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2022 Reads and Reviews ~ Anything goes
They Walk Among Us: New True Crime Cases from the No. 1 Podcast by Benjamin Fitton4 stars!
A great read about all kinds of British crimes. Most of these were new to me but the only familiar case -- the Rolex Murder -- had much, much more information than I've read before. Not just blood and gore, there are some spectacular ripoffs in here too. Well written and moves right along. Well worth seeking out.
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The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters With Extraordinary People
Susan Orlean
4/5 stars
I always enjoying read Susan Orlean’s books and this book has her original interviews with the famous and not so famous people she encountered. This book was published in 2001 but is still entertaining though it would be interesting to see where those people are today.
The Power Of One – Bryce Courtenay – 4****
A challenge to travel the world combined with a challenge to read a book that “made-me-cry” brought this one to my attention, and am I ever glad it did! I’m not the writer Courtenay is, so can’t really do justice to the plot of this coming-of-age story. But the writing grabbed me from page one and I was sorry to see it end. I was cheering for Peekay throughout. And while I’m no fan of boxing, I even enjoyed the lessons on strategy and technique.
My full review HERE
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The Great Train Robbery
Michael Crichton
4/5 stars
Set in Victorian London, Edward Pierce sets up a crime with his cohorts to steal a gold shipment that will be traveling by steam train. But will they succeed? Very clever and a fast read!
Tooth And Claw – Jo Walton – 4****
What a fun romp of a story! It’s a typical regency (or Victorian) romance, but all the characters are dragons. I was captured from the first page and enthralled and entertained throughout.
My full review HERE
Julie wrote: "The Great Train Robbery
Michael Crichton
4/5 stars
Set in Victorian London, Edward Pierce sets up a crime with his cohorts to stea..."
LOVED this book. I think I've read it twice .. first when it was a new book. And based on a true case.
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Where Are the Children?
Mary Higgins Clark
4/5 stars
Years ago, Nancy Harmon was accused of killing her children. However, her sentence was overturned, allowing her to start her life over again. Married with two new children, she feels her life is more settled. But once again, her life is in turmoil when her new children are missing and she is suspected in their disappearance. I enjoyed this book and it kept me reading to see how it was going to end.
What We Keep – Elizabeth Berg – 4****
Do we ever really know our parents? Would we still love them if we did? Could we forgive them their mistakes? Berg writes family relationships so very well. All the ways in which we rely on and trust one another, show our love and loyalty, and hurt or betray one another. There are always two (or more) sides to any story, and it takes a mature person to wait to pass judgment until all parts are known. My heart broke for all the family members, and my loyalties shifted as I learned more.
My full review HERE
Eat Cake – Jeanne Ray – 4****
Ruth Hopson likes to bake cakes. She finds comfort in comforting others, and lately everyone – including Ruth – needs some comfort. I have loved every book I’ve read by Jeanne Ray, and this one is no exception. Her writing reminds me of Anne Tyler and Elizabeth Berg. Her characters experience everyday life, with all its joys, crises, heartaches and triumphs.
My full review HERE
Devil’s Peak – Deon Meyer – 4****
Book #1 in the Inspector Benny Geissel mystery series, starring the South African detective. Benny is such a flawed character and watching him try to make sense of his life and keep away from the bottle while he tracks the serial killer had me backtracking and re-reading sections to try to make sense of what was happening. Meyer does a great job of adding layers to an already complicated plot. And the final chapters are a wild ride!
LINK to my full review
Elizabeth Blackwell: Girl Doctor – Joanne Landers Henry – 3.5***
This is part of a series for middle-school readers about the “Childhood of Famous Americans.” This fictionalized biography focuses on Elizabeth Blackwell’s childhood in England and the United States, the incidents that piqued her interest in healing, and her constant goal to become a doctor and practice medicine. It is both entertaining and informative.
