Cindy/LibraryCin's 2020 Challenges

I have a long list, but will follow my usual format, so here goes...

12x12 Challenge

Play Book Tag
1. The Woman in the Window / A.J. Finn. 4 stars
2. Caught / Harlan Coben. 3.75 stars
3. World Made By Hand / James Howard Kunstler. 3 stars
4. The Humans / Matt Haig. 3.75 stars
5. Seven Lies / Elizabeth Kay. 4 stars
6. Killer Within / S.E. Green. 3.5 stars
7. A Bone to Pick / Charlaine Harris. 3.5 stars
8. Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man / Fannie Flagg. 3.5 stars
9. In the Devil's Snare / Mary Beth Norton. 2.5 stars
10. The Good Son / You-Jeong Jeong. 3.5 stars
11. Educated / Tara Westover. 4.25 stars
12. Ghost Soldiers / Hampton Sides. 3.5 stars
____________________________________________
13. Locke & Key: Alpha & Omega / Joe Hill. 4 stars
14. The Bat / Jo Nesbo. 3 stars

PBT Challenges
1. Tuesdays With Morrie / Mitch Albom. 3 stars
2. Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl / Susan McCorkindale. 3.5 stars
3. Giant George / Dave Nasser. 3.5 stars
4. Out of America / Keith B. Richburg. 3.75 stars
5. The Lace Reader / Brunonia Barry. 4 stars
6. Seeing Voices / Oliver Sacks. 3 stars
7. The Witches of New York / Ami McKay. 3.5 stars
8. A Gift of Magic / Lois Duncan. 3.5 stars
9. To Kill a Kingdom / Alexandra Christo. 4 stars
10. Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner's Daughter / Loretta Lynn. 3.75 stars
11. The 100 Thing Challenge / Dave Bruno. 3 stars
12. Krakatoa / Simon Winchester. 1.5 stars
__________________________________________________________
13. Phantoms / Dean Koontz. 4 stars
14. Fire Watch / Connie Willis. 2.5 stars

Reading Through Time
1. The Great Hunger / Cecil Woodham-Smith. 2.75 stars
2. The Invention of Wings / Sue Monk Kidd. 4 stars
3. Go Down Together / Jeff Guinn. 4.25 stars
4. Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley / Alison Weir. 3.5 stars
5. Alone / Richard E. Byrd. 4 stars
6. Murder at the Vicarage / Agatha Christie. 3.5 stars
7. The Great Halifax Explosion / John U Bacon. 4 stars
8. The Ghost Map / Steven Johnson. 3.75 stars
9. Salt: A World History / Mark Kurlansky. 2.5 stars
10. Mary / Janis Cooke Newman. 3.75 stars
11. Stephen King Biography / George Beahm. 3.5 stars
12. Countdown / Alan Weisman. 3.5 stars
_____________________________________________________

Oh Canada! (Canadian Authors)
1. Michelle Remembers / Michelle Smith, Lawrence Pazder. 3 stars
2. A Noise Downstairs / Linwood Barclay. 4 stars
3. You Are Here / Colin Ellard. 3.5 stars
4. American War / Omar El Akkad. 3 stars
5. Hands Like Clouds / Mark Zuehlke. 3 stars
6. The Brideship Wife / Leslie Howard. 4 stars
7. Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography / Chester Brown. 3.5 stars
8. 7 Generations / David Alexander Robertson. 4.5 stars
9. Missing / Frances Itani. 4 stars
10. The Couple Next Door / Shari Lapena. 4 stars
11. Once Every Never / Lesley Livingston. 3 stars
12. The Gown / Jennifer Robson. 4 stars
__________________________________________________________
13. Half Spent Was the Night / Ami McKay. 2.5 stars
14. The Pull of the Stars / Emma Donoghue. 3.5 stars
15. From the Ashes / Jesse Thistle. 4 stars

