So here is another example of (what my Aunt Susan called) the "harrowing-ordeal" memoir. This one is a girl who survived childhood sexual and emotional abuse, and she grew up to help other kids in that situation. It was an interesting story too.
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Spilled Milk
Nonfiction by K.L. Randis
https://www.barnesandnoble.com
So here is another example of (what my Aunt Susan called) the "harrowing-ordeal" memoir. This one is a girl who survived childhood sexual and emotional abuse, and she grew up to help other kids in that situation. It was an interesting story too.
So here is another example of (what my Aunt Susan called) the "harrowing-ordeal" memoir. This one is a girl who survived childhood sexual and emotional abuse, and she grew up to help other kids in that situation. It was an interesting story too.
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Duplicate Keys
Fiction by Jane Smiley
https://www.barnesandnoble.com
I couldn't get interested in this story. It was only because I'm stuck at home with a quarantine and I don't know when I'm going to be able to go to the library again that I forced myself to finish the book.
There is a murder in chapter one, so one expects this to be a mystery story, but it's really not. Or, it's not a good mystery story. It's not suspenseful. We do find out who the murderer is at the end, and it's the person I thought it was in chapter one.
Anyways, I don't know why the review quoted above calls it a cliff-hanger. It's more of a cliff-sitter-and-don't-go-anywhere-at-all-er.
I also read recently by this author: Private Lives
I couldn't get interested in this story. It was only because I'm stuck at home with a quarantine and I don't know when I'm going to be able to go to the library again that I forced myself to finish the book.
There is a murder in chapter one, so one expects this to be a mystery story, but it's really not. Or, it's not a good mystery story. It's not suspenseful. We do find out who the murderer is at the end, and it's the person I thought it was in chapter one.
Anyways, I don't know why the review quoted above calls it a cliff-hanger. It's more of a cliff-sitter-and-don't-go-anywhere-at-all-er.
I also read recently by this author: Private Lives
Friday, March 27, 2020
Alone: Orphaned in the Ocean
Nonfiction by Tere Duperrault Fassbender and Richard Logan
https://www.barnesandnoble.com
This is a true story about an eleven-year-old girl who was (almost) the sole survivor of a sailboat that sank in the ocean near the Bahamas. (The ship's captain also survived, but everyone else on board was lost.) It was an amazing survival story, but not quite written as engagingly as I would have liked.
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Liar
Fiction by K.L. Slater
https://www.barnesandnoble.com
This story is about a girl called Amber who not very nicely schemes to get a certain man to marry her. I read another book not too long ago about a horrible husband-stealing Amber, (see The Last Mrs. Parrish) and I'm starting to feel prejudiced against this name. If your name is Amber, you'd better stay away from me, and don't speak to my husband! (I'm joking. I'm sure most real Ambers are quite nice.)
Anyways, this was a pretty good story, although I spent a lot of the book with "Oh-No-I-Can't-Look-Syndrome,"** hoping that the characters would recognize Terrible Amber for what she was. It sure took them long enough.
There was a surprise twist at the end though!
(See also Lock Every Door by Riley Sager)
That's when you know a main character is making a major error in judgement that's going to have huge and terrible consequences.
This story is about a girl called Amber who not very nicely schemes to get a certain man to marry her. I read another book not too long ago about a horrible husband-stealing Amber, (see The Last Mrs. Parrish) and I'm starting to feel prejudiced against this name. If your name is Amber, you'd better stay away from me, and don't speak to my husband! (I'm joking. I'm sure most real Ambers are quite nice.)
Anyways, this was a pretty good story, although I spent a lot of the book with "Oh-No-I-Can't-Look-Syndrome,"** hoping that the characters would recognize Terrible Amber for what she was. It sure took them long enough.
There was a surprise twist at the end though!
I also read recently by this author: The Apartment
**Oh-No-I-Can't-Look Syndrome
(See also Lock Every Door by Riley Sager)
That's when you know a main character is making a major error in judgement that's going to have huge and terrible consequences.
Monday, March 23, 2020
The Stranger Diaries
Fiction by Elly Griffiths
https://www.barnesandnoble.com
Claire is an English teacher at British high school that happens to be housed in an historic house once owned by a famous spooky Victorian author called R.M. Holland. Claire both teaches Holland's short stories (the most famous of which being "The Stranger," which is featured in this book as a story-with-the-story) and is working on a book about the author, so she likes working at a school with a connection to him. But then a fellow teacher turns up murdered!