LINK to my full review
The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel – Renee Nault / Margaret Atwood – 5*****
I’ve read and reviewed Margaret Atwood’s novel previously, so will confine this review to the graphic novel adaptation. Nault’s interpretation of Atwood’s novel is marvelous. Her imagery is even more vivid and memorable than some of the same scenes as described in the original novel. I do not recommend that you skip Atwood’s novel, but this is a great introduction.
LINK to my full review
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The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel
– Renee Nault / Margaret Atwood – 5*****
I’ve read and reviewed Margaret Atwood’s novel previously, so will conf..."
That sounds interesting- I never thought that her book would be made into a graphic novel.
The House of Broken Angels – Luis Alberto Urrea – 3.5***
A large Mexican-American family plans a get-together for the patriarch’s birthday. I have read two of Urrea’s novels previously and am a fan of his writing. He peoples the work with a wide variety of characters and balances tender scenes against highly comic ones or anxiety-producing tragic occurrences. I do wish I had had a family tree handy, however.
LINK to my full review
Back to the Prairie: A Home Remade, A Life Rediscovered by Melissa Gilbert4 stars
Melissa wrote a memoir a few years ago that told about her earlier life and her television series Little House on The Prairie, and thankfully this is not a re-hash of that book. In fact, she barely talks about her past at all. This book is about her last few years and the life that she has made living in a rural area, raising chickens and a garden and basically moving to a slower pace in life during the Covid pandemic. Reading some of the reviews, it seems that there are quite a few 1 and 2 star reviews and most of these are from people that didn't agree with her political views and her views about wearing masks and getting vaccines. So, fair warning, she is a liberal Democrat and does not like our past president and if this bothers you, you probably should not spend your hard earned dollars on this book. But if it doesn't bother you, it is an optimistic look at what life can be like in your later years, when you can relax and do exactly what makes you happy. One thing I found a little peculiar was how often she stated that they couldn't buy something because it was too expensive or they had to watch their finances. I wouldn't have thought that would be an issue for her.
Koren wrote: "Back to the Prairie: A Home Remade, A Life Rediscovered by Melissa Gilbert4 stars
Melissa wrote a memo..."
Thanks. It sounds like something I'd like to read.
It's reported that she and her husband's combined net worth is around $500,000 - $600,000 but little of that may be accessible as it would include whatever property they own as well as long term investments. They may not ever have much new income to add to it. Hopefully they have good health and disability insurance and some kind of retirement income.
Circe – Madeline Miller – 5*****
In this marvelous work of literary fiction, Miller, tells us the story of Circe, daughter of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, and possibly best known for turning Odysseus’s men into swine. I studied the classics in high school so was familiar with the basic story line, and some of the family connections, but Miller gives me so much more detail and really fleshes out these characters. Miller’s writing wove a spell that completely enthralled me. I was so beguiled that a part of me wished the novel itself were immortal, and that I could keep reading forever.
LINK to my full review
Young Jane Young – Gabrielle Zevin – 4****
The novel is divided into five sections, each narrated by a different character: Rachel, Jane, Ruby, Embeth and Aviva. The basic plot is that a young woman gets a job interning with a congressman, and then begins an affair with him. Can you forgive yourself your youthful mistakes? Can you recover from such a public humiliation? Will you make further bad decisions to compound the problem? Or will you be able to put it behind you and go forward with grace and dignity and courage? Will the public let you? This is a wonderful exploration of the ways in which women deal with such personal disasters.
LINK to my full review
Olga Dies Dreaming – Xochitl Gonzalez – 2.5** (rounded up)
I really wanted to like this. I’d heard the author in a virtual event and felt her enthusiasm for the story and for her characters. I liked that her focus was on two successful siblings and their rise to those positions, and on the issues of living up to expectations (our own and those of our parents and community). But I never warmed up to the characters, even though I like how Gonzalez portrayed the siblings’ relationship.
LINK to my full review
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The Last Wish
Andrzej Sapkowski
4/5 stars
There are several books in this series and according to one source this book was first book to read. Geralt of Rivia is a witcher (bounty hunter). He uses his magical powers to protect fiends from hurting others. He sometimes travels with a friend Dandelion who helps him out. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the others in the series.