Trim the TBR (On TBR 2+ years)
1. Dead to You / Lisa McMann. 3.5 stars
2. Split Estate / Charlotte Bacon. 3 stars
3. Endangered / Eliot Schrefer. 5 stars
4. The Brief History of the Dead / Kevin Brockmeier. 3 stars
5. The Fact of a Body / Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich. 3.5 stars
6. Grounded / Seth Stevenson. 4 stars
7. Kingdom Under Glass / Jay Kirk. 3.5 stars
8. The Hate U Give / Angie Thomas. 4 stars
9. Stuff / Randy Frost, Gail Steketee. 4 stars
10. Enchantments / Kathryn Harrison. 2 stars
11. The House Girl / Tara Conklin. 2.5 stars
12. The Venetian's Wife / Nick Bantock. 3.5 stars
____________________________________________
13. This Other Eden / Ben Elton. 3 stars
14. How to Cook Without a Book / Pam Anderson. 3.5 stars
15. The Tie That Binds / Kent Haruf. 4 stars
16. Light on Snow / Anita Shreve. 3.5 stars

Will it Ever End? (Continuing Series)
1. Unbound / Neal Shusterman. 3.5 stars
2. The Widow / Fiona Barton. 3.5 stars
3. A Cat Abroad / Peter Gethers. 3.5 stars
4. Big Cherry Holler / Adriana Trigiani. 3 stars
5. Cat & Mouse / James Patterson. 4 stars
6. Lady of Sherwood / Jennifer Roberson. 4 stars
7. Fables, Vol. 22. Farewell / Bill Willingham. 4 stars
8. Iron Kissed / Patricia Briggs. 3 stars
9. Red Bones / Ann Cleeves. 3 stars
10. An Echo in the Bone / Diana Gabaldon. 3.5 stars
11. Forever / Maggie Stiefvater. 2.5 stars
12. Susannah's Garden / Debbie Macomber. 3.75 stars
_____________________________________
13. The Silkworm / Robert Galbraith. 3 stars

Off the Shelf (Print or E- Books I Own)
1. Triangle / Katharine Weber. 2.5 stars
2. After Visiting Friends / Michael Hainey. 3 stars
3. The Other Child / Joanne Fluke. 4 stars
4. Beyond Belief / Jenna Miscavige Hill. 4 stars
5. The Book of Joy / Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Douglas Abrams. 3 stars
6. Powder Burn / Carl Hiaasen. 3 stars
7. Dark Tide / Stephen Puleo. 3.75 stars
8. Alaska Bound / Margaret Frank. 3 stars
9. Deep Freeze / Lisa Jackson. 4.5 stars
10. Little Disasters / Sarah Vaughan. 4 stars
11. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters / Jane Austen, Ben H. Winters. 3.5 stars
12. Confessions on the 7:45 / Lisa Unger. 3.75 stars
_______________________________________________________
13. The Fireman / Joe Hill. 3.5 stars
14. The Quintland Sisters / Shelley Wood. 3.75 stars
15. The Scarlet Plague / Jack London. 3 stars

Audio Books
1. Manhattan Beach / Jennifer Egan. 3 stars
2. The Infinite Sea / Rick Yancey. 3 stars
3. The Thorn Birds / Colleen McCullough. 3 stars
4. The Fault in Our Stars / John Green. 3.5 stars
5. Alaska / James A. Michener. 3.5 stars
6. Green River, Running Red / Ann Rule. 3 stars
7. The Rosie Project / Graeme Simsion. 4 stars
8. Little Women / Louisa May Alcott. 3.5 stars
9. The New Jim Crow / Michelle Alexander. 3 stars
10. All the Wrong Places / Joy Fielding. 4 stars
11. A Single Thread / Tracy Chevalier. 3.25 stars
12. Cover of Snow / Jenny Milchman. 2.25 stars
____________________________________
13. Sworn to Silence / Linda Castillo. 4 stars
14. The Institute / Stephen King. 4 stars

I'll Travel Virtually (Books Set in Other Countries - not Canada or USA)
1. No Will But His / Sarah A. Hoyt. 4 stars
2. Royal Flush / Rhys Bowen. 3.5 stars
3. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats / Jan-Philipp Sendker. 2 stars
4. Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange / Amanda Smyth. 3.25 stars
5. Big Little Lies / Liane Moriarty. 4.5 stars
6. Escape from Syria / Samya Kullab. 4 stars
7. Escape to the Wild / Andrea Hejlskov. 3.75 stars
8. Outlaw / Angus Donald. 4.25 stars
9. The Band that Played On / Steve Turner. 3.25 stars
10. Bill Bryson's African Diary / Bill Bryson. 3 stars
11. The Book of Hidden Wonders / Polly Crosby. 3.5 stars
12. The Kitchen God's Wife / Amy Tan. 3.5 stars
_________________________________________
13. Circling the Sun / Paula McLain. 3 stars
14. The Turn of the Key / Ruth Ware. 4.25 stars
15. A Thousand Splendid Suns / Khaled Hosseini. 4 stars

Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My! (Animals)
1. Tyrannosaur Canyon / Douglas Preston. 3.5 stars
2. Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof / Blaize Clement. 4 stars
3. The Cat, the Quilt and the Corpse / Leann Sweeney. 4 stars
4. Great Cat Tales / Various Authors. 2.5 stars
5. The Third Chimpanzee / Jared Diamond. 4 stars
6. Fire in the Turtle House / Osha Gray Davidson. 4 stars
7. The Werewolf of Bamberg / Oliver Potzsch. 4 stars
8. Mew is for Murder / Clea Simon. 3.5 stars
9. The Llama of Death / Betty Webb. 3.5 stars
10. Kitty Cornered / Bob Tarte. 3.5 stars
11. Elephant Speak / Melissa Crandall. 4.5 stars
12. Jonathan Livingston Seagull / Richard Bach. 2.5 stars
_____________________________________________
13. The Power of Meow / David Michie. 3.5 stars
14. Rescue: Lost & Found / R.A. Conroy. 4.5 stars

Truth is Stranger than Fiction (Nonfiction)
1. The Forgotten Explorer / Samuel Fay. 3 stars
2. Dead Mountain / Donnie Eichar. 3.75 stars
3. Her Little Majesty / Carolly Erickson. 4 stars
4. The Woman Who Can't Forget / Jill Price. 4 stars
5. A Cast of Killer / Sydney D. Kirkpatrick. 3.5 stars
6. Six Degrees / Mark Lynas. 4 stars
7. Revolution for Dummies / Bassem Youssef. 4 stars
8. Collapse / Jared Diamond. 3.5 stars
9. Storm Warning: The Story of a Killer Tornado / Nancy Mathis. 4 stars
10. Gulp / Mary Roach. 3 stars
11. The Secret Lives of Saints / Daphne Bramham. 4 stars
12. Two for the Road / Jane & Michael Stern. 3.5 stars
_______________________________________________________
13. The Dark Heart / Joakim Palmkvist. 4 stars
14. My Secret Sister / Helen Edwards, Jenny Lee Smith. 3.75 stars
15. Swimming to Antarctica / Lynne Cox. 4 stars
16. Old Sparky / Anthony Galvin. 4 stars

KIT Challenges
1. Round Trip / Ann Jonas. 3 stars
2. Never Too Late / Jo Barney. 3.5 stars
3. Forgiven / Terri Roberts. 3 stars
4. Lost in NYC / Nadja Spiegelman, Sergio Garcia Sanchez. 4 stars
5. Whiter Than Snow / Sandra Dallas. 4 stars
6. The Price of Everything / Eduardo Porter. 3 stars
7. The House of Doctor Dee / Peter Ackroyd. 2 stars
8. Kiss of the Fur Queen / Tomson Highway. 3 stars
9. Jane /Aline Brosh McKenna, Ramon K. Perez. 4 stars
10. Zeitoun / Dave Eggers. 4 stars
11. The Sometimes Daughter / Sherri Wood Emmons. 4 stars
12. Where the Crawdads Sing / Delia Owens. 4 stars
__________________________________________________________
13. The Woman Outside My Door / Rachel Ryan. 4 stars
14. The Boat People / Sharon Bala. 4 stars
15. Rest You Merry / Charlotte MacLeod. 3.5 stars
16. Floodpath / Jon Wilkman. 3.5 stars
17. The Invention of Hugo Cabret / Brian Selznick. 4 stars

Overflow
1. The Summer List / Amy Mason Doan. 3.75 stars
2. The Arrival / Shaun Tan. 3.5 stars

