Play Book Tag discussion
Member Challenge Tracking 2021
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Cindy/LibraryCin's 2021 Challenges
12x12 Travel, ScaredyKIT, PBT, Fly the SkiesMy Sister, the Serial Killer / Oyinkan Brathwaite
3.5 stars
Korede is a nurse in Lagos, Nigeria. Her younger sister, Ayoola, has managed to murder each of her last three boyfriends and Korede is always there to help her out. But when Ayoola sets her sights on a doctor Korede works with… a man Korede has a crush on herself, she needs to figure out what to do.
This was good. Short chapters and a short book overall, so fast to read. But I was certainly interested. The book also looks back in time at the sisters’ relationship with their father (who died ten years earlier).
12x12 Nonfiction, Pursue ItMudlark: In Search of London's Past Along the River Thames / Lara Maiklem
3 stars
The author is a collector of sorts. “Mudlarking” is collecting items/artifacts that are washed up and found in the mud along the banks of the Thames River, and apparently a lot of people do this. Some of these items are hundreds of years old. Some of the items, she is able to restore herself, and some she sends away for restoration. The chapters are organized by the area, and each will give a bit of history of the area (as this can affect the types of items found there), combined with some of the items she has found and the history of those items.
I found some chapters more interesting than others – the one at Greenwich, which looked at some Tudor history (the Greenwich Castle was one of Henry VIII’s favourite residences), along with animal bones and utensils found (and thus meals and utensils used during Tudor times). Oddly, the other chapter that held my interest more than others was the one of current day garbage. Overall, I’m calling this one ok. I had hoped to like it more – the premise is something I feel like I am interested in – but for some reason, it just couldn’t hold my interest all the way through.
12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), BingoDOG, GenreCAT, Travel Across CanadaMrs. Mike / Benedict and Nancy Freedman
3 stars
In the early 1900s, Katherine (Kathy) is sent to Calgary, Alberta to live with her uncle due to her health, where she meets RCMP Mike. Although Kathy is only 16, they get married and move further north – where there aren’t many white women, and life is much more primitive than Kathy is used to.
Apparently this is based on a real person – I only found that out by looking at a few other reviews. I listened to the audio, which wavered in and out on holding my attention (or not). It was ok. Some parts I liked, but overall, ok. Had a hard time with a couple of parts about injured animals. I’m not sure I particularly liked any of the characters. Except for one secondary character (due to the unusual name), I tended to get those secondary characters mixed up. One of the good things, though, were descriptions of hardships encountered: loss, fire...
12x12 Audio, MysteryKIT, AlphaKITThe A.B.C. Murders / Agatha Christie
(BBC Dramatization)
3 stars
So, when someone is killing people starting with the beginning of the alphabet, they bring Poirot in by sending letters hinting at the next murder to come. So, the first person to die had both initials start with A and the town she was in started with A; then B, then C…
I listened to the BBC Dramatization (though I didn’t grab it on purpose), which is usually better for me than the books. I’ve found that many of these “golden age” (and earlier) mysteries just aren’t my thing. I liked the premise behind it, but this one still (even the dramatization) didn’t hold my attention well enough to follow everything. It may have been better (for me) than reading the actual book, though.
12x12 BIPOC, Trim the TBR (Classic), GenreCATRoots: The Saga of an American Family / Alex Haley
3.5 stars
In the mid-18th century, Kunta Kinte grew up in “The” Gambia, Africa. When he is about 17 “rains”, he is kidnapped and taken on a boat across the “big water” and finds himself in a strange new world; he doesn’t even understand the language. He tries to escape multiple times, but the 4th time, he is caught and punished severely. The book follows not only the rest of his life, but the lives of some of his descendants. Next up, his daughter, Kizzy; one of her sons, who later becomes known as “Chicken George”, as he raises and fights roosters; George’s son Tom becomes a blacksmith…
It’s starts of as fiction, but the last few chapters chronicle Alex Haley’s genealogical research and findings. I know there was controversy, but Haley even says himself that the people are real and as many situations as he could find in his research as possible are real; obviously specific conversations, etc. are fictionalized. I’ve added tags for historical fiction and biographical fiction, but also memoir for the last chapters. This had nothing to do with my rating, though.
3.5 stars for me is good. I liked it. It’s also very long. I don’t often rate really long books much higher than 3.5 stars. I think that it’s hard to sustain “really good” in a book over 800+ pages! (And keep in mind, I’m generally a tough rater, anyway.) I admire that this was a groundbreaking book at the time it was published, and it reached a wider audience with the tv mini-series. I only watched the movie as an adult (I was a kid when it would have originally aired on tv). There was a longer section in Africa than I’d expected. I wasn’t crazy about the cockfighting (though, obviously it happened – and sadly, still does). Overall, though, good book. I’m glad I finally read it.
12x12 Series, RandomCATThe Sleeping Beauty / Mercedes Lackey
4 stars
The godmother of the kingdom Eltaria, Lily, has been the Fairy Godmother there for about 300 years. Rosa is the current princess, and The Tradition is trying to morph Rosa’s life into a fairy tale (and mixing the fairy tales up in the process). When Rosa’s mother dies, Lily convinces Rosa’s father that he and Lily should marry in order to keep the kingdom safe. To keep up appearances for The Tradition, Lily acts as the Evil Stepmother to Rosa, particularly after the King dies.
At this point, in order to protect the small, but rich, kingdom from invaders, Lily (aka Queen Sable) invites princes from the neighbouring kingdoms to come vie for Rosa’s hand. To do this, Lily and Rosa (with the help of Lily’s magic mirror) come up with “trials” for the princes to compete in. One of the princes (in actual fact, a Hero), Siegfried is big and more of a fighter than anything, but there’s more to him than meets the eye. Also competing are Siegfried’s new friend Leopold and the charming and handsome Desmond.
I really enjoyed this, especially from about half-way through (maybe a bit earlier) when the trials began. The trials were fun. I also loved Siegfried, who has a wonderful way with animals. He also added some great humour into the book. Rosa and Lily were strong, tough women, which I also really liked.