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A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
Sonia Purnell
5/5 stars
This is the amazing story of Virginia Hall, a woman who had lost her leg in a hunting accident at the age of 27 and who ended up becoming a spy in World War II for the SOE (Special Operations Executive), helping to organize and aid the French Resistance. After the war, she ended up working for the CIA. Highly recommended!
A Fall of Marigolds – Susan Meissner – 3***
A vibrantly printed scarf connects two women across a century; both lost someone in a horrific tragedy, both experience grief, guilt and PTSD. Meissner does a good job of weaving these stories together and moving back and forth in time across a century to explore the common elements. I liked Clara’s story better than that of Taryn, probably because of it’s setting on Ellis Island. Both women struggle with the ethical dilemma of what (and when, if ever) to reveal or withhold to others. My F2F book club had quite the discussion about this.
LINK to my full review
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The Plague Dogs
Richard Adams
3/5 stars
Written by the author of Watership Down, this is the story of two dogs, Rowf and Snitter, who live in a research testing facility in England where they have been experimented on and handled cruelly by the men who work there. One day, a handler did not lock them in properly and they escape from the facility causing great consternation that they may be carrying the plague and a huge man hunt for the animals ensues. I loved Adam’s Watership Down but I found that this book dragged on too long.
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This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
Adam Kay
5/5 stars
This is the diaries that Adam Kay kept while being a resident in the National Health Service in the UK. After 12 years in school and working as a doctor, he quit his job. Fortunately for him, he wrote this book and ended up selling about 1.5 million books. I enjoyed this immensely and could empathize with him and the pain he dealt with treating the sick and their families, working non-stop, missing meals and sleep, dealing with administrators and the constant change in policies. Great book!
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Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies
Alastair Bonnett
4/5 stars
While most of us live in suburbs, cities and in the countryside, Bonnett explores the unusual places that people live in, including cities that have changeable boundaries, islands where people live on that can disappear and reappear with the changing of sea levels, people who live on ships year round and he also discussed the re-population of cities that had been abandoned like Chernobyl and Wittenoom in Australia which was closed due to asbestos which was mined there. Very interesting!
The Wells of Hell by Graham Masterton5 stars!
A delightful story about an eldritch horror lurking in the well water of a sleepy Connecticut town. A wisecracking plumber tell us the tale and he knows very well that he's living the plot of a terrible sci-fi movie. Great stuff!
The Auctioneer by Joan Samson4 stars!
This one was a puzzler at first because I didn't see what was going on that was so suspenseful. A guy comes to town and starts asking for donations for auctions that will fund the hiring of new deputies for the local sheriff's department. So what? But it develops, VERY slowly, into a low-grade nightmare for the Moore family and their neighbors. The wrongness is set against the reassuring backdrop of a small farming town full of people who know and care for each other. Once I finally caught on to what was happening I couldn't put it down. Ignore critics who say it's like Needful Things; the two stories are nothing alike.
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5 stars!
A delightful story about an eldritch horror lurking in the well water of a sleepy Connecticut town. A wisecracking plumber tell us th..."
This sounds like something I would read-adding to my TBR list.
In the Frame – Helen Mirren – 3***
Subtitle: My Life in Words and Pictures. I don’t read many “celebrity” memoirs, but I love Helen Mirren, so was interested in reading her autobiography. Looking at her as a young woman, leading a rather nomadic lifestyle with a theatre troupe in Africa and across the USA, as well as in the UK, gives me a completely different perspective on her as a woman. What a free spirit! What tenacity and courage and drive! Brava!
LINK to my full review
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The 13 Clocks
James Thurber
3/5 stars
I don’t know how to describe this book; it is more of a fairy tale about the princess, Sara Linda who is shut up in a castle with thirteen clocks which have been frozen. A prince who is disguised as a minstrel, and who has fallen in love with Sara Linda and is then given the task of finding the jewels of Zorna and restart the 13 clocks before Sara Linda could be released. Interesting!