BingoDOG



1. Book that's in a Legacy Library. Kiss of the Fur Queen / Tomson Highway. 3 stars
2. Book written by an LT author. Dead to You / Lisa McMann. 3.5 stars
3. Book published in 1820 or 1920
4. Book published in the year of your birth
5. Book published under a pen name or anonymously. The Woman in the Window / A.J. Finn. 4 stars
6. Book set in Asia. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats / Jan-Philipp Sendker. 2 stars
7. Mystery or true crime. Royal Flush / Rhys Bowen. 3.5 stars
8. Book involving a real historical event (fiction or nonfiction). Triangle / Katharine Weber. 2.5 stars
9. Book about books, bookstores, or libraries. The Fault in Our Stars / John Green. 3.5 stars
10. Book with at least three letters of BINGO consecutively in order in the title (BIN, ING, NGO, GOB, OBI...the letters can cross words but must be in order and be consecutive). The Invention of Wings / Sue Monk Kidd. 4 stars
11. Red cover, or red is prominent on the cover. The Thorn Birds / Colleen McCullough. 3 stars
12. Title contains a pun
13. Book about birth or death (childbearing, midwifery, human aging). Tuesdays With Morrie / Mitch Albom. 3 stars
14. Book with a proper name in the title. Michelle Remembers / Michelle Smith, Lawrence Pazder. 3 stars
15. Book published by a small press or self-published. The Forgotten Explorer / Samuel Fay. 3 stars
16. Book published in 2020. The Brideship Wife / Leslie Howard. 4 stars
17. Epistolary novel or collection of letters. The Venetian's Wife / Nick Bantock. 3.5 stars
18. Book by a journalist or about journalism. After Visiting Friends / Michael Hainey. 3 stars
19. Book not set on Earth
20. Mythology or folklore. Lady of Sherwood / Jennifer Roberson. 4 stars
21. Weird book title. Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange / Amanda Smyth. 3.25 stars
22. Book with "library" or "thing" in the title or subtitle. The 100 Thing Challenge / Dave Bruno. 3 stars
23. Book with a periodic table element in the title. Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof / Blaize Clement. 4 stars
24. Book by a woman from a country other than the US/UK. Big Little Lies / Liane Moriarty. 4.5 stars
25. Read a CAT. Dead Mountain / Donnie Eichar. 3.75 stars

RandomCAT:

January: New Year’s Resolution (challenging/intimidating read)
- The Forgotten Explorer / Samuel Fay. 3 stars

February: Still LEAPing into a New Year (Leap Years)
- Split Estate / Charlotte Bacon. 3 stars
- Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof / Blaize Clement. 4 stars
- The Art of Hearing Heartbeats / Jan-Philipp Sendker. 2 stars
- World Made By Hand / James Howard Kunstler. 3 stars
- Endangered / Eliot Schrefer. 5 stars

March: Seasons of Love (a season in the title)
- The Summer List / Amy Mason Doan. 3.75 stars

April: Showers and Flowers
- Hands Like Clouds / Mark Zuehlke. 3 stars

May: Believe in Your Shelf
- Great Cat Tales / Various. 2.5 stars

June: Take it to the Sea
- Fire in the Turtle House / Osha Gray Davidson. 4 stars
- To Kill a Kingdom / Alexandra Christo. 4 stars

July: Picture This!
- Fables, Vol. 22. Farewell / Bill Willingham. 4 stars
- Jane / Aline Brosh McKenna, Ramon K. Perez. 4 stars

August: Get Your Groove On
- Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner's Daughter / Loretta Lynn. 3.75 stars
- The Band that Played On / Steve Turner. 3.25 stars

September: Recommendations
- The Kitchen God's Wife / Amy Tan. 3.5 stars
- Educated / Tara Westover. 4.25 stars

October: Healthcare Heroes
- The Fireman / Joe Hill. 3.5 stars
- Phantoms / Dean Koontz. 4 stars

*November: Lest We Forget
- Ghost Soldiers / Hampton Sides. 3.5 stars

December: Goodbye 2020 (roll the die = 6: published 2009-2016)
- Countdown / Alan Weisman. 3.5 stars
- Floodpath / Jon Wilkman. 3.5 stars
- The Power of Meow / David Michie. 3.5 stars
- Old Sparky / Anthony Galvin. 4 stars

I'm not necessarily going to plan for every month for this one, but I want to keep track of the ones I do.

