Ollie Will Take the Ring to Mordor (but doesn't know the way)

[Ollie]

Start
Task: Read a book with home, homeward, or homebound in the title.
✅ Book One: At Home: A Short History of Private Life (home in the title; has a red cover)
✅ Book Two: Dark Matter (has a red cover; the word "Dark" in the title)
✅ Book Three: Certain Dark Things (has "Dark" in the title)

Checkpoint 1 - Bree
Task - Read a book that is the 1st book of a series of 4
✅ Book One: First Test (first in a four-part series)
✅ Book Two: Page (second in same series)
Book Three: Squire (third in same series)

Checkpoint 2 - Rivendell
Task: Read a book with "Sanctuary" or "Valley" in the title, or subtitle.
✅ Book One: Deep in the Valley ("valley" in the title; romance novel by a female author)
✅ Book Two: Book Lovers (romance novel by a female author; by the same author)
✅ Book Three: Beach Read (by the same author)

Checkpoint 3 - Moria
Task: Read a book with a cover that is 75% black.
Link 1
Link 2

Checkpoint 4 - Black Gate
Task: Read a book with "Iron" in the title.
Link 1
Link 2

Finish - Mount Doom
Task: Read a book that is between 400 and 450 pages.

[Ollie]

Badge 1 Book 1 Reporting
Segment: Start
Task: Read a book with "Home" in the title
Book:
Edition: ebook through Libby, 900 pages!
Link to next book: Red cover

THIS. STINKIN. BOOK.

I got through it out of spite and the sincere desire to pick it apart here. I'm putting my thoughts in a spoiler tag because they're so long:

(view spoiler)[Oh, it started off charming enough. The premise is really fun: we'll meander our way through the author's 18th century house and stop in each room to learn fun historical facts that relate back to the room itself or the things and activities within it. A semi-guided amble through the history of domestic life, if you will.

If we'd stuck to that premise, things would have been great and I'd have been content to explore the little nooks and crannies and learn something interesting along the way. Unfortunately, we got barely 200 pages in before some patterns started to emerge.

The first was that architecture is a special interest of the author, and it was to this subject that we inevitably returned in every room, picking back up from previous tangents as if switching rooms was an obligation and other topics an afterthought. The information was interesting, to be sure, but didn't feel in keeping with the premise we were promised at the outset.

But then things went from annoying to downright aggravating as the list of historical figures grew and took shape. It was all white men from Europe or America. Over and over, through every topic, we expounded on the virtues of these great men, many of whom rose from obscurity to do some great thing (again mostly with architecture).

When women were mentioned it was usually with contempt, and never for more than a paragraph or two. One woman got a special call out - Eleanor Coade, the inventor of Coade stone - but that almost made it worse. Up to this point, we were presented with men who made surprising career changes or jumped into fields with little to no experience, only to be assured that they most definitely did this shockingly uncharacteristic thing. But with Coade we're told that she's credited with creating the stone but that it was almost certainly the work of her male business partner. After all, she didn't work in stone before that.

Later, things got worse as we made our way to the bedroom and learned briefly about sexuality in the Victorian era. Here the work went from obnoxious to downright wrong as the author repeated oft-told myths of the era that have been thoroughly disproved by other experts on the subject.

He did the same with fashion, which he maligned from the beginning as silly, ridiculous, and unimportant, as if he was compelled to include mention of its history but was embarrassed by it. And then he GOT. IT. WRONG.

Those were the only two subjects covered in the book that I had any experience with. But if he so badly messed up those sections, who is to say that anything else he told us was true? The bibliography was 50 pages long, and yet I couldn't help but feel he'd missed his own point entirely. The facts were wrong, the scope limited, and such a great opportunity missed. Where I was expecting a peek into the history of domestic life, we got instead "White European Architects (And a Few Other Facts)" (hide spoiler)]

[Janice, Moderator]

I'm sorry your first book for the challenge was aggravating. Hopefully, the next one will be better.

[Ollie]

Badge 1 Book 2 Reporting
Segment: Start
Book:
Editon:ebook, 468 pages
Link to previous book:Red cover
Link to next book: Dark in the title

Wow, this book was intense. It picked up in the first few pages and never slowed down. It's sci-fi light, with a really interesting premise and good delivery. The pacing was breakneck and the twist made sense - one of those things where you look back and go "Of course. That was inevitable." Four stars only because I reserve five for books that will stick with me for years or change me as a person. This isn't that, but it's going to be banging around in my head for a long while. I highly recommend it.

[Ollie]

Badge 1 Book 3 Reporting
Segment: Start
Book:
Edition: ebook, 354 pages
Link to previous book: "Dark" in the title

I really wanted to love this one, and I think my judgment of it is probably unfair. The world-building and character development were great. Vampire lore in popular fiction is almost exclusively European-centric, so to get this glimpse into the Aztec legends was a treat.

But I'd just come off reading a book with a break-neck pace and a lot of action, and Certain Dark Things suffered for the comparison. It just felt slow. I'm not rating it, because I'm not sure where I'd put it on a scale. I think if I'd read it first, my opinion would have been entirely different.

[Janice, Moderator]

Silvia Morena-Garcia is a hit or a miss for me.

[Ollie]

Is there one you recommend?

[Ollie]

Badge 1 Book 4 Reporting
Segment: Checkpoint 1 - Bree
Task: Read a book that is the 1st book of a series of 4
Book:
Edition: paperback, 240 pages

I decided with this one to revisit my childhood. I have a ten-year-old, and I'm constantly trying to encourage him to read more. Unfortunately, he isn't as interested as I was at his age. But it does mean we have a lot more books around the house that fall in that magical age between 3rd and 6th grade, where so many classics reside.

You never know how old childhood favorites will stand up to the test of time, but I'm thrilled to say that this one did. I'm so glad I've decided to go back and read these. I don't know how to explain it - something something "healing my inner child" or something - but curling up with this book in my hands and reading it again was like coming home.

[Janice, Moderator]

Ollie wrote: "Is there one you recommend?"

I really enjoyed Mexican Gothic

[Ollie]

Badge 1 Book 5 Reporting
Segment: Checkpoint 1- Bree
Book:
Edition: Paperback, 290 pages
Link to Previous Book: Second in same series
Link to Next Book: Second in same series

[Ollie]

Badge 1 Book 6 Reporting
Segment: Checkpoint 1 - Bree
Book:
Edition: Paperback, 400 pages
Link to the Previous Book: Third in same series

[Ollie]

Badge 1 Book 7 Reporting
Segment: Checkpoint 2 - Rivendell
Task: Read a book with "Sanctuary" or "Valley" in the title, or subtitle.
Book:
Edition: ebook, 416 pages

I had hoped that, because this one is the first in a trilogy, I could just read through the series for this checkpoint. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan. The author's background in nursing school made the medical sections feel realistic; they were probably the most interesting aspect of the book. But it was otherwise mediocre.

[Janice, Moderator]

That's too bad, Ollie. Now you have to put your thinking cap back on to make those changes.

[Ollie]

Badge 1 Book 8 Reporting
Segment: Checkpoint 2 - Rivendell
Book:
Edition: ebook, 554 pages
Link to the Previous Book: romance novel by a female author

Okay, I know that's a little bit of a copout for connection...but this book was worth it. Yes, it's a classic romance. Yes, it's simple. But it's also funny, with snappy dialogue and well-developed characters and - most importantly - it doesn't take itself too seriously. I'm so happy to have read it.

[Janice, Moderator]

A connection is a connection, so you are fine.

[Ollie]

Badge 1 Book 9 Reporting
Segment: Checkpoint 2 - Rivendell
Book:
Edition: ebook, 506 pages
Link to the Previous Book: Same author

This one wasn't quite as magical as Book Lovers, but it was still really good. I think it definitely lives up to its name; I could see knocking this out poolside.