The Women’s March – Jennifer Chiaverini – 4****
The novel focuses on the women who risked their liberty, and their lives, to win the vote for women, including women of color. Chiaverini focuses on three of the most important suffragists of the day: Alice Paul, Maud Malone, and Ida B Wells-Barnett, to tell the story. The chapters alternate between these three central figures, showing how each approached the issue and the unique challenges each faced. The scenes of the march itself, and the near disaster it became are harrowing. While the novel itself is interesting and engaging, I really enjoyed the author’s notes, where Chiaverini gives more details on what happened after the march. As of this writing, the Equal Rights Amendment is NOT yet ratified.
LINK to my full review
Thirteen Hours – Deon Meyer – 4****
This is a hard-hitting, fast-paced, police procedural with a complicated plot, a second, unrelated (or is it?) killing, and multiple twists: drugs, human trafficking, the music industry, and, of course, Benny’s continuing struggle as a recovering alcoholic. He's also been named as a mentor to a group of younger investigators, and Griessel is having a hard time with his recent assignment: Inspector Mbali Kaleni, a black woman, a Zulu, a feminist. This is an interesting pairing, and I’d like to see it continue in future books.
LINK to my full review
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Sword of Destiny
Andrzej Sapkowski
3/5 stars
This Witcher book is a compilation of short stories of the deeds and antics of Geralt of Riva and his companions. I enjoy Sapowski’s writing and the characters he has created. I am going to read Blood Of Elves next.
Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger – Lisa Donovan – 3.5***
Donovan is a chef and award-winning essayist who has worked in a number of celebrated restaurant kitchens throughout the South. This is her memoir. Her passion and focus has been on desserts but she knows her way around the entire kitchen. Her journey from Army brat to single mother to just-another-restaurant-worker to pastry star is interesting, and she tells her story with insight and honesty.
LINK to my full review
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Chocolate Wars: The 150-Year Rivalry Between the World's Greatest Chocolate Makers
Deborah Cadbury
4/5 stars
Deborah Cadbury, a Quaker family relative of one of the famous chocolate makers relates the history of chocolate, the manufacturers who made the chocolate and the rivalries between the chocolate manufacturers including Cadbury, Milton Hershey, Nestle, Lindt and Forrest Mars. Very interesting!
Back to the Prairie: A Home Remade, A Life Rediscovered
by Melissa Gilbert
Introduction by Tim Busfield
5*****
The audio performance by Melissa Gilbert adds to this book. No surprise, she has narrated several. The introduction by her husband Tim Busfield was a pleasant surprise.
I usually prefer listening to memoirs and autobiographies read by the authors but if they don't do well I bail very quickly. In this case I listened almost straight through. I made myself pause for sleep.
Interior Chinatown – Charles Yu – 3***
Yu’s inventive novel won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2020; he uses a second-person narrative voice and writes as if this were a screenplay. Personally, I found the structure off-putting. It seemed to me that Yu was trying too hard to be clever. Be that as it may, he had a pretty good story to tell, and eventually I came to appreciate his message.
LINK to my full review
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Blood of Elves
Andrzej Sapkowski
4/5 stars
Queen Calanthe commits suicide during an attack on the capital city and her granddaughter, Ciri manages to flee from the burning capital. Emhyr var Emreis, Imperator of Nilfgaard, has sent his people to find her. Young Ciri is wanted because of her royal blood, but she also has elven blood and possibly will be able to perform magic. Geralt of Rivia, a witcher vows to find and protect her. Exciting!
Eye Of the Needle – Ken Follett – 4.5****
Wow. Just, WOW. Fast-paced and engaging, this WW2 espionage thriller was Follett’s first successful endeavor as a novelist; he wrote it when he was only 27 years old! Follet uses three story arcs – the German spy, the British intelligence team on his trail, and the innocent woman who holds the key to success for one side or the other. Virtually every chapter ends in a cliffhanger, and Follett keeps the tension high, with the three storylines converging in a heart-stopping scenario.
LINK to my full review
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A Stir of Echoes
Richard Matheson
4/5 stars
Tom Wallace was an easy going man with a wife and a son. At a party, he was hypnotized and now he is having headaches but he can also hear people’s thoughts and he starts seeing aberrations. Why is this happening to him and is he and his family in danger because of this. Compelling!
How the Penguins Saved Veronica – Hazel Prior – 3.5***
Veronica McCreedy is an eighty-five-year-old woman who is inspired by a documentary on penguins to visit Antarctica. After all, she can’t leave her fortune to her recently discovered grandson, as he is an unemployed pot-smoker! The plot is outlandish and unrealistic but completely engaging and heart-warming. Veronica reminds me of many other cranky, outspoken elderly main characters (Ove and Olive Kitteridge, to name two). Everyone learns a lesson or two about cooperation and teamwork, and about opening one’s heart to the possibility of love.
LINK to my full review
The Other Dr. Gilmer: Two Men, a Murder, and an Unlikely Fight for Justice, by Benjamin Gilmer5 stars!
Just an excellent read about a curious coincidence that turned into much, much more. Well written, hard to put down. There was medical material in here but it was delivered in plain English. Moving and hard to put aside. A lot of this story shocked me to the core. Don't miss this one
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Barnum: An American Life
Robert Wilson
5/5 stars
This is the biography of the amazing PT Barnum, who ran a museum of oddities, brought life to the circus and introduced some of his most famous acts to the American public including Jenny Lind, the Swedish songstress, Jumbo, the elephant and General Tom Thumb. The author paints a wonderful picture of his life, his family, the people that surrounded him and mostly his drive to entertain people. Highly recommended!
Time for a break from the heat and humidity and enjoy a little Christmas in July!
An Amish Christmas – Cynthia Keller – 2.5** (rounded up)
A family living the American dream in North Carolina discovers they’ve lost everything. With little more than the clothes on their backs, they head for a family’s home in Maine, only to crash their car in the midst of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where they learn what’s really important in life. It’s a sweet, and somewhat sappy, holiday story.
LINK to my full review
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The Time of Contempt
Andrzej Sapkowski
4/5 stars
While war has commenced between the elves, other races and humans, Ciri returns in this novel along with Witcher and Yennefer. However, she is in grave danger because there are several who want to control her while her magic is still not under her complete control.
Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda – Becky Albertalli – 3.5***
The story of this high-school drama centers on Simon Spier, a gay 15-year-old, who’s not yet out to his family or friends. Ah, the drama of high school relationships. There’s a lot to digest here, from family dynamics to first love to what it means to be a true friend, and Albertalli handles it pretty well. I can see why this would be a popular YA title for any teen.
LINK to my full review
The Strange Case Of James Earl Ray by Clay Blair, Jr.3 stars
This is a biography of the man who murdered Martin Luther King, Jr. and led the police a merry chase afterwards. I had no idea there were so many unanswered questions about this guy. Not the least of them is how a small-time robber of grocery stores ever got the idea to assassinate anyone, or why. There are suggestions in here, but only suggestions. This is a real head-scratcher. Well written, well organized and well worth a read.
Mod
3 stars
This is a biography of the man who murdered Martin Luther King, Jr. and led the police a merry chase afterwards. I ha..."
Sounds interesting!
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Books mentioned in this topic
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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L.A. Weather – María Amparo Escandón – 3.5*** Rounded up
This is a funny, engaging, endearing novel that looks at a year in the life of one affluent Mexican-American family. It starts with a near tragedy and the characters (and reader) hardly have time to recover from that event when yet another crisis looms, and before long everyone in the family is spinning and bouncing from issue to issue, like balls in an out-of-balance pinball machine. The winds, drought and fires add more tension to the family’s internal strife, and ultimately help them focus on the things they CAN change, rather that what they have no control over. They still make bad decisions, and there is no HEA ending, but I was completely invested in these characters by the end, and I want more!
My full review HERE