NonfictionCAT:

January: Journalism/News
February: Travel
- Dead Mountain / Donnie Eichar. 3.75 stars
- You Are Here / Colin Ellard. 3.5 stars

March: Biography
- Her Little Majesty / Carolly Erickson. 4 stars
- The Woman Who Can't Forget / Jill Price. 4 stars
- Giant George / Dave Nasser. 3.5 stars
- Beyond Belief / Jenna Miscavige Hill. 4 stars

April: Law and Order
- Go Down Together / Jeff Guinn. 4.25 stars
- The Fact of a Body / Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich. 3.5 stars

May: Science
- Alone / Richard E. Byrd. 4 stars
- Six Degrees / Mark Lynas. 4 stars

June: Society
- Collapse / Jared Diamond. 3.5 stars

July: Human Science
- Stuff / Randy Frost, Gail Steketee. 4 stars

August: History
- The Ghost Map / Steven Johnson. 3.75 stars
- In the Devil's Snare / Mary Beth Norton. 2.5 stars
- The Band that Played On / Steve Turner. 3.25 stars

September: Religion and Philosophy
- The Secret Lives of Saints / Daphne Bramham. 4 stars
- Educated / Tara Westover. 4.25 stars

October: The Arts
November: Food, Home and Recreation
- How to Cook Without a Book / Pam Anderson. 3.5 stars

December: Adventures by Land, Sea or Air
- Swimming to Antarctica / Lynne Cox. 4 stars

KITastrophe:

*January: Fires
- Triangle / Katharine Weber. 2.5 stars

February: Invasions
- The Infinite Sea / Rick Yancey. 3 stars

March: Epidemics and Famine
- The Brief History of the Dead / Kevin Brockmeier. 3 stars

April: Riots/Uprisings/Sieges
- American War / Omar El Akkad. 3 stars

May: Geologic Events (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, avalanches, meteor strikes)
- Whiter Than Snow / Sandra Dallas. 4 stars

June: Man-Made
- Dark Tide / Stephen Puleo. 3.75 stars

July: Weather Events (hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, floods, droughts, heatwaves)
- Storm Warning / Nancy Mathis. 4 stars

August: Transportation and Maritime
- The Band that Played On / Steve Turner. 3.25 stars

September: Catch-Up Month
- Zeitoun / Dave Eggers. 4 stars (July/weather)

October: Pre-1900
- Krakatoa / Simon Winchester. 1.5 stars

November: Outside Your Home Country
- The Pull of the Stars / Emma Donoghue. 3.5 stars

December: Technology/Industrial
- Floodpath / Jon Wilkman. 3.5 stars

TravelKIT:

*January: City vs. Countryside
- Round Trip / Ann Jonas. 3 stars
- Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl / Susan McCorkindale. 3.5 stars

February: In translation
- The Art of Hearing Heartbeats / Jan-Philipp Sendker. 2 stars

March: Tourist meccas
- Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange / Amanda Smyth. 3.25 stars
- Lost in NYC / Nadja Spiegelman, Sergio Garcia Sanchez. 4 stars
- A Cat Abroad / Peter Gethers. 3.5 stars

April: Related to a place where you do not live
- Out of America / Keith B. Richburg. 3.75 stars

May: Modes of transportation (sea, air, rail, driving, etc)
- Grounded / Seth Stevenson. 4 stars

June: Legendary places, such as Camelot, Atlantis, Avalon
- Lady of Sherwood / Jennifer Roberson. 4 stars

July: Myths or legends from a specific region/country/location
- Outlaw / Angus Donald. 4.25 stars

August: Travel Narratives
- Bill Bryson's African Diary / Bill Bryson. 3 stars

September: Festival or event
- The Gown / Jennifer Robson. 4 stars

October: Related to food or drink from a specific location/country/region
- Two for the Road / Jane & Michael Stern. 3.5 stars

November: Living in a New Country
- The Boat People / Sharon Bala. 4 stars

December: Related to a Place You Would Like to Visit
- The Bat / Jo Nesbo. 3 stars
- Swimming to Antarctica / Lynne Cox. 4 stars
- The Turn of the Key / Ruth Ware. 4.25 stars
- The Invention of Hugo Cabret / Brian Selznick. 4 stars

AlphaKIT:

Year-Long: X, Z
- Hands Like Clouds / Mark Zuehlke. 3 stars

January: A, U
- Round Trip / Ann Jonas. 3 stars
- Tuesdays With Morrie / Mitch Albom. 3 stars
- Unbound / Neal Shusterman. 3.5 stars
- The Woman in the Window / A. J. Finn. 4 stars