12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic)I Hunt Killers / Barry Lyga
4 stars
Jasper (aka Jazz) Dent’s father, Billy, is a serial killer (with over 100 murders to his name). His mother disappeared a while ago, and his father is now in jail. Jazz lives with his senile grandmother (Billy’s mother). Although it’s more Jazz taking care of her than the other way around. Jazz is in high school and is afraid, due to how he was raised, that he will turn out like Billy. When there is one murder in town, Jazz is convinced it’s a serial killer, but the police won’t listen because it’s only one and there has to be at least three before they are considered serial. But Jazz not only knows, he is able to predict the next murder… That’s when the police start listening to what Jazz has to say.
I listened to the audio and this was good. Quite a different perspective on a serial killer novel. In addition to the murder mystery aspect of the book, Jazz was dealing with doubts about himself, and not knowing/worrying if/that he might turn out like his dad. I did find it a bit unbelievable that the cop would go to Jazz with details of the murders, but I guess he was hoping Jazz could help. Overall, though, I really liked this; it is a series and I will continue.
12x12 Travel, KITastrophe, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)The Other Side of the Night: The Carpathia, the Californian and the Night the Titanic Was Lost/ Daniel Allen Butler
4.25 stars
This is a book about the sinking of the Titanic, but more from the points of view of two of the closest ships that night. In fact, one of them – the Californian – was within sight distance and saw the distress rockets go up… and the captain, Stanley Lord, didn’t do anything. He was a very authoritarian captain and his subordinates didn’t feel that they could go against him. Further away (unfortunately a full 4 hours or so), was another ship – the Carpathia – whose captain, Arthur Rostron, immediately set sail as fast as the Carpathia had ever gone in her life to get to the Titanic as soon as possible. It was the Carpathia who plucked as many survivors as she could out of the lifeboats to safety.
This was really good. I’m sure I must have read snippets about these other ships in the other Titanic books I’ve read, but I don’t recall details from those books, though I knew the names of the ships. This was very detailed from those points of view. Leading up to the disaster, this also looked at brief biographies of the captains and a bit of history of the ship/cruise and wireless industries. There was also a close look at the inquiries afterward, both in the US and in Britain to get to the bottom of what happened that night
12x12 Nonfiction, HistoryCAT, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)The Women of the Cousins' War: The Duchess, the Queen, and the King's Mother / Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin, Michael K. Jones
3 stars
This is a biography of three women during the time of the Wars of the Roses (once called “The Cousins’ War”): Elizabeth Woodville (Edward IV’s wife, and the mother of the two “princes in the tower”), Jacquetta “Rivers”(?) (Elizabeth’s mother), and Margaret Beaufort (Henry VII’s mother). Each author writes about one of the women, plus Philippa Gregory writes an introduction on women and history – why you won’t find as much information about women in history and more.
As mentioned in the (quite interesting, I thought) introduction, it’s hard to find information about historical women. Because of that, it’s hard to write an interesting biography, I think. Jacquetta seemed to have the least amount of information to work with. For all three (but especially Jacquetta), there was more about the war and what the men were doing and the big events than about the women themselves, and I’m not as interested in the wars, the fighting, and the politics. So, I tended to skim over those parts, unfortunately, and that’s why I kept my rating to 3 stars, ok.
I did learn a bit, though. Although I’ve read a little bit about the Wars of the Roses, I couldn’t have told you who Jacquetta was. I also get Margaret Beaufort mixed up with Margaret of Anjou (and I’m still not entirely certain who Margaret of Anjou is, although she was around at the same time and was mentioned in this book).
12x12 PBT, PBT Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), PBTThe Silver Linings Playbook / Matthew Quick
3.5 stars
30-year old (he thinks) Pat has just come home with his mom from the “bad place” – the mental institution – where he has been for a while. He doesn’t (initially) realize it’s been actually been years. Pat is convinced he and his wife Nikki will come together after their “apart time” because he trying really hard to better himself, with exercise and choosing to be kind (instead of being right). He, his father, and his brother are all huge football fans of the Eagles. Pat and his brother bond fairly quickly, with the help of the Eagles games, but Pat’s father is having a harder time connecting with Pat. Pat’s best friend Ronnie introduces Pat to Ronnie’s sister-in-law, Tiffany, but Tiffany is just odd. And Pat still loves Nikki and plans to reconcile with her as soon as possible.
I liked this! There way maybe more football than I liked, but still, overall I liked it. I really liked Pat’s therapist. I did see the movie I-don’t-know-how-many-years-ago and remember liking it, too, but I remembered very little about it. I believe it is why I decided to read the book, though. It is a very quick read.
12x12 ARCsSuch a Quiet Place / Megan Miranda
4 stars
Set in a close-knit neighbourhood with a pool, and beyond that, woods and a lake, Harper lives alone after her fiance cheated, then left, and her roommate, Ruby, was arrested and put in jail for killing two of the neighbours – the couple next door. All the neighbours have an online chat where they discuss things, then immediately delete. Ruby was in jail for just over a year before she is let out on a technicality and to everyone’s surprise, she comes back and walks into Harper’s house like nothing had happened! To no surprise, this puts everyone on edge. Harper had, at least, testified in Ruby’s defense, but she was never really sure whether or not Ruby had done it.
I thought this was really good. It kept me reading and wanting to continue reading. Everyone has secrets. There were creepy parts. There was a map at the start of the book to show the layout of the neighbourhood and where each of the main “players” lived on the block, which I thought was a nice addition.
12x12 ARCsThe Other Passenger / Louise Candlish
4 stars
Jamie and Clare are Gen Xers and become fast friends with Kit and Melia (in their late 20s/early 30s) in January of 2019. Clare and Melia work together. Kit and Jamie start taking the public transit boat on the Thames together. Just before Christmas, Kit disappears; Jamie was the last person to see him, as far as the police know.
This started off slow, but really picked up about half-way through, then again with about a quarter of the book left. Because of the slow start, I wasn’t sure I’d rate it as highly as I did, but the second half pulled me in more, and there were some good twists! I don’t think any of the characters were particularly likeable, though. The book opens with Kit’s disappearance, then backs up as Jamie tells his story. That first half (while it’s still a bit slow), is mostly snippets of each month leading up to Christmas.