This was a pretty good book, although it was a little slower moving than I would have preferred. I did like the variance of narrators; the author gives us not only Claire's perspective but that of also the lead detective on the murder case, and Claire's teenaged daughter.
Claire is an English teacher at British high school that happens to be housed in an historic house once owned by a famous spooky Victorian author called R.M. Holland. Claire both teaches Holland's short stories (the most famous of which being "The Stranger," which is featured in this book as a story-with-the-story) and is working on a book about the author, so she likes working at a school with a connection to him. But then a fellow teacher turns up murdered!
This was a pretty good book, although it was a little slower moving than I would have preferred. I did like the variance of narrators; the author gives us not only Claire's perspective but that of also the lead detective on the murder case, and Claire's teenaged daughter.
Saturday, March 21, 2020
You've Been Volunteered
Fiction by Laurie Gelman
https://www.barnesandnoble.com
This book is the sequel to Class Mom, an absolutely hysterical story I read about a year ago. This time our heroine Jen agrees to be class mom again, thinking things will be easier now that the parents in her son's class are used to her irreverent humor. Then she finds out the new PTA president has another great job Jen can be "volun-told" to do: Safety Patrol Mom.
This was another great book!
This book is the sequel to Class Mom, an absolutely hysterical story I read about a year ago. This time our heroine Jen agrees to be class mom again, thinking things will be easier now that the parents in her son's class are used to her irreverent humor. Then she finds out the new PTA president has another great job Jen can be "volun-told" to do: Safety Patrol Mom.
This was another great book!
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Magic Street
Fiction by Orson Scott Card
https://www.barnesandnoble.com
I really like this author; I've read a lot of his books. It turns out that I have also read this one before, but I didn't remember until I was already part of the way through.
This story is about magic in the real world, sort of hiding in plain sight. I really enjoyed it. Again.
I really like this author; I've read a lot of his books. It turns out that I have also read this one before, but I didn't remember until I was already part of the way through.
This story is about magic in the real world, sort of hiding in plain sight. I really enjoyed it. Again.
I also read recently by this author: The First Formic War Trilogy
Monday, March 16, 2020
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Fiction by Heather Morris
https://www.barnesandnoble.com
This book was based on the life of a Holocaust survivor who emigrated to Australia and shared his story with the author before his death. I expected to like it, and I did.
However, it didn't seem to me to be quite as deep as most novelizations of true-life stories; it felt a little like the story-teller was skimming through a summary of his experiences. I liked the characters, but I didn't feel I got to know them as much as I wanted to. I think this is because the story was really intended as a film and not a novel; in the afterward the author says that a screenplay is what she had initially wanted to write.
Still, this was a good story, and I expect it will be made into a film eventually.
This book was based on the life of a Holocaust survivor who emigrated to Australia and shared his story with the author before his death. I expected to like it, and I did.
However, it didn't seem to me to be quite as deep as most novelizations of true-life stories; it felt a little like the story-teller was skimming through a summary of his experiences. I liked the characters, but I didn't feel I got to know them as much as I wanted to. I think this is because the story was really intended as a film and not a novel; in the afterward the author says that a screenplay is what she had initially wanted to write.
Still, this was a good story, and I expect it will be made into a film eventually.
Sunday, March 15, 2020
My Lovely Wife
Fiction by Sanatha Downing
This was another exciting thriller about family members serial killers. In this case, we have a husband and wife who team up and kill young women, while still seeming to be a normal suburban couple. Twisted!
Friday, March 13, 2020
My Sister the Serial Killer
Fiction by Oyinkan Braithwaite
https://www.barnesandnoble.com
This was a fun and fast-paced book! Set in Lagos, Nigeria, the story focuses on Korede, a plain and competent nurse who always feels overshadowed by her pretty and glamorous sister Ayoola. Still, as a good big sister, Korede is always there to help Ayoola and clean up the younger girl's messes. Unfortunately, the messes Ayoola gets into involve dead bodies of former boyfriends...
This book was very interesting and the ending was a surprise!
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Lock Every Door
Fiction by Riley Sager
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/
This book was recommended to me by an online book club group I recently joined, and was touted as unputdownable. That was maybe too much hype, because it got my expectations too high.
It was good, but not great. The story begins with a girl called Jules who gets an apartment-sitting job in a fancy historic building in New York City. They're going to pay her $1000 per week to live there! Gee, does this seem too good to be true? Oh, but there are other apartment sitters there... who might be disappearing.... And why do they only employ young people with no close family members?
Yeah, this gave me a huge case of "Oh-No-I-Can't-Look"** Syndrome.
Still, it was interesting, and the ending did surprise me.
**Oh-No-I-Can't-Look Syndrome
(See also Spell or High Water by Scott Meyer)
That's when you know a main character is making a major error in judgement that's going to have huge and terrible consequences.
This book was recommended to me by an online book club group I recently joined, and was touted as unputdownable. That was maybe too much hype, because it got my expectations too high.
It was good, but not great. The story begins with a girl called Jules who gets an apartment-sitting job in a fancy historic building in New York City. They're going to pay her $1000 per week to live there! Gee, does this seem too good to be true? Oh, but there are other apartment sitters there... who might be disappearing.... And why do they only employ young people with no close family members?
Yeah, this gave me a huge case of "Oh-No-I-Can't-Look"** Syndrome.
Still, it was interesting, and the ending did surprise me.
(See also Spell or High Water by Scott Meyer)
That's when you know a main character is making a major error in judgement that's going to have huge and terrible consequences.
Sunday, March 8, 2020
The Last Widow
Fiction by Karin Slaughter.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/
This story begins with a woman who is shopping with her preteen daughter when an unmarked white van swoops in for an abduction. As she's been taught, the girl runs away, but it's the mother they were after....
This was an exciting thriller involving the FBI and a crazy militia group. I did not expect the ending!
This story begins with a woman who is shopping with her preteen daughter when an unmarked white van swoops in for an abduction. As she's been taught, the girl runs away, but it's the mother they were after....
This was an exciting thriller involving the FBI and a crazy militia group. I did not expect the ending!
Thursday, March 5, 2020
The Book of Lost Things
Fiction by John Connolly
https://www.barnesandnoble.com
In this book, a twelve-year-old boy who has recently lost his mother crosses into a strange realm of fantasy. There is a fairy-tale element to the story, but it's not for children.
It was a pretty god story, but rather strange.
In this book, a twelve-year-old boy who has recently lost his mother crosses into a strange realm of fantasy. There is a fairy-tale element to the story, but it's not for children.
It was a pretty god story, but rather strange.
Monday, March 2, 2020
Long Bright River
Fiction by Liz Moore.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/
Every time policewoman Mickey Fitzpatrick hears a report of an unidentified female corpse, overdose suspected, she prays, "Don't let it be Kacey." Mickey's sister Kacey has been lost to drug addiction and prostitution for years on the streets of Philadelphia, and although they haven't spoken for a long while, Mickey still holds out hope for Kacey.
But when a series of young female junkies start turning up strangled, and Kacey is nowhere to be found, Mickey gets scared.
This was an interesting mystery, although not exactly a thriller. I was surprised by the end.
Sunday, March 1, 2020
The Body in the Library
Fiction by Agatha Christie
https://www.barnesandnoble.com
I enjoyed the premise of this book; it read kind of like Mrs. Christie was trying to see how absurd of a situation she could come up with to begin the story with. Here it is: The dead body of a young blonde in full makeup and a sequined evening gown is found on the hearth rug in a respectable English country house owned by a retired colonel and his wife. Nobody knows who on earth she even is, much less how she got there or why she died.
The genius of Mrs. Christie is that she can take this opening, which sounds like a ridiculous writing prompt exercise, and weave an absolutely perfect mystery story, incorporating the fabulous Miss Marple. Great story!
I also read recently by this author: Evil Under the Sun
I enjoyed the premise of this book; it read kind of like Mrs. Christie was trying to see how absurd of a situation she could come up with to begin the story with. Here it is: The dead body of a young blonde in full makeup and a sequined evening gown is found on the hearth rug in a respectable English country house owned by a retired colonel and his wife. Nobody knows who on earth she even is, much less how she got there or why she died.
The genius of Mrs. Christie is that she can take this opening, which sounds like a ridiculous writing prompt exercise, and weave an absolutely perfect mystery story, incorporating the fabulous Miss Marple. Great story!
I also read recently by this author: Evil Under the Sun