February: F, B
- Never Too Late / Jo Barney. 3.5 stars
- A Noise Downstairs / Linwood Barclay. 4 stars
- Split Estate / Charlotte Bacon. 3 stars
- Forgiven / Terri Roberts. 3 stars
- Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof / Blaize Clement. 4 stars
- The Widow / Fiona Barton. 3.5 stars

March: G, C
- Her Little Majesty / Carolly Erickson. 4 stars
- The Thorn Birds / Colleen McCullough. 3 stars
- A Cat Abroad / Peter Gethers. 3.5 stars
- Giant George / Dave Nasser. 3.5 stars

April: S, T
- Big Cherry Holler / Adriana Trigiani
- Seeing Voices / Oliver Sacks. 3 stars
- The Book of Joy / Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Douglas Abrams. 3 stars

May: L, P
- The Price of Everything / Eduardo Porter. 3 stars
- Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography / Chester Brown. 3.5 stars
- The House of Doctor Dee / Peter Ackroyd. 2 stars
- Six Degrees / Mark Lynas. 4 stars
- Powder Burn / Carl Hiaasen. 3 stars

June: K, Y
- Seven Lies / Elizabeth Kay. 4 stars
- Kingdom Under Glass / Jay Kirk. 3.5 stars
- Revolution for Dummies / Bassem Youssef. 4 stars
- Kiss of the Fur Queen / Tomson Highway. 3 stars
- Killer Within / S.E. Green. 3.5 stars

July: J, R
- The Great Halifax Explosion / John U. Bacon. 4 stars
- Deep Freeze / Lisa Jackson. 4.5 stars
- Stuff / Randy Frost, Gail Steketee. 4 stars
- Jane / Aline Brosh McKenna, Ramon K. Perez. 4 stars
- Red Bones / Ann Cleeves. 3 stars

August: O, H
- The Werewolf of Bamberg / Oliver Potzsch. 4 stars
- Enchantments / Kathryn Harrison. 2 stars

September: M, E
- Mew is for Murder / Clea Simon. 3.5 stars
- Educated / Tara Westover. 4.25 stars
- Salt: A World History / Mark Kurlansky. 2.5 stars
- The Sometimes Daughter / Sherri Wood Emmons. 4 stars
- Forever / Maggie Stiefvater. 2.5 stars

October: D, V
- Where the Crawdads Sing / Delia Owens. 4 stars
- The Venetian's Wife / Nick Bantock. 3.5 stars
- The Dark Heart / Joakim Palmkvist. 4 stars
- Phantoms / Dean Koontz. 4 stars

November: I, Q
- The Quintland Sisters / Shelley Wood. 3.75 stars
- The Institute / Stephen King. 4 stars

December: W, N
- The Bat / Jo Nesbo. 3 stars
- The Turn of the Key / Ruth Ware. 4.25 stars
- Countdown / Alan Weisman. 3.5 stars
- Floodpath / Jon Wilkman. 3.5 stars

ScaredyKIT:

January: 1970s/1980s Horror
- Michelle Remembers / Michelle Smith, Lawrence Pazder. 3 stars

February: Psychological Thrillers
- A Noise Downstairs / Linwood Barclay. 4 stars
- The Widow / Fiona Barton. 3.5 stars

March: Haunted Places
- The Other Child / Joanne Fluke. 4 stars

April: Paranormal
- The Lace Reader / Brunonia Barry. 4 stars

*May: Occult
- The Witches of New York / Ami McKay. 3.5 stars
- The House of Doctor Dee / Peter Ackroyd. 2 stars

June: Cryptids and Legendary Creatures
- To Kill a Kingdom / Alexandra Christo. 4 stars

July: Femmes Fatales
- Deep Freeze / Lisa Jackson. 4.5 stars
- Iron Kissed / Patricia Briggs. 3 stars

August: Serial Killers
- The Werewolf of Bamberg / Oliver Potzsch. 4 stars
- All the Wrong Places / Joy Fielding. 4 stars

September: International
- The Good Son / You-Jeong Jeong. 3.5 stars

October: Halloween
- Phantoms / Dean Koontz. 4 stars

November: Stephen King and family
- Locke & Key: Alpha & Omega / Joe Hill. 4 stars
- The Institute / Stephen King. 4 stars

December: Classics
- The Scarlet Plague / Jack London. 3 stars

This is another one where I will do some, but not all.

MysteryKIT

January: Historical Mysteries
- Royal Flush / Rhys Bowen. 3.5 stars

February: Furry Sleuths
- Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof / Blaize Clement. 4 stars
- The Cat, the Quilt and the Corpse / Leann Sweeney. 4 stars

March: Golden Age
- A Cast of Killers / Sydney D. Kirkpatrick. 3.5 stars

April: Espionage
May: Novel to screen
- Red Bones / Ann Cleeves. 3 stars

*June: Police Procedurals/Private Investigator
- Cat & Mouse / James Patterson. 4 stars

July: Cross genre/mashup
- Alaska Bound / Margaret Frank. 3 stars
- Deep Freeze / Lisa Jackson. 4.5 stars
- Iron Kissed / Patricia Briggs. 3 stars

August: International authors
- The Werewolf of Bamberg / Oliver Potzsch. 4 stars

September: Series
- Mew is for Murder / Clea Simon. 3.5 stars

October: New to You
- Cover of Snow / Jenny Milchman. 2.25 stars
- The Dark Heart / Joakim Palmkvist. 4 stars
- The Woman Outside My Door / Rachel Ryan. 4 stars

November: Noir/Gumshoe
- The Silkworm / Robert Galbraith. 3 stars

December: Cozies
- Rest You Merry / Charlotte MacLeod. 3.5 stars

(Classic) Trim the TBR /Roundtuits

5. Stay / Allie Larkin
8. An Available Man / Hilma Wolitzer
11. Sugarhouse / Matthew Batt
13. The Richest Woman in America / Janet Wallach
14. Small and Tall Tales of Extinct Animals / Hélène Rajcak, Damien Laverdunt
15. All My Patients Kick and Bite / Jeff Wells

1. The Forgotten Explorer / Samuel Fay. 3 stars
2. Dead to You / Lisa McMann. 3.5 stars
3. No Will But His / Sarah A. Hoyt. 4 stars
4. Triangle / Katharine Weber. 2.5 stars
5. Michelle Remembers / Michelle Smith, Lawrence Pazder. 3 stars
6. Caught / Harlan Coben. 3.75 stars
7. Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl / Susan McCorkindale. 3.5 stars
8. Split Estate / Charlotte Bacon. 3 stars
9. Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof / Blaize Clement. 4 stars
10. You Are Here / Colin Ellard. 3.5 stars
11. World Made By Hand / James Howard Kunstler. 3 stars
12. Endangered / Eliot Schrefer. 5 stars
13. The Cat, the Quilt and the Corpse / Leann Sweeney. 4 stars
14. Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange / Amanda Smyth. 3.25 stars
15. Lost in NYC / Nadja Spiegelman, Sergio Garcia Sanchez. 4 stars
16. Her Little Majesty / Carolly Erickson. 4 stars
17. The Thorn Birds / Colleen McCullough. 3 stars
18. The Woman Who Can't Forget / Jill Price. 4 stars
19. The Brief History of the Dead / Kevin Brockmeier. 3 stars
20. After Visiting Friends / Michael Hainey. 3 stars
21. Giant George / Dave Nasser. 3.5 stars
22. Beyond Belief / Jenna Miscavige Hill. 4 stars
23. Out of America / Keith B. Richburg. 3.75 stars
24. American War / Omar El Akkad. 3 stars
25. A Cast of Killers / Syndey Kirkpatrick. 3.5 stars
26. Hands Like Clouds / Mark Zuelhke. 3 stars
27. Go Down Together / Jeff Guinn. 4.25 stars
28. Big Cherry Holler / Adriana Trigiani. 3 stars
29. The Fact of a Body / Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich. 3.5 stars
30. Seeing Voices / Oliver Sacks. 3 stars
31. The Book of Joy / Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Douglas Abrams. 3 stars
32. Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley / Alison Weir. 3.5 stars
33. Alone / Richard E. Byrd. 4 stars
34. Whiter Than Snow / Sandra Dallas. 4 stars
35. The Price of Everything / Eduardo Porter. 3 stars
36. Grounded / Seth Stevenson. 4 stars
37. The Witches of New York / Ami McKay. 3.5 stars
38. Green River, Running Red / Ann Rule. 3 stars
39. The House of Doctor Dee / Peter Ackroyd. 2 stars
40. