retrieve her heart for her).
This is a graphic novel, highlighting the character Death from the “Sandman” series.. I liked it better than the ones I’ve read from the Sandman series. The introduction by Tori Amos was odd. I also though the “afterword” comic on sex and AIDS was odd, but it was published I 1993, so I guess he was trying to get some factual info out there. But I liked the character who is Death, and her kind-of friendship with Sexton. I also loved her “look” – dark and goth.
12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), GenreCAT, AlphaKITThe Tao of Martha: My Year of LIVING; Or, Why I'm Never Getting All That Glitter Off of the Dog / Jen Lancaster
3.5 stars
In this memoir of Jen’s, she looks back at 2012, when she made an effort to emulate her idol, Martha Stewart. She wanted to get organized around her house and throw great parties…
The memoir included more than Martha Stewart… it included other happenings that year, such as the loss of her beloved dog Maisie. That was the toughest part of the book, in my opinion, but it certainly hit my heart. The other memorable part, for me was her mammograms. Other bits of it were off and on funny. I’m not a Martha Stewart fan, personally, so that wasn’t a draw for me at all. I listened to the audio, narrated by Jen herself, and she did fine with the narration.
12x12 Travel, Trim the TBR (Classic + PBT)Daughter of Time / Sarah Woodbury
3.75 stars
Meg has a toddler daughter, Anna, and just recently buried her abusive husband, who she’d been trying to leave. When Meg and Anna are driving one night, an accident spins their vehicle, but when they wake up, Meg thinks someone is playing a prank. They have woken up in the 13th century, and the man taking care of her is the Prince of Wales (when Wales was still its own country). At this time, the Prince, Llywelyn, has made a tentative peace with the Prince (King?) of England, but still has people coming after him, including his own traitorous brother, Dafydd.
I quite enjoyed this time travel/historical fiction/romance. The chapters alternated points of view between Meg and Llywelyn. I did prefer the chapters from Meg’s POV, likely due to a. being a woman, and b. being able to “picture” how one might react shifting in time from present day to the 13th century! I liked the pronunciation guide (for Welsh) at the start of the book. Apparently this is a prequel to a series, but I haven’t (yet) read any of the rest of the series (though I plan to continue now!)
12x12 Off the Shelf, MysteryKITThe Escape Room / Megan Goldin
4.25 stars
When four co-workers are brought together last-minute on a Friday night, no one expects this. They are meant to do an escape room – is this team building? No one really knows why they were asked to come, but the prestigious financial firm where they work has been laying people off, so Vincent (team lead), Jules, Sylvie, and Sam don’t feel that they can decline. Their escape room has them locked in an elevator, solving clues. But they don’t seem to be able to get out no matter what they do…
I’ve done a lot of escape rooms and they are fun, but this is terrifying! In a real elevator, not having the safety features of a set-up room, and not even knowing who set it all up. None of the characters are especially likable. The chapters actually alternate between the four in the elevator, and backing up in time to another character, Sara Hall, who once worked with them, so her chapters go over her time at the firm. Despite disliking the characters, I certainly wanted to keep reading!
12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), AlphaKITThe Richest Woman in America: The Life and Times of Hetty Green / Janet Wallach
2 stars
Hetty Green was born in 1834 and, despite being a girl, learned about money and investments from her father (hmm, on reading the blurb, this may not have been where she learned this – at least not directly). She also seemed quite litigious and took offense when inheritances she thought should go to her didn’t. She was a very wealthy woman.
I listened to the audio, and though the narrator didn’t appear to have an accent, she did pronounce some vowels oddly, which distracted me. Combine that with really being kind of boring and I wasn’t impressed. Because of being somewhat boring, I may not have the summary exactly right, as I wasn’t paying attention to parts of the book. And I didn’t particularly like Hetty. In some ways, she was obviously before her time.
12x12 Off the Shelf, Trim the TBR (Classic), ScaredyKITNightmares and Dreamscapes / Stephen King
3.25 stars
I’ve had this book since university and I can’t remember if I read it back then or not. I decided to (re)read. As with all short story collections, I liked some better than others. There were a few I really liked in the first half and I was debating about rating this higher than other short story collections I’ve read in the past, but some of the stories in the second half brought my rating down a bit.
I think something I’m not crazy about with short stories is the energy it takes to move from one to the other so quickly. I always knew that I often didn’t like how short they were because I’d just be “getting’ into the story, when it would end and move on to the next. It was reading this that it occurred to me it takes “energy” to start with a new story so often – you have to get to know new characters and a new plot.
Some of the stories I really liked included Dolce’s Cadillac, Chattery Teeth, You Know They Got a Hell of a Band (if I hadn’t read this one before, I had definitely heard about it), Rainy Season, Sorry Right Number (this was more of a screenplay, but I quite liked it). His last “story” was more of a diary/journal (nonfiction) about his son’s Little League baseball team and a successful season they had. He included an interesting note at the end with a bit of information behind some of the stories.
12x12 Off the Shelf, Trim the TBR (Classic + PBT), AlphaKITThe Dreams of Ada / Robert Mayer
4 stars
In 1984, in the “town” of Ada, Oklahoma, Denice Haraway left her job at a convenience store/gas station with a man (they simply looked like a couple). When the people who saw them leave went inside, the clerk (Denice) was no where to be found. It appeared that the place had also been robbed. It was only later that they realized the woman they saw leaving was the clerk.
When composite sketches brought Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot to the attention of the police, they were brought in and questioned. When both confessed on camera, that pretty much sealed the deal. It wasn’t long before they recanted – said they thought their confessions (given under pressure) would easily be exposed as lies. But, despite a LOT of inconsistencies in those confessions, the two were arrested and charged.
I didn’t know the outcome of this. I may have when I heard about the book, but by the time of reading it now, I didn’t remember. I don’t want to say too much if anyone wants to read the book to see what happened and not find out things ahead of time. Even behind my spoiler tag, I haven’t specifically said, but I expect one might be able to figure it out, so you are warned!
(view spoiler) There were parts in the book that were a little more dry – sections that included things written by Tommy (he’s not very literate), and other legal details – but overall, it was interesting, particularly once they had the private investigator on the case. And suspenseful during the trials. This was originally published in 1987, but a new edition (with a new afterword) was published in 2006; the 2006 is the one I read.
12x12 Audio, Fly the Skies, BingoDOGA Piece of the World / Christina Baker Kline
2.5 stars
I listened to the audio and missed much of the first half of the book, so the summary will be sparse. Christina was born with some kind of deformity in her legs, and as she gets older it’s harder and harder to walk. Oh, she grows up on a farm in Maine. That’s all I’ve got!
The book flips back and forth in time from when she is a child in the early 1900s to the mid-1900s as an adult, but the earlier storyline catches up with the later one. I finally did get some interest towards the end of the book, but by then, I didn’t know who some of the characters were – Sam? At one point, I thought he was a brother, but I’m not sure. Learned toward the end that Al is a brother. I also got mixed up with an early love interest, as I thought he was a later-on artist who used Christina as a model, but apparently they were two different people/characters.
Oh, and surprise (to me)! As I peruse some of the other reviews, I had no idea this was based on a real painting by a real artist, so presumably the artist in the story goes by the real artist’s name? Since I thought the love interest and the artist were the same person (other reviews reminded me his name – the love interest – was Walton), obviously I have no idea who this artist is, though it finally did occur to me that they were two different people when I realized, later on that the artist’s name started with an A (but after finishing the book, I can’t remember – apparently it’s Andrew). You can see I’m not much into art! Throughout most of the book, I was considering rating it 2 stars, but as I did finally get interested at the end, I upped it to 2.5.
12x12 Oh Canada, Travel Across Canada, BingoDOGThe Figgs / Ali Bryan
3.5 stars
June has just retired, but with her and Randy’s three adult children still living at home (though they’ve been trying to get rid of them for a while!), there’s not much time to relax. When she is trying to get her kids to help her clean the basement, her youngest son, Derek, gets a phone call. He needs to go to the hospital because Marissa is having her baby. Who is Marissa, June wonders, but they pile in the car to be there with Derek. Soon, Derek is home with a baby he’d only found out a week or so earlier that he was the father of. Daughter Vanessa seems to have a much older girlfriend – who new Vanessa was a lesbian!? Not June, nor Randy. Both June and Randy also have their own family issues going on at the same time…
This was a whirlwind! I liked it, but I’m sure happy to live alone. All that activity was crazy and would drive me insane! I like my quiet life. There was humour mixed in here and there, as well. This is a local author to me, so it’s always fun to read about places I know in my city.
12x12 Series, GenreCAT, BingoDOG, Trim the TBR (Classic)The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw /Christopher Healy
3.5 stars
This is the third (and final – sniff!) installment of the “Hero’s Guide” series, which follows the “League of Princes”. The League of Princes consists of four Princes Charming (which is not the real name of any of them!): Duncan, Liam, Frederic, and Gustav. Although the princesses (Snow, Rapunzel, (Cinder)Ella) have been involved in all adventures in the series, in addition, this time around, they (as well as an additional character Val Jeanval, and Lila, Liam’s younger sister) give themselves a name (which Snow shortens to ffff… though I can’t remember what exactly it stands for! But I liked Snow’s shortened version!).
Anyway, in this one, all our heros are “WANTED” for the murder of Briar Rose (aka Sleeping Beauty), though they don’t even realize it initially! There are bounty hunters on their tail, looking for the “untold riches” that are promised to those who bring them back alive.
As usual, this was fun! I listened to the first two on audio, which I think added to the “ambiance”, though I do recall that I did occasionally lose interest, but Bronson Pinchot was the narrator and with all the accents and voices he can do, what fun! With the ebook this time around (the library did not have the audio for this one), I do think I was able to keep more focus, though I did miss those voices and accents! I am sad that the series is finished.
12x12 Reading Through Time, Read Thru Timr, GenreCAT, HistoryCATBloody Jack / L.A. Meyer
3.75 stars
At the end of the 18th century, Mary thinks she was about 8 years old or so when her parents died and she was literally put out on the street and left to fend for herself. She managed to join up with some other homeless kids and they begged and stole and did what they could for money and food. When she was a few years older, Mary decided to dress like a boy and she managed to get on a ship as a ship’s boy. But no one knew she was really girl as they went about their adventures on the sea.
I listened to the audio and loved the accent. I think it was a Cockney accent (had to look that up!). I quite enjoyed this and it gets the extra ¼ star for the audio. The story was fun, too. It’s odd, but whether I listen to or read adventure, I tend to not pay as much attention to the adventure parts. Odd, I know. But I still quite liked the story and I will be continuing the series.
12x12 Animals, PBT, Pursue It, BingoDOGWoman in the Mists: The Story of Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas of Africa / Farley Mowat
4.5 stars
Dian Fossey was chosen by Louis Leakey (the same man who sent Jane Goodall to study chimpanzees) to study gorillas. Dian did not have a degree in a related field, though she loved animals. She started in the 1960s until she was murdered in her cabin in 1986. She fell hard for some men (though she never married), but she also did not get along with a lot of people, including some of the students who came to work with her. There was a lot of friction as different people had different ideas about how Karisoke (where she ultimately ended up studying the gorillas in the Virunga Mountains in Rwanda) should run.
The gorillas (and other animals there) were often targeted by poachers and the area also had farmers who allowed their cows into what was supposed to be a protected park area. Dian took it upon herself, in order to save the gorillas, to do (and train others to help… plus she used her own money to pay people since the park rangers didn’t appear to do anything to help) what she called “active conservation”. That is, destroying the snares/traps, rescuing as many animals caught in those traps and by poachers as possible, and catching the poachers. She didn’t agree with bringing tourists to visit the habituated gorillas, though she later relented as long as they were small groups, but she still wasn’t overly happy about it.
Farley Mowat took much of this book from Dian’s own journals/writings, and changes the font in the book to indicate when/where he is using Dian’s words. He fills in the rest. I read “Gorillas in the Mist” years ago. It focuses more on the gorillas themselves, whereas this (though it includes some of the gorillas) focuses more on Dian and the politics and relations with the various people involved. I also read a book by two of Dian’s former students who she didn’t get along with, but I don’t recall all the animosity (but it was so long ago, I may not be remembering, or maybe they left out some of the political issues). In any case, it would be a dream for me to study wild animals in the wild! So, I really enjoyed this. Frustrating at the people who weren’t helping Dian more with her “active” conservation, though I’m not sure I would be brave enough to confront poachers with guns and machetes, either!
12x12 Off the Shelf, AlphaKIT, RandomCAT, GenreCAT, BingoDOGUprooted / Naomi Novik
4 stars
Every 10 years, the Dragon comes to the valley to select a 17-year old girl to go with him. She is not seen again for the next 10 years. The people allow this because the Dragon makes sure the evil in the Wood that surrounds them stays at bay. Growing up, Agnieszka (and everyone else) always knew it would be her smart, beautiful best friend, Kasia, who is chosen. Possible spoiler, though it happens in the first couple of chapters: (view spoiler)
I really enjoyed this. This one has (Baba) Jaga mentioned – she’s not a character, as she is long-dead, but she is mentioned and her effects are felt. Many know that I am not always a fantasy fan (depends on the type of fantasy), but I do like fairy tales. This one had a lot going on – not all at once, but one thing after another. Lots of adventure in this one.
12x12 Animals, Trim the TBR (Classic)What's a Dog For?: The Surprising History, Science, Philosophy, and Politics of Man's Best Friend / John Homans
4 stars
In this book, the author looks at various aspects of the history of dogs and dog-human relationships. Some of the topics include evolution, dog behaviour (also compared to other animals), breeds, rescues, etc.
I quite liked this. Despite being an audio book, I was kept interested (though apparently, I don’t have much to mention in my review!).
12x12 Travel, Trim (classic), HistoryCATMadame Tussaud: A Life in Wax / Kate Berridge
3 stars
Madame Tussaud was taught by her “uncle”(? Not sure if he was really her uncle, or just the man her mother worked for) to form wax models. She also turned out to be a pretty good marketer and businesswoman. She lived through the French Revolution, then took her wax figures with her to England. From there, she travelled through Scotland and Ireland. Meanwhile, her husband and one son (the other son was with her) stayed in France (until the younger son was in his early 20s, at which time he joined his mother and brother). A man she had gone into business with when she went to England and her husband took advantage of her brilliant head for business (and the money that came from it).
Most of what people know of the early part of Marie Grosholtz’s (Madame Tussaud’s) life came from her own autobiography. This author tries to verify (but has a hard time doing so) much of what Marie wrote about her own life. It seems that there may have been a lot of exaggeration, particularly during the French Revolution, when she created wax figures out of decapitated heads during the “Terror”. It was easier to verify her life (as she became more well-known) once she moved to England.
The book was ok, but a few too many parts of it were kind of dry reading. All I knew about her was from Michelle Moran’s book, but her book pretty much ended when Marie moved to England. I hadn’t realized she had done as much travelling as she had – to promote her show and her wax models. She really does seem to have had a good head for business, but much of her money was taken by a bad deal with the man she went into business with in England (until she untangled herself from him) and her dud of a husband in France.
12x12 NonfictionEl Deafo / Cece Bell
4 stars
Cece Bell grew up in the ‘70s. Just before kindergarten she became sick and lost her hearing. She was horrified to have to go to school (not including her first year when she was in a school with other deaf kids) with a hearing aid and a case (the “Phonic Ear”) strapped to her chest. The case worked with a microphone she had her teachers speak into so she could hear. Well, she could hear without it, but it wasn’t clear enough for her to understand. She found that she could hear her teachers, with the microphone, even when they weren’t in the classroom! Although she had a hard time making friends and was often lonely, she tried to consider her hearing loss (and the resulting use of the hearing aid) her superpower! This is a graphic novel depicting her childhood.
I enjoyed this. This is a story meant for kids. There were a lot of up and down emotions in this one, and she sprinkled in some humour at times, as well.
12x12 Animals, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)All My Patients Kick and Bite: More Favorite Stories from a Vet's Practice / Jeff Wells
3.5 stars
This is a set of stories/essays, in the vein of James Herriott, about a vet and his interesting cases. Dr. Wells also includes some personal information in some of the stories, as well. Dr. Wells is in Colorado.
I enjoyed this. I’m not sure if there are more in his series of stories, but if there is, I will continue reading them.
12x12 Read Thru Time, Reading Through Time, Trim the TBR (Classic), Travel Across CanadaThe Devil's Making / Sean Haldane
3 stars
Chad Hobbes went to law school in England, but never wrote the bar exam. In 1868, he has come to British Columbia, a British colony, but not yet part of Canada (which was just recently formed in the east), but without having written the bar, he cannot practice as a lawyer, so he gets a job as a constable in Victoria. When an American “alienist” (psychiatrist - I had to look it up!) is found murdered in a very gruesome way, everyone assumes it’s the First Nations people who are closeby who killed him. One is arrested and it is assumed he will soon hang for it. Hobbes, though, doesn’t think he (nor any of the other natives) did it, and he sets out to find who really did it. In the meantime, Hobbes finds himself attracted to the sister of the man who was arrested.
Be warned: this was quite gruesome in the details. Also, there was a lot of investigation into sexual things. There is definite racism here, primarily against native people. Overall, I’m rating this ok. There were parts that just didn’t interest me, so I kind of tuned out, but other parts were fine and I followed without an issue. I’m thinking maybe the writing style? The odd thing is that I love historical fiction, I also like mysteries (though some types more than others), but oddly, more often than not, historical mysteries don’t interest me as much. I have no idea why.
I did like the Canadian background in this, though. I’ve been to Victoria a couple of times, so I could picture some of the places mentioned. There was an odd (I thought) twist and I felt like the end was a bit too much all tied up – except for one thing. That one thing wasn’t a happy one (and it was apparently a real event). The brief afterword also explained that many of the people were real people.
12x12 BIPOC, GenreCAT, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)I Do Not Come to You by Chance / Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani.
3 stars
In Nigeria, Kingsley’s father is very sick, and to pay for his hospital bills, Kingsley must go to his rich uncle for money to pay for his father’s care. Uncle Boniface (more well-known in the community as Cash Daddy) shamefully (to the rest of the family) gets his money from 419 email scams. Kingsley has an engineering degree but is unable to find a job. This eventually forces him to work for his uncle.
This was ok. I’m not sure there were many characters I particularly liked, and it was a bit slow in the first half. The end also confused me a bit, as I’m not exactly sure what happened there. I had briefly considered upping my rating a bit until the end.
12x12 PBT, PBT, GenreCATA Prayer for the Dying / Stewart O'Nan
2.5 stars
In a small town in Wisconsin in the 19th century, “you” (Jacob) is a preacher, an undertaker (and apparently, a sheriff, which I missed). An illness has come into town and people are dying. Not only that, there is a wildfire nearby.
It’s a short book. Right off the bat, I wasn’t liking the second-person narrative, so I didn’t like the writing style. It wasn’t easy to follow, and for a while there were a couple of people who I wasn’t sure whether or not they were dead or still alive, after all. I appear to be in a minority, but I’m not a fan of this one.
12x12 PBT, PBT, Pursue It, Fly the SkiesThe Witch Elm / Tana French
4 stars
When Toby’s house is broken into, and Toby confronts the burglars, he is beaten pretty badly. After some time in the hospital, it is decided that he should go live with his uncle (who is dying of cancer) in the “Ivy House”. It’s a house where Toby and his cousins spent a lot of time when they were growing up. Not long after Toby arrives, his cousin’s kids are playing in the yard and discover a skull in the giant tree in the garden! This leads to some interesting confessions amongst the cousins…
I really liked this! I listened to the audio. Have to admit that some of the parts (especially near the beginning), I lost a bit of interest, but that was just mostly Toby with his buddies. The story got much more interesting after Toby and his girlfriend Melissa moved in with Uncle Hugo. Really, the narrator was just fine. The last 2/3 of it definitely kept me interested and though a few things weren’t necessarily twists, there were a few of those thrown in, as well.
12x12 Series, PBTA Barricade In Hell / Jaime Lee Moyer
3.5 stars
It’s 1917. Delia sees ghosts, and lately there have been a lot of them following her detective husband Gabe around. Gabe is now investigating what looks like a ritual murder. As Gabe and his partner/friend, Jack, continue in their investigation, they discover more and more people who have disappeared. Sometimes Delia and her mentor/friend Dora are brought in to help Gabe and Jack with their cases, and this appears to be needed this time around.
This is the second book in a series. The chapters alternate between Delia and Gabe, and in this one, I found Gabe’s murder investigation more interesting than Delia’s ghosts. In my opinion, this wasn’t nearly as good as the first book. It’s been a few years, so I can’t compare directly, but the first one did make my favourites that year. This one – there was a lot going on – a lot of action – and I’m usually interested in ghosts, as well as murder mysteries, but this one didn’t pull me in as much. I’m still rating it “good”. There is currently one more book in the series (I’m not sure if it ends at a trilogy, or if she’s writing more for the series) and I will be reading it.
12x12 Oh Canada, BingoDOG, AlphaKIT, PBT TrimIn the Mood for Peace: The Story of the Izzy Doll / Phyllis Wheaton.
4 stars
The Izzy Doll is a small knitted/crocheted doll that Canadian peacekeepers have been giving out to kids in war-torn countries, or just poor kids in countries where they are posted. It started with Mark Isfeld, who died in Croatia in 1994 while serving a peacekeeping mission there. He was trying to clear landmines at the time. Previous to his death, though, he told his mom back in Canada how much he wanted to give these kids something to call their own. She started making these little dolls and shipping them to her son to hand out. This has since grown into a much much larger project, where people all over the country (and some in the US) help knit/crochet these little dolls to bring smiles to those kids’ faces.
The book is also a biography of Mark, and both his parents, and it also looks at peacekeeping and peacekeepers, as well as landmines and the attempt to rid the world of them, as they are so dangerous long after conflicts end. There is also some memoir added in as Phyllis travels and talks to various people she focuses on in the book (the Isfelds and others).
I had never heard of the Izzy Doll before Phyllis, the author of the book (and an acquaintance of mine!) gifted a copy of the book to me. As sad as it was for the soldier whose idea it was to have died not long after he started handing them out (and both his parents died within months of each other in 2007), it is absolutely an uplifting book. The book is also peppered with photos of the Isfelds and more.
12x12 BIPOC, PBT, Pursue It, GenreCAT, ScaredyKITMexican Gothic / Silvia Moreno-Garcia
3.25 stars
Noemi has gone to see her recently-married cousin, Catalina, who married suddenly and is now living in a remote large house with her new husband’s family. Noemi’s father is worried about some letters Catalina has written, as it sounds like she is very ill, so he wanted Noemi to go see how Catalina is doing and see if she can help. Catalina’s husband, Virgil, and his entire family is very odd, to say the least… and it seems quite apparent that they don’t want Noemi there.
The book is slow moving. I listened to the audio, which was fine, but not a whole lot happened until about the last quarter of the book. It did pick up, but not enough for me to raise my rating very much (the extra .25 is for when it finally picked up). I’ve seen this compared to “Rebecca” as a Mexican Rebecca, and Rebecca also started very slow, but there was something about the atmosphere in Rebecca and the story that had me like it better, overall. The atmosphere was done well in this one, too, but one thing I didn’t like were the odd, kind of psychedelic, dreams Noemi was having. Those were just...weird. That did put me off some. Overall, 3 stars for me is ok, and I added the little extra for the pick up at the end.
12x12 Nonfiction, BingoDOG, AlphaKITWhen Breath Becomes Air / Paul Kalanithi
3 stars
The author was only 36 years old, and hadn’t quite graduated yet to become a neurosurgeon/neuroscientist, when he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. At one point, he considered an English degree, so he set to putting his story down in a book.
It was ok. It (rightfully) felt short and he seemed to skip through large amounts of time. I know it’s because he tried to write it all when he had a limited time left, and in the epilogue, written by his wife Lucy, she specifically said he didn’t finish his book. I was more interested in his life events over the theology/philosophy discussion he added in at times. I listened to the audio, which was fine. I did like that they brought in a female narrator to read the epilogue written by Lucy.
12x12 Off the Shelf, RandomCAT, AlphaKIT, Pursue ItWhat the Dead Leave Behind / Rosemary Simpson
4 stars
It’s March 1888 in New York City. The day a huge blizzard blows in (this was a real event), Prudence’s fiancee (Charles, a lawyer) is out walking with a couple other men. One of them decides he can’t go on, but Charles goes on with his friend and fellow lawyer, Roscoe. Roscoe gets further ahead, and when Charles stops to rest, he is knocked out and dies in the cold.
Prudence has also only recently lost her own father (a judge). She is now living with her hated stepmother, Victoria (Victoria and Prudence’s father had only been married a couple of years), and unfortunately, Victoria is trustee to Prudence’s inheritance until she turns 31. The trusteeship was supposed to have transferred over to Charles when they married in only 2 weeks.
Prudence and Charles’ best friend Geoffrey (also a lawyer) work on trying to figure out what’s going on, and how to help Prudence get her rightful inheritance out of her stepmother’s grasp.
I was very impressed with the descriptions of the snow storm. I also loved that Prudence was treated so well by her father; they were very close and he treated her more like a son… as in, he taught her a lot of lawyer-ly stuff that a woman, at that time, would never normally have learned. Prudence is smart and I like how the men/lawyers she is working with (Roscoe, in addition to Geoffrey) accept that she is capable. We have an idea what happened early on, but spend the book trying to figure out how it all happened. There were a lot of characters, though, so I did tend to forget who was who at times, and it was a bit of a tangle/maze even once it was revealed how everything happened. I have no issues with how things ended and I will continue with the second book in the series.
12x12 ARCsThe Last Thing He Told Me / Laura Dave
4 stars
Hannah has been married to Owen for two years. Owen had a daughter previously, Bailey, who is now 16-years old. One day, Owen just doesn’t come home again. He sends a note to Hannah that just says “Protect her”. As Hannah hears on the news, the owner of the company Owen has been working for has been arrested and charged with fraud.
This was really good. Another one that pulled me in right away and kept me wondering. I definitely didn’t expect the ending. Told from Hannah’s point of view, some chapters backed up in time to see the relationship (and some earlier events) between Hannah and Owen.
Local Woman Missing / Mary Kubica5 stars
11 years ago… a woman with a baby waits for her husband to come home. It’s late but she heads out for a “run” – or so she tells her husband. She is actually cheating on him (but to be “fair”, it seems he is also cheating on her). Now… Delilah lives in a dark basement. She doesn’t know how old she is or how long she’s been there, but she knows she’s outgrown her shoes and clothes. There is nothing in the basement except a toilet, Delilah, and Gus, who came some time after Delilah had been there a while. 11 years ago (May)… we follow Kate (Delilah’s neighbour), as Delilah’s dad knocks on the door on a rainy night, not knowing where his 6-year old little girl, Delilah, is or his wife, Meredith. 11 years ago (March)… we follow Meredith, Delilah’s mom, a doula, and yoga instructor, as she wonders where the threatening texts she’s been receiving are coming from…
Those are snapshots from the start of the book. The book does go back and forth in time, and switches perspective (each chapter tells you the time and whose perspective it is, so it’s easy to follow), but it pulled me in immediately and kept me wanting to read! I didn’t want to put down the book, though there are a couple of parts that had me nervous: reading at night at home by myself, not wanting to turn the lights out for bed! Some great twists in this one, and it had me scared a couple of times. Adds up to 5 stars from me.
12x12 ARCsThe Clover Girls / Viola Shipman
3.5 stars
Em(ily), Rachel, V(eronica), and Liz met at summer camp in 1985 and became life-long friends (or so they thought). They spent the next four summers together and they called themselves the “Clover Girls”. Unfortunately, that last summer, there was a rift that pulled them apart. Em tried to keep in touch with everyone, but mostly they went their separate ways and had their own lives.
Liz had a family, then divorced, and in current day, is a realtor and watches over her mother in a care home (her kids and grandkids never visit); V became a model, then married and gave up her career for her husband and kids; Rach was an actress for a while, then went into politics… well, I’m not sure what exactly she is, but she works for a very conservative politician and she seems to do some kind of damage control (in the form of being in the spotlight to explain things, mostly things with regard to policies around women).
When they each get a letter out of the blue from Em, she is already dead. She wants them to revisit the camp to spread her ashes, and of course, to come together again.
I enjoyed this. I loved all the 80s references! Starting with friendship pins (remember those!?), then of course, the music and movies… What brought the rating down a bit for me was that there was a bit more gushi-ness than I would have liked. Maybe it’s because I’m really not a gushy person (at all! Probably the opposite), but it didn’t seem real to me. It was too much for me. Also, one thing near the end… I felt like a couple of the women acted very childishly in that one event. They didn’t act like adults. Overall, though, I still liked the book. Liz and Em (easily) were my favourite characters, and I did like Liz’s storyline. There is also a book club guide at the end; I hadn’t thought of it as a book club book but there were some good questions included.
12x12 BIPOC, GenreCATBraiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants / Robin Wall Kimmerer
3.25 stars
The author is an Indigenous woman who studied botany, so she learned our white scientific ways to study and research. But she combines that with everything she learned while growing up Indigenous – the traditional “ways of knowing”, specifically with regards to trees, plants, nature.
I love the philosophy that nature is so much more than white people (and scientists) give it credit for. I can’t even explain, but I really did agree with most of what she described. I listened to the audio (read by the author) and I did lose focus at various parts, so I did miss some of it. But there were plenty of other interesting things mentioned/explained that I enjoyed listening to.
12x12 PBT, PBT, GenreCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic), Pursue ItVanishing and Other Stories / Deborah Willis
2.75 stars
A book of short stories… I’ve said it before – I’m not usually a fan of short stories, and I wasn’t here, either. There was one that I liked; there were a few more that were ok – I wouldn’t say I liked them, but at least they held my attention; the others, I just wasn’t interested in and didn’t even manage to follow.
I hate writing a bad review about a book by a Canadian author, but I’ve actually also met this author a couple of times (and my book is a signed copy). I did like that some of the stories were set, not only in Canada, but in my city (Calgary – where the author lives, or did the last I knew), and in another city I’ve visited a couple of times (Victoria), so it’s always nice to recognize the places mentioned/described.
12x12 PBT, Pursue It, HistoryCATVictoria's Daughters / Jerrold M. Packard
3.75 stars
This is a nonfiction book about Queen Victoria and her daughters. Of course, there is info about her and her entire family, but the focus is on her five daughters: Vicky, Alice, Helena (known as Lenchen), Louise, and Beatrice. They all had very different personalities. Of course, Victoria wanted to keep one of her girls with her all her life – someone to be there and take care of her, particularly after she lost her husband, Albert, quite young.
3.5 stars for enjoyability – that is, it was good – but I gave it that little extra because of the sheer amount of information included. I do feel like this is a really good source to find information about Queen Victoria’s daughters. There were a few parts where I lost interest, mostly with German/Prussian politics, but I can see why it was included with Vicky married to a future Kaiser, so it absolutely affected her life.
Being Canadian myself, I was interested in Louise and Lorne’s years in Canada; also of interest were where a couple of the province and city names came from. I did find it started to get confusing when the focus started being on Victoria’s grandchildren. Partly because of the common, repeated names, but also just because there got to be so many! Luckily, the author did find ways to refresh my memory. I found it interesting at the end as the generations passed on to the next monarch(s) – something we usually don’t think about – those sisters became further and further away from the crown every time it passed on.
12x12 Series, (April) MysteryCATFile M for Murder / Miranda James
3.5 stars
Archivist and rare book cataloguer Charlie Harris’ adult daughter, Laura, has come “home” for a semester to teach acting at the local college. Unfortunately, the distasteful playwright Connor Lawson is also in town. He just rubs Charlie the wrong way! Not only does Connor happen to be working with Laura, Charlie finds out Laura once dated him, and he does not want to take no for an answer. It’s not long before Laura gets some threatening mail. And a bit later… someone is found murdered.
I do enjoy this series! As a librarian (and a cataloguer), I like the library tidbits included (the author is a library cataloguer). There’s some fun interaction between Charlie, Laura, and Charlie’s son, Sean (and a couple of boarders at Charlie’s house), too. And I have to mention Charlie’s smart Maine Coon cat (all 36 lbs of him!), although I do feel like Diesel wasn’t as much in this one as the others, but it’s been a while, so I might not be remembering. The murder doesn’t actually happen until about 1/3 of the way into the book, as the first bit is introductions to the characters. I really do enjoy this series and will be continuing.
12x12 Read Thru Time, Reading Thru Time, Travel Across CanadaLate Nights on Air / Elizabeth Hay
2 stars
This story revolves around people who work at a radio station in the mid-1970s in Yellowknife, NWT. Dido and Gina are fairly new to Yellowknife and the radio station. All the men seem to be attracted to Dido.
Wow, this was boring. There were a couple of mildly interesting things that happened – thee was debate on a new pipeline that a company wanted to put in and a woman disappeared in winter. But, overall, pretty slow and boring. And I didn’t see one likable thing about Dido, who seemed to just go back and forth between the men. In fact, I don’t think I really liked very many of the characters… maybe Gwen, but then I skimmed so much of the book in the end, so hard to say if she really was likable.
I’m not sure why I added it to the tbr… looking now, I see it was either nominated for or won the Giller Prize, which should have been a red flag waving me away, but if the story initially sounds interesting, I will still often try them. I see the GR description also says “Written in gorgeous prose…”, which should also be a warning to me.
12x12 Series, (April) HistoryCATThe Valley of Horses / Jean M. Auel
3.25 stars
A continuation of “The Clan of the Cave Bear”, I won’t say too much about how it happened, but in this book, Ayla is on her own, trying to survive, and looking for what the Clan call “the Others” – that is, people of her kind. She finds a nice spot to settle and manages to tame a horse, and raise a lion cub! Meanwhile (and I missed the circumstances around it), two brothers, Jondalar and Thonalan are travelling. Thonalan becomes injured, so they find a group of people to stay with while he improves.
I listened to the audio, so I did miss some things. Overall, I liked the story (I preferred Ayla’s chapters), but (and I will use terminology I found in other reviews), I didn’t think the “caveman porn” was necessary (though there was less of it than I expected, based on reviews). I could have done without the majority of it, though. I do hear it gets worse as the series goes on, but I think (for now), the story is interesting enough for me to continue to the next book. I also thought, for a prehistoric man, Jondalar was maybe a bit too contemporary in his attitudes toward women. Not everything was contemporary, but certainly more than I expected, although I guess we don’t really know what prehistoric culture was like. I did enjoy learning about the making of fire, tools, and the survival strategies and I loved Ayla’s animal companions. ¼ star was taken off for the caveman porn aspect.
12x12 PBT, Fly the Skies, RandomCATOrphan Train / Christina Baker Kline
4 stars
In 2011, teenaged orphan/foster “child” Molly is in trouble and has to do some community service. Her boyfriend’s mom works for a rich old lady and gets her an interview with the lady to help her sort out her attic as her community service. While helping Vivian, Molly learns more about Vivian’s life as an orphan/foster child – starting in the 1920s – and as she grew up. Vivian started life in Ireland as Niamh (pronounced Neev), and came to New York City with her family. It wasn’t long before she was on her own and was sent on a train heading west with other orphans. This is a train that brought orphans to families who “wanted” them (or wanted free labour), and she was shuffled around a bit more.
I really liked this. I thought Vivian’s story was more interesting than Molly’s, though I did like the friendship that developed between them. I did know about these trains, as I’m sure I’ve read another book on the topic. (Looked it up, similar situation with the British Home Children who were sent to Canada…) My edition of the book has an author’s note, reading guide, etc, which included some photos of some of the real “orphan train” children.
12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR, GenreCATHallucinations / Oliver Sacks
3.25 stars
Oliver Sacks is a neuroscientist, and this book includes essays on the topic of hallucinations. There were chapters on blindness, Parkinsons, epilepsy, drugs, migraines, narcolepsy, and a lot more, as well as a couple of chapters on auditory and smell hallucinations.
It was mostly interesting, but some parts did lose my interest. His books are like that for me (well, the few that I’ve read).
12x12 Overflow, RandomCATOrdinary Grace / William Kent Krueger
4 stars
It’s summer, 1961 in small-town Minnesota. Frank is 13-years old; he has an 11-year old younger brother Jake, and an older sister, Ariel (17 or 18). Their father is a minister. At the beginning of the summer, another boy Frank’s age died on or near the train tracks. It’s only a few days later when Frank finds another dead body near the same area. With the “nameless itinerant” (as he is called througout the rest of the book), Frank and Jake see a Native man, but they sense no harm from him, Warren Redbird, so they talk with him a bit. I don’t want to say too much more, but there is a mystery in the book and it kind of is a summer of death. The back of the book says “it was a grim summer in which death visited frequently and assumed many forms. Accident. Nature. Suicide. Murder.”
I really liked this. It was slow moving, but I still enjoyed it. The pace did kind of pick up, maybe half way through the book. I was a bit concerned about how it would end, but it turned out as I “hoped” it would.
12x12 AudioShadow on the Crown / Patricia Bracewell
3 stars
In the early 1000s, Emma of Normandy was chosen by her mother to travel to England to marry the older king. She was more the age of his eldest son, but she was also ambitious. The agreement was that she would be made queen (the king’s previous wife and mother of his many sons was never made queen). Things get dangerous for Emma when the Danish king attacks England, even though Emma’s mother is Danish.
Although I’m only rating it “ok”, I will add the second book to my tbr. I don’t think I’ve read anything (or if I have, it’s very little) about this time period, so I’d like to know more. I listened to the audio, so I’m certain that’s why I missed things. It did pick up for me in the middle. There were a few other perspectives in the book, but it took me a while to “catch” this.
12x12 Travel, MysteryKIT, AlphaKITHeadhunters / Jo Nesbo
3 stars
Roger Brown is a headhunter, pretty much the best. He is married to Diana, but can’t really afford the lifestyle she wants. She runs a small art gallery (that he paid for). When the former head of a tech company in Amsterdam comes to Norway, he is the perfect candidate for a big tech company in Oslo. When Roger meets him, he also discovers that he has a rare piece of artwork. Far too tempting for the sometimes-art thief/forger! And things go very awry…
It took me a while to “get into” this. Even when it picked up, unfortunately, my mind was a bit elsewhere, but I did get my mind back on what I was reading after a bit. At first, the twist at the end confused me a bit, but it was explained. It’s kind of one of those things where it’s tempting to go back knowing what you know “now”, at the end of the book, to see how you had been led astray in your thinking. I’m rating it “ok”, but I feel like if my mind had been paying better attention at the moment it picked up, I “should” be rating it good.
12x12 Off the Shelf, AlphaKIT, ScaredyKITThe Invited / Jennifer McMahon
4.25 stars
In the early 20th century, Hattie was seen as a “witch” because she saw things before they happened. In 1924, she warned people not to send their children to school because it was going to be burned down. She was right – three kids died and the townspeople hanged Hattie for it. (This was the opening chapter, so not a spoiler.)
In 2015, Helen and Nate bought the land that Hattie had lived on. They lived in an old trailer while they built their dream home. Helen had been a history teacher, so she loved to research the history of the land they bought, so she learned more and more about Hattie and her descendants as she went. She brought in antique pieces to build into their home. But, Helen was also seeing Hattie, who seemed to be trying to communicate… Nate, a science teacher with a love for the local wildlife on their land (they live beside a bog), was drawn toward a white doe he catches glimpses of, but can’t seem to get a photo.
Next door, a young Olive, whose mother disappeared a year earlier (she apparently ran off with a man), doesn’t want Helen and Nate living on Hattie’s land. Olive and her mother were convinced Hattie had left a treasure and they were on the hunt to find it. Olive still planned to find it.
The chapters mostly went back and forth between Helen and Olive in 2015. There were only a few flashback chapters to traumatizing incidents. This is another really good book by Jennifer McMahon. She is very good at creepy. It would have been more so if I’d read more at night (tried to, but I fell asleep a couple of times – not due to the book, however!). I found following Helen more interesting than following Olive, but of course the stories do come together with a surprise end (though I guessed it only a few pages before it was revealed).
12x12 Oh Canada, PBT Trim, Trim the TBR, GenreCAT, Travel Across CanadaHerbert Has Lots for a Buck: How 12 Small Prairie Towns Reinvented Themselves for the 21st Century / Elizabeth McLachlan
4 stars
This book looks at twelve small towns on the Canadian Prairies, four towns in each of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. These are towns that have reinvented themselves to come back from dying out completely. One chapter for each town tells us the history of the town and what they’ve done to keep the town alive.
I grew up in a small town in Saskatchewan, so I found this really interesting. It might have helped that I know some of the towns (and I know about Rosebud, AB and Vulcan, AB and their “claims to fame,” so to speak); however, I really do think the stories of these towns could be interesting to anyone. The author really does write the stories of the towns very well. The book reminded me a bit of CBC’s “Still Standing”, except the book includes more town history, in addition to the current situations in the towns.
Favourites of mine were Craik, SK (now an eco-village) and Neubergthal, MB (done up as a historical Mennonite village). My Dad’s background is Mennonite, so that might also have helped with the interest there. Other towns (you can guess what Vulcan is famous for): Rosebud is for the dinner theatre in town; Warner, AB for a world-class women’s hockey program; Elbow, SK for their marina, Beacham, SK for the artists in town; Inglis, MB for their “elevator row” (historical grain elevators). The title really drew me to the book, as I have family in Herbert, SK. The author did not include Herbert as one of the essays, but she mentioned a bit about it (and the title) in the epilogue.
12x12 Travel, Trim the TBR (Classic), BingoDOG, AlphaKITNaked and Marooned: One Man. One Island. / Ed Stafford
3 stars
The author decided he wanted to maroon himself on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific (I believe in Fiji) for 60 days with nothing, including no clothes! Now, because he got a tv deal, he did have to take a camera and microphone, and there were daily “checks” (via note), if needed; also the drop place for the notes was also meant to replenish batteries. The notes were not to include anything to motivate.
This was interesting. I listened to the audio, though, so as is often the case, I did lose interest at times. I had a real hard time listening to how he hunted and killed, though. (Even the tv show did not air one of his (more brutal) kills.) The book not only looked at how he survived, but also he reflected on his mental state being so isolated.
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The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story / Ann Rule
4 stars
It’s hard to say how many women Ted Bundy murdered in the 1970s. Former Seattle policewoman Ann Rule was a friend of Bundy’s and it took her a long time to believe that he had actually done the things he was convicted of and put to death for. This book outlines the murders, as well as Ann’s friendship with Ted, and her realization that he did do those things.
Unfortunately, this was another abridged audio. Again, I feel like it was done well, in that I didn’t notice things that might have been missing. I just wish it had been the entire book! Like “Helter Skelter”, I did read this one back in high school, but given that that was 30+ years ago, I didn’t remember much of it. I actually hadn’t remembered the author’s friendship with Bundy at all (though the murders in Florida – the last ones he did – had stuck with me all this time, as well as other details about him). What I listened to was very good, though I’m not sure I’m a fan of Ann Rule reading her own books. Like with “Helter Skelter”, because this was an abridged version, I would still like to reread the entire book.