12x12 Off the Shelf, Pursue It, Trim the TBR (Classic)Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands / Chris Bohjalian
3.75 stars
Emily (grade 11) was at school when it happened. There was just a couple more days until the end of the school year. Both her parents worked at the nuclear plant in town. The kids at school only knew that sirens were going when they were loaded on to buses and taken away. Emily kept overhearing things about her parents, about how her drunk father had caused this. She needed to disappear. She didn’t want anyone to know she was their daughter, since they were being blamed for the meltdown.
Emily, who since changed her name to Abby, is telling the story in hindsight, and going back and forth in time, and she does jump around, as it’s kind of a conversational tone. There is one dividing line that makes it easier to tell when in time you are as you read: B.C. and A.C. (Before Cameron and After Cameron). Cameron is a young runaway boy that she takes under her wing, as they are both homeless on the streets of Burlington, Vermont.
The book is rough as it shows the life of a homeless teenage girl. I did cry a few times, usually in reference to Maggie, the dog Emily had left behind in the radioactive zone (not that she had a choice). I had to laugh at the “connection” between Emily Dickinson’s poems and the “Gilligan’s Island” theme (and then I sang the poems as they came up in the book)! I quite liked this and it got just a bit more interesting toward the end, but I’m not sure I liked it as much as others I’ve read by Bohjalian.
12x12 Audio, MysteryKITMaisie Dobbs / Jacqueline Winspear
2.5 stars
In 1929, Masie Dobbs is opening up a detective agency and gets her first case. It’s not long before she solves this one, then the book takes us back in time to when she was younger and had to take a job as a servant, where she was not only treated well, but she was helped with an education. Then WWI hit, and she became a nurse.
This might not be a great summary, as I listened to the audio and missed much of it. I was interested at the start, then sort of missed the going back in time (although it did say the year at the start and I sort of wasn’t thinking, as I do – vaguely – recall hearing the new date). From there to the end of the book, what I paid attention to was patchy.
I was somewhat interested again for part of her time during the war. There were very few characters that I remembered who they were when mentioned again later in the book, though. I did like Simon and Maisie’s relationship with her father, Frank. They are pretty much the only other characters I remember (oh, and Lady Rowan – Maisie’s employer when she was a servant). I got the idea that there was another mystery at the end of the book, but I really had no clue what was going on there – apparently (based on other reviews), there was a murder – I had no idea! See how much I missed!? Although it’s considered a mystery, there is next to no time spent on a mystery in the book. Needless to say, I will not be continuing the series.
12x12 BIPOC, PBT Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), Fly the Skies, RandomCATHonolulu / Alan Brennert
4 stars
Named “Regret” by her parents, this little Korean girl so wanted an education but it was forbidden. As a teenager, though, she managed to get permission to travel to Hawaii as a “picture bride”. Immediately upon arrival, along with four other Korean girls she met on the ship, and now self-named Jin (meaning “Gem”), they married their new husbands before being allowed entry into their new country. Jin’s hope had been that her husband would be able to get her an education in Hawaii, but she was sorely disappointed (to put it mildly), not only with this, but with many other things, as well.
I really enjoyed this. I not only learned about the life of a picture bride, I learned about Hawaii in the early 20th century, and about Korea and the interactions with Japan that I really knew nothing about. I was impressed with how many real-life people Brennert brought into the story.
12x12 Reading Through Time, Read Thru Time, Pursue ItA Night Divided / Jennifer A. Nielsen
4 stars
Overnight, one night in 1961, a barbed wire fence went up in the middle of Berlin. It was the beginning of the Berlin Wall, which of course, was built up as a concrete barrier in later months. Gerta is only 8-years old, and her father and middle brother were in West Berlin at the time. They have no way back. When Gerta is 12, she sees her brother on the other side of the wall as she is walking to school. When she sees her father a few days later, he tries to signal something to her: he wants her to dig her way to escape.
This was really good. I have to admit I really knew very little about the Berlin Wall (beyond that it came down in 1989) or the politics surrounding it, so this was interesting to learn. And heartbreaking for those families who were separated. In an interview with the author at the end of the book, it seems that most families were eventually reunited, but the exceptions were those people who were “dissidents” (as Gerta’s father is in the book) – those who were known to not agree with how things were being run.
Hana / Lauren Oliver3.5 stars
This is a short story in the Delirium series. Hana is coming up to the time she will be “cured” – that is, she will not be able to love. In the months leading up to that time, however, she has discovered an underground of young people who have not yet been cured. They party, dance, and love before they will no longer be able to.
This was good. Very short, but a quick capture of one of the characters in the series. I have read the first in the series and there are more short stories following different characters, as well as at least two more full-length books in the series.
12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), GenreCAT, AlphaKITStrange Bedpersons / Jennifer Crusie
3 stars
Tess and Nick broke up a while back. When Nick shows up at Tess’s door, he needs a favour. In order for a big promotion at his work (he’s a lawyer and his work (and money) has always been his priority), he needs someone to pose as his fiancee for a weekend event and he’s hoping Tess will help him out. They never had much in common beyond a wild attraction, and although Tess hesitates, she agrees. Not only that, she convinces her best friend to accompany Nick’s friend/fellow lawyer (Park) to the same weekend gathering, although she really can’t stand Park.
This was ok. Romance is not usually my “thing”, but sometimes the chick lit has enough other in it that it can be fun and light and enjoyable to me. There were attempts at humour that didn’t really make me laugh in this one, and I’m not sure I really liked any of the characters. There was a secondary plotline that was kind of interesting with a bit of a twist in it, which I liked. This was short and will be forgotten fairly soon, I’m sure.
12x12 Read Thru Time, Reading Through Time, PBT, GenreCAT, Pursue ItThe Midnight Bargain / C.L. Polk
3.5 stars
Beatrice wants to spend her life learning magic, doing magic, and becoming a mage. With this, she wants to help her merchant father. Unfortunately, society (and her father) have other plans for her: marriage and children. And as soon as a woman is married, on goes the collar to stifle all magic because it might hurt any forthcoming children. So, women don’t get to do magic (only men) until they are beyond childbearing years.
In a bookstore, as Beatrice hunts for grimoires (textbooks) to help her learn magic, she runs into a brother and sister from a wealthy family who could have an influence on her father’s business. The sister, Ysbeta, wants the same grimoire Beatirce has her hands on. Playing peacemaker, Ysbeta’s brother suggests Beatrice and Ysbeta learn together, but Ysbeta buys the book and walks out without providing an invitation/calling card for Beatrice to meet her to study. In the meantime, it is bargaining season when the eligible men come to woo the eligible daughters and/or bargain with their fathers.
This was good. Fantasy can be hit or miss for me, depending on the type of fantasy. This was urban fantasy, so more my “thing”. There is also a romance mixed in, but not too much romance for my liking, either. Overall, I liked it.
12x12 Oh Canada, ScaredyKIT, AlphaKIT, BingoDOGThe Sun Down Motel / Simone St. James
4 stars
In 1982, Viv arrives in Fell, New York, and starts working the night shift at the Sun Down Motel. It’s not long before she learns of the visitors (some alive, some not) to the motel. As she learns more about the murders (and deaths) that happened in the previous few years, she does some investigating and comes up with a theory about what happened. But, not long after, Viv herself disappears.
In 2017, Viv’s niece Carly arrives in Fell. Carly has a fascination with true crime, and with her mother (Viv’s sister) recently passed away, Carly feels like she can investigate what happened to Viv. Following in her aunt’s footsteps, Carly also starts working at the Sun Down Motel… only to discover some of those same visitors to the motel.
I listened to the audio. There were two different voices for each of the main characters. It didn’t hold my attention 100%, but I was interested enough that plenty of times, I “rewound” to hear what I’d missed. There was some good atmosphere, with some creepy happenings.
12x12 BIPOC, HistoryCATCaste: The Origins of Our Discontents / Isabel Wilkerson
3.75 stars
In this book, African-American author, Isabel Wilkerson, argues that the United States has a caste system with African-Americans at the bottom. She makes comparisons to the caste system in India (with Untouchables at the bottom) and with the Nazi regime in Germany. Caste is a bit different from social class in that you are born into your caste and you can never get out of it.
This was interesting. I was particularly drawn in by the Nazi comparisons, and I think that’s what I will remember the most of this book. I have to admit I unlikely to remember the list of “pillars” of the system (she did a chapter on each). I’d like to say the first half (which included those pillars) wasn’t as interesting, but it just depended on what she was talking about at the time. She has plenty of anecdotes through history, including her own. She also discusses politics, particularly the 2016 election, as well as the elections that brought Barack Obama to power. Of course, there is a lot about slavery, the Jim Crow laws, and the Confederacy, as well. She does do a really good job explaining and making the comparisons. This is – most definitely – well worth reading.
12x12 Series, MysteryKIT, Trim the TBRThe 9th Judgment / James Patterson
3 stars
There is someone out there killing mothers and their babies. Also, there is a thief robbing people; after a high profile robbery (an actor), the actor’s wife is murdered and it appears that the robber is also the murderer.
I listened to the audio and overall, this was ok. It seemed like every time there was a focus on the women’s personal lives, it was all about sex. Ugh! Did they even meet up beyond the one time at the end of the book? I’m at a point where it may not be worth it to continue on. The audio had my attention sometimes.
12x12 Nonfiction, KITastrophe, AlphaKITAngry Weather: Heat Waves, Floods, Storms, and the New Science of Climate Change / Friederike Otto
3.5 stars
Scientists are now able to study (some? most?) weather events and be able to determine how much more likely that event was made by climate change (or if climate change even made it more likely at all)! That is, they do it quickly, before the event fades from people’s memories and other events have happened in the meantime. This is unusual, since for scientists, peer review is important before publishing results of studies, but this can take months to do.
This book explains how they do that, primarily using models. There is a very small group of scientists worldwide who are currently doing this; the author is one of those scientists. She also looks at a few specific weather events and explains how they came up with their findings.
I thought this was good. There’s more to it than I’ve mentioned in my summary, and I can’t explain it well, but I did find it interesting. It may have been particularly interesting because about a month ago, there was an extreme heat wave where I am in Alberta, as well as in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. I had actually heard a couple of weeks ago that they had determined that this heat wave WAS more likely due to climate change and that it was 2C warmer than it would otherwise have been without climate change; when I heard that, I had no idea that a book I’d planned to pick up this month was going to look at that very thing! And, checking online, it was this group of scientists who came up with that.
12x12 AudioThe Almost Sisters / Joshilyn Jackson
3 stars
When 38-year old graphic novel writer/artist Leia discovers she is pregnant, she is not unhappy. But she is single and this is the result of a one-night stand with someone she knows only as “Batman”, whom she met at a comic convention. Before she gets a chance to tell any of her family, she discovers her brother-in-law has been cheating and has left her sister, AND her grandmother is in bad shape with dementia. She must go see her grandmother, Birchie. Birchie is a rich woman who lives in a town that bears her family name and her best friend Wattie has been living with her for a long time, taking care of her.
I listened to the audio and it was ok. It held my interest more the further I got into it. The author herself read it, and she did a good job. I could have done without the entire plot of Leia’s graphic novel, though; that bored me, and there was too much of it. But overall, I’m calling this one “ok”. Nothing overly exciting or special, but it wasn’t bad.
12x12 ARCsNever Saw Me Coming / Vera Kurian
4 stars
Chloe is a psychopath. She will be attending university in Washington, D.C. She chose this school for two reasons: 1. she was able to get into a program where a resident academic/psychologist (or psychiatrist?) is studying psychopaths, and her tuition is paid; 2. Will goes to school there. Chloe needs to find Will, and she is counting down from 60 days to what will happen once she’s found him…
Andre is also in the program, but actually managed to fake his way in! He is not really a psychopath, but had other psychological issues when he was a bit younger (that, in many cases, does lead to a later diagnosis of psychopathy), and he applied as a joke. When he was accepted, it was hard to turn down the free tuition. There are five other psychopaths in Dr. Wyman’s program.
I’ve been reading a lot of mystery/thrillers lately (it has overtaken historical fiction as my current favourite genre), but many of them blend together a while after I finished. What I liked about this one is it’s a bit different with multiple psychopaths running around. The main viewpoint is Chloe’s, but Andre’s POV is followed, as well as a few others as the story goes on. I didn’t quite believe that someone would be able to fake their way in to the program with someone who has studied psychopaths for decades, but I put that aside to “enjoy” the story.
12x12 Animals, PBT, Pursue It, GenreCATPride and Prejudice and Kitties: A Cat-Lover's Romp through Jane Austen's Classic / Pamela Jane, Deborah Guyol, Jane Austen.
3 stars
This is a (partial) rewrite of “Pride and Prejudice” with all the characters as cats.
It was cute; it was silly; it was ok. There were some parts that made me smile or laugh. It’s a short, fast read. There were cat photos included with subtitled phrases from the book to fit the photo; the photos were taken specifically for the book (and they thanked the people and cats in the acknowledgments at the end; I thought one of my cats had an unusual name, but it was kind of fun to see one of the photographed cats also has his name: Io.) Some of the actual text of P&P was included, as well. It went back and forth between the characters as cats and the actual text (which didn’t take away from the characters as cats – that is, it still “fit”). The text of the original is in italics, so easy to tell.
12x12 Oh Canada, Travel Across Canada, Trim the TBR (Classic)The Marrow Thieves / Cherie Dimaline
3.5 stars
It’s sometime in the future, and Indigenous people are being hunted by non-Indigenous for their bone marrow, as there is something in it that helps people dream, and Indigenous are the only ones who are now able to dream. Frenchie, a 16-year old(?) Metis boy, has lost both his parents and his older brother, so he’s on his own until he comes across a group of Indigenous people travelling north.
This was good. I had a bit of trouble getting into it at the very start, but it only took a couple of chapters. I didn’t like one of the decisions Frenchie made near the end of the book, but that ended up working out better than I’d expected. I also thought the very end was unrealistic, but it was good up to that point. It’s a pretty fast read.
12x12 Oh Canada, Travel Across CanadaThe Most Precious Substance on Earth / Shashi Bhat
3.5 stars
Nina is an East Indian girl, growing up in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is mostly vignettes of her life, starting in grade 9 in the 1990s and continuing through high school and beyond, as she becomes a teacher and navigates online dating.
I thought this was good. I liked Nina’s parents, and I liked many of the pop culture references. I was a bit confused that there was something at the beginning that never seemed to be tied up, though. I kept wondering if it would resurface later in the book, but it didn’t – unless I missed it.
12x12 Animals, MysteryKITRaining Cat Sitters and Dogs / Blaize Clement
3.75 stars
When pet sitter Dixie is at the vet’s to pick up one of the pets she is caring for (parrot Big Bubba), a girl and her stepfather come in. There’s something odd about the two of them, but Dixie’s friend, Hetty, offers the girl, Jaz, a job helping take care of the service dog Hetty is training. Not long after, three young thugs enter Big Bubba’s home while Dixie is there, looking for Jaz! A bit later, still, Dixie’s high school friend comes by, desperate for help, as her rich husband has been kidnapped and is asking for a $1 million ransom payment.
This is the 5th in the series, and it’s not entirely implausible Dixie’s friend would come to her, as she used to be a cop. I am still really enjoying this series, and in this one, I liked the additional info provided about parrots (even though they didn’t have much to do with the storyline). I also felt like this one was a bit different from the usual murder storylines in cozy mysteries.
12x12 AudioBefore We Were Yours / Lisa Wingate
3.75 stars
In the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, the Tennessee Children’s Home Society was seen as a positive thing for adopting out poor orphans to wealthy families. It was only discovered in 1950 that many of those kids had families who wanted them. Many of those kids were kidnapped and kept in orphanages, abused, and finally sold.
This fictional account follows 12-year old Rill and her four siblings who were taken off their parents’ boat to live in an orphanage, then to be adopted out. There is also a present day story where Avery is trying to figure out something her grandmother Judy didn’t want anyone to know, as a stranger has a letter for Grandma Judy, but the letter isn’t allowed into anyone else’s hands except Judy, whose mind is no longer well.
I listened to the audio and I thought it started off pretty slow, so it took me a bit to get “into” it, and I might have missed a few things at the start (that may or may not answer a question I had near the end). It did pick up, though, and I found myself more engaged. I actually ended with a couple of questions, though; I have a guess as to the answer to one of them, but if it was outwardly answered, unfortunately, I missed that, too. My questions and the slow start are why I couldn’t bring my rating up to 4 stars, but the bulk of the book was engrossing enough that it almost could have been there. I was glad there was an author’s note at the end with more of the true story of the Home Society.
12x12 Oh Canada, Travel Across Canada, Trim the TBR (Classic), PBT Trim, HistoryCAT, AlphaKITThe Horseman's Graves / Jacqueline Baker
2.5 stars
This is set near the Sand Hills in Saskatchewan near the Alberta border. It starts in 1909, but quickly moves on to the next generation. I wouldn’t have known it from the story, but the majority of the farmers living nearby are German immigrants, (I think) via Russia.
All these things should have been more interesting to me with a German (via Russia) family background, and I grew up in Southern Sask and have been to the Sand Hills.
I feel like 2.5 might even be a bit generous. There was one storyline that was (somewhat) interesting, but mostly this was boring. I wasn’t all that interested, and I was confused by who some of the characters were and how they related to the story. Well, they were all in the same town/area, but otherwise… Drove me nuts the one character was simply called “the boy”. Seriously? He doesn’t have a name? Come on!
12x12 PBT, PBT, Fly the Skies, Pursue It, Travel Across CanadaWe Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir / Samra Habib
3.5 stars
Samra Habib was still a girl when her entire family came to Canada from Pakistan. They were a part of a minority group of Muslims who were discriminated against in their own country. As she grew up, she knew she didn’t see things the same as her parents and she did not want to marry her cousin in the arranged marriage that had been planned. In fact, she wasn’t interested in men at all, and thought she may be asexual. As an adult, she came to realize that she was, in fact, queer. And she learned how to reconcile that with her Muslim faith.
This was good. It did move quickly and it felt like it skipped forward fast in some cases. It was interesting to read about, though.
12x12 Reading Through Time, Read Thru Time, Trim the TBR (Classic)The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America's Food Business / Christopher Leonard
5 stars
This book looks at the meat industry, with more of a focus on the chicken industry: the way factory farming built up, the history of it. It started with the chicken industry first via Tyson Foods in 1929 with Jim Tyson. His son, Don, later took over and continued to grow the business, eating up all the different steps in the process, in addition to most of the smaller competitors. They control every step of the chicken business and have incredible power over the farmers, who are often driven to bankruptcy. But the banks continue to fund more farmers to take the places of the bankrupt farmers, because the banks get their money back on those defaulted loans from a federal program (that was not originally meant for this purpose!).
While reading the book, it hadn’t occurred to me to rate it as high as I am, but I feel like my reaction to the book warrants it. The anger, the swearing at the book, the emotions the book brought out it me, I think, warrants the 5 stars. It did make me angry and frustrated that things are going this way, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to stop it… unless the government gets some teeth and stops bowing to the corporate lobbyists for the good of the regular people, the good of the farmers. Well worth the read for anyone who wants to know (and even those who don’t!) what is going on with our modern-day food (or, at least meat) industry.
12x12 Trim the TBR, Trim the TBR (Classic), GenreCATFairest, Volume 1: Wide Awake / Bill Willingham
3 stars
This is a spinoff of Wilingham’s “Fables” series. It focuses on Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) and Ali Baba. Ali Baba finds himself a bottle and when an imp comes out of it instead of a genie, he is sorely disappointed. However, the imp explains that Ali Baba needs to find the sleeping princess and wake her with “True Love’s Kiss”. When he finds her, though, there are two sleeping women – and he doesn’t know whom to wake, so he wakes them both – Briar Rose and the Snow Queen, who then chases after them to capture them.
This was ok. Maybe I would have liked it more if I’d read it closer to when I was still reading “Fables” and at the point where this one made more sense? As always, the colour illustrations were very nice, but the story left something to be desired. I will not be continuing this spinoff series.
12x12 Overflow, GenreCAT, AlphaKITPaper Girls, Vol. 1 / Brian K. Vaughan
3.5 stars
It’s the late 1980s. 12-year old Erin is doing her paper route in the early morning hours of Nov. 1, so there are still people wandering about in costumes from Halloween. When a group of boys starts harassing her, three other girls (also delivering their papers – but they are doing so together) come to Erin’s rescue. They stick together the rest of the night, but there are weird things going on… from something that looks like the spaceship from War of the Worlds to other creepy looking monsters roaming about outside. Not only that, the girls’ parents (at least the two whose homes they went to) seem to have disappeared.
I liked this. Nice illustrations (it’s a graphic novel) and I liked the 80s references. It did end on a bit of a cliffhanger and I definitely plan to continue, but it might take me a while to get to the second volume.
12x12 Travel, PBT, Trim the TBR (Classic)The Romanov Empress: A Novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna / C.W. Gortner
3.5 stars
This is the story of Maria Feodorovna (aka Minnie), the mother of Nicholas, the last Tsar of Russia. She was a princess in Denmark before she moved to Russia to marry Alexander III, (later) Tsar of Russia. Minnie comes to love her adopted country Russia, has many children, marries them off, and tries to advise her children, even as they become adults. Nicholas, however, in marrying a woman Minnie never wanted him to marry, Alexandra, is more influenced by Alexandra (who, in turn, eventually is influenced by Rasputin, much to Minnie’s aggravation).
Once again, I listened to the audio, and once again, it took me some time to get “into” it. It actually took me a while to figure out exactly who Minnie was! It was also a bit trickier because I don’t know most of the people (though I know more about Nicholas and his family) in this story. I have to admit, once I figured out who some of the people were, it got more interesting, though there were always people throughout the book whom I couldn’t place. In most cases (likely all), I either missed it when the person was introduced, or I simply forgot. It didn’t help that many people had the same name and/or there were very similar nicknames for some (Alecki vs Aleksi (mother? son?– sp? I listened to the audio, so not sure of the spelling… add to that, Alix, who was Minnie’s sister!).
Certainly, it got more interesting with the conflict between Minnie and Niki’s wife. Alexandra when Alexandra was fawning over Rasputin. (But even before Rasputin, they really didn’t get along.) I do think there was a lot of historical detail to the book; it seemed it was well-researched.
12x12 Oh Canada, Travel Across Canada, HistoryCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic), Pursue ItThe Donnelly Album: The Complete and Authentic Account of Canada's Famous Feuding Family / Ray Fazakas
3.5 stars
The Donnelly family was an Irish family who immigrated to Canada in the mid-1800s. They set up in the township of Biddulph, Ontario. They were rough – they got into fights, they drank, they vandalized neighbours’ barns (including arson), sabotaged competing business… The father, James, was even convicted of murder and spent time in jail. But the entire area was rough and others did these things, too. James and Johanna had seven sons and one daughter. After decades of the violence, locals got tired of it and took things into their own hands. In the end, four of the family were murdered and burned in one house, and one of the sons murdered in another.
I’ve read a couple other books on the Donnellys, so the entire story was not new to me, but I think this book had a lot more detail and more episodes of things happening. There was a LOT of detail. In addition, there were photos – of the people, the places, letters and other primary documents that the author used in his research. There was a LOT of research that went into this, but it was also a bit dry to read at times. I wanted to give it 4 stars for the extensive research, but I’ve kept my rating just under that. 3.5 stars is still good for me.
12x12 Overflow, ScaredyKITThe Wicked Deep / Shea Ernshaw
4 stars
In the seaside town of Sparrow, Orgeon, the three Swan sisters, Marguerite, Aurora, and Hazel, were drowned 200 years ago, accused of being witches. But there was a curse. Every year for a few weeks leading up to the summer solstice, they return and inhabit the bodies of three teen girls. While inhabiting these host bodies, they take their revenge by drowning boys they seduce.
Penny lives on the island with the lighthouse with her mother; her father disappeared mysteriously a few years ago. Just before the big party the night they know girls’ bodies will be taken, a strange boy wanders into town, not knowing what happens there every year. He wants to get a job working for Penny on the lighthouse island. But this is really bad timing for a new boy to come to town…
I really enjoyed this! It was not even on my radar, except that it fit a monthly challenge. Primarily the story was set in current day with Penny and Bo, but there were flashbacks to tell the Swan sisters story, as well.
12x12 BIPOC, PBT, Pursue It, RandomCAT, HistoryCAT, Reading Through TimeChop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants / Ann Hui
3.5 stars
Ann Hui grew up in Vancouver, and later moved to Toronto where she became a journalist. In 2016, she decided to do a cross-Canada road trip with her partner while stopping at Western Chinese (aka “Chop Suey Chinese”) restaurants and talking to and learning about their owners and the history of the Chop Suey Chinese restaurants in Canada and North America. This is as she learns that her parents had run a Chinese food restaurant before she was born that she never knew about. She weaves in her father’s story, as he immigrated from China (years after his father and sisters came to Canada), grew up, married, worked in and ran restaurants, and had children.
I listened to the audio, read by the author herself, and quite enjoyed this. I was particularly interested in the chat with the owner of the Silver Inn Restaurant in Calgary (where I live), as I was only there for the first time a couple of years ago. This s where “ginger beef” was invented. (I also hadn’t realized that ginger beef is specifically a Western Canadian dish!) But, there were other interesting stories, too. I have to admit it took a while to get “into” her father’s story – I found it more interesting after he arrived in Canada. Ann Hui did a good job of reading the book. She did stumble over words occasionally, but it didn’t detract from the story,
12x12 PBT, RandomCAT, PBTThe Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century / Ian Mortimer
4.25 stars
This is nonfiction. The “time traveller” in the title is the reader; the “guide” is, of course, the book. The book takes us back in time to 14th century England, and walks us through, telling about the places (countryside, cities, towns), the people (classes of people), what they wore, what they ate, how they travelled and where they might stay (inns, people’s houses, which of course are different depending on the person’s wealth and rank). Basics like languages, the calendar and time, money and measurements. There are chapters and health and hygiene, as well as the law and what people did. Some things changed between the early and late 1300s and some of this is described, as well.
I found this so interesting. There is so much detail to immerse you into this time and place in people’s daily lives. And I do like the way it’s set up, with the reader “time travelling” there. I feel like this is the setting for (or at least bits and pieces are) many role-playing games, as well as much fantasy, whether on purpose or not. It turns out this is a series! I will definitely be continuing.
12x12 OverflowEight Cousins / Louisa May Alcott
3 stars
Rose is left an orphan and initially goes to live with her aunts and boy cousins. It’s only a bit later that her Uncle Alec, a doctor, comes along with the intention to raise her, but the aunts are not too sure, so it all starts off and a kind of trial.
It was ok, but it was pretty sickly sweet. Just too much goodness going on with these kids. I did love Uncle Alec, though.
12x12 Oh Canada, Travel Across Canada, RandomCAT, AlphaKITCrow Lake / Mary Lawson
4 stars
When Kate is only 7-years old, tragedy hits her family in Northern Ontario. She and her baby sister, Bo, end up being raised by their older brothers, Luke (19-years old) and Matt (17-years old). Luke gives up his future so they can stay together, and also so Matt can finish school and continue to university (he was always the smarter one, anyway – the one expected to go to university). Kate and Matt have a bond.
Grown-up Kate, a professor in Toronto, never thought she’d fall in love, but she has. But she also has a hard time opening up to Daniel about her past and her family, even though they’ve been together for more than a year. Daniel still hasn’t even met her family.
I really liked this. It was slow-moving, but I found even the biology bits interesting. There was tension in Kate’s family, though she didn’t understand much of it when she was a kid. And the neighbours had some drama (this may be putting it lightly) going on at their place, as well. I actually read this over a decade ago, but only remembered siblings and a lake (actually it was a pond). I really didn’t remember much at all, but it was chosen as a book club book, and I’m really glad I reread it.
12x12 Nonfiction, HistoryCATThe Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple / Jeff Guinn
4 stars
Jim Jones was the leader of the Peoples’ Temple. This is the group that, in November 1978, committed mass suicide in Guyana, by “drinking the Kool Aid” (it wasn’t actually Kool Aid, but a similar flavoured drink, laced with cyanide). Over 900 people died that day. This book is actually a biography of Jim Jones, so it looks at his entire life. When he was starting out, he was charismatic, he believed in a world (in the 50s) where races mixed freely, and he believed in socialism, where everyone helped everyone else. The socialism attracted some to his group, as did his so-called healing powers. As his group got bigger, he moved them from Indiana to California, and of course, later to Guyana. He was married, but had several affairs and children.
This was really good. I didn’t realize until I checked it out of the library that the author is Jeff Guinn. It was just last year that I read his book on Bonnie and Clyde and I thought it was so well-researched, as was this one. I actually didn’t know much about Jim Jones or his followers, so this was new to me (except the “Kool Aid” suicide). I can see where he would have been very charismatic and appealing with his outlook on life, initially, at least. I would have liked to know more of the aftermath and the people left behind; I suppose that would have been somewhat extraneous, though, since the book is a biography of Jim.
I listened to the audio, and I do wonder if the book might have some photos (I suspect so – his Bonnie and Clyde book did), so I may have missed out on that, but the narrator was good. It was long, so yes, I did lose interest occasionally, but not often and overall, I thought it was well done.
12x12 PBT, PBT, PBT Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), AlphaKITSuch a Pretty Face / Cathy Lamb
4 stars
Stevie’s mother was mentally ill and did a bad thing when Stevie was still a child (that I don’t want to give away in my review, even though we found out at the beginning what happened there). Stevie’s grandparents had done their best to take care of Helen (their daughter; Stevie’s mother) and protect her, while also taking care of Stevie and her sister, Sunshine. As an adult, the events of the book take place some months after Stevie had bariatric surgery; she has since lost 170 lbs.
She is trying to figure out who the new skinnier Stevie is, as she tries to deal with the lawyers where she works and the case she hates helping defend; her best friend who is still very overweight seems to have changed toward Stevie; the neighbour down the street, Jake (who only moved in just after Stevie’s surgery), is just way too good-looking and Stevie is completely tongue-tied around him, so she tries to avoid him altogether; and Stevie is trying to help her cousins plan her horrible uncle’s 40th wedding anniversary…
There is a lot going on in this book, and a lot of characters, but I really liked it. There is also a huge mix of very “weighty” (pun not intended initially, but when I realized it was punny, I decided to leave it!) issues in book: mental illness, obesity, abuse, and so much more, but mixed in with the occasional bit of humour. I found myself being horrified by Helen, Stevie’s uncle, her “friend”, and the lawyer defending that case, but then the author would turn around and put Stevie in some ridiculous situation (usually trying to avoid Jake!), and I’d be laughing. I thought she did that very well. II think a bunch of very quirky characters made it “easy” to throw in the humour. At the same time, the author did a good job of showing the struggle that Helen went through with her schizophrenia.
I was surprised at the lower ratings, but on reading the reviews, I can see why they rated it what they did, but it wasn’t enough to bring my rating or enjoyment of the book down (although some of the quirky characters were a bit too quirky for me!). I think all the emotions were in this book (there was also a lot of love).
12x12 Series, PBT, Trim the TBR (Classic), GenreCAT, AlphaKITWhere She Went / Gayle Forman
3 stars
Three years ago, Adam and Mia split. Mia had lost her family and had barely survived herself. She was about to head to Julliard to study the cello. Adam, meanwhile, became a famous rock star. This is told from Adam’s point of view as he and Mia meet up again in New York after one of Mia’s concerts.
I listened to the audio and I had no issues with it. But overall, I thought the story was ok. It’s been a long time since I read the first book, but I did think the author did a nice job with the recap. It seemed to fill me in on everything I needed to know that I had forgotten. I guess music stories are not necessarily all that appealing for me, nor are rock star celebrity stories. Of course, this is a YA book, so I can see where both of those things are maybe more appealing for younger people.
12x12 Audio, HistoryCATNotorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg / Irin Camron, Shana Knizhnik
3 stars
The RBG in the title is, of course, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the first women lawyers in the US, and later Supreme Court judge.
She was an amazing woman who brought about a lot of good for women, but I was a bit disappointed that this wasn’t really a biography as much as a look at her work and career, and the changes she brought to US law. There were bits and pieces of her personal life, but not a lot. I listened to the audio and it was not interesting to listen to various laws being read. It was pretty short – it felt like it was abridged but it wasn’t. This was published in 2015, before her death… and also before Trump made it into office. For me, this was simply “ok”.
12x12 Series, MysteryKIT, Fly the SkiesThe Promise / Robert Crais
3.5 stars
P.I. Elvis Cole is investigating, looking for someone at a home where no one answers the door. As he is leaving, police descend and he sees someone run out of the house. He runs after, but is stopped by police officer Scott James and his dog Maggie. There is also someone dead inside and a room full of explosives. Before James ran into Cole, though, he and Maggie came face-to-face with the guy who ran. They clearly saw each other’s faces.
This was good. It’s a lot of testosterone, maybe darker than much of what I prefer in a mystery, but what brought the rating up a bit for me was Scott and Maggie. I love their relationship! I also like that we are given the same scene (or important parts of the scene) from a few different perspectives. This is only the second book that follows Scott and Maggie. It’s too bad there aren’t more, as I find them so much more interesting than Elvis Cole and Joe Pike who have far more books in their respective series.
12x12 Nonfiction, HistoryCAT, ScaredyKITSmoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory / Caitlyn Doughty
4 stars
Fascinated with death since she was a child, at 23-years old, after completing her medieval history degree, the author worked at a crematorium where she learned a lot and it prompted her to go to mortuary school, though she hated embalming with a passion! But she wanted to learn what the majority in the industry were taught. In addition to stories she tells of her coworkers, and incidents and stories with the dead bodies she worked with, she looks at the history of death rituals in various places and times.
Loved some of the quirky people she worked with! I enjoyed reading about the different death/dying rituals through time and place. She does throw some humour in there – I suppose to work in the industry one must possess some humour to lighten things up. Like her, I have been wanting to have a green burial for a long time now. It was just about a week ago that a new cemetery opened in my city with a green burial option, so I’m happy about that.
12x12 Audio, RandomCAT, GenreCATThe Witch of Blackbird Pond / Elizabeth George Speare
3.25 stars
It’s the 17th century. Katherine (Kit) is from the Caribbean and is now an orphan, so she manages to find passage on a ship to Connecticut, where she has an aunt. Her aunt and uncle (and cousins) take her in, but she has a hard time adjusting to the culture, and to the amount of work she is expected to help with (she is used to having slaves to do the work). She befriends the local elderly woman who lives alone, Hannah. Hannah is a Quaker, and is also considered a witch by the locals and Kit is asked not to visit Hannah, anymore.
I listened to the audio, and mostly I liked it, but it was hard to keep focus, unfortunately. I liked it enough that I often rewound to listen again to try to catch what I’d missed, but I still missed more than I would have liked.
Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
Such a Pretty Smile (other topics)True North (other topics)
Our Darkest Night (other topics)
To Fetch a Thief (other topics)
Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast (other topics)
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The Constant Rabbit / Jasper Fforde
3.25 stars
It was in the late 1960s that the “Event” happened. The Event caused rabbits (and a few other animals...though not nearly as many as the rabbits) to become anthropomorphized. It’s decades later and many people are leporiphobes. Peter Knox (who works for the Rabbit Compliance Taskforce, sort of tracking down specific rabbits, I think) discovers a long-ago college friend (and rabbit) Connie has moved in next door, along with her husband.
My summary might not be exactly right, as I found the first half-ish of the book quite confusing. I ended up quite enjoying the second half, though, once I (kind of) figured out what was going on… though I don’t want to say too much more in my summary so as not to give anything away. So for the first bit of the book, I kept thinking – ok, Fforde is way too smart for me because this is over my head. I did like the second half-ish, though. At that point, there seemed to be more of a plot and things happened, and I understood what was happening. Anyway, this all made me unsure how to rate it, so I went with 3.25, between ok and good. It seems there was a bunch of “deep” satire that went over my head, but once there as a plot, I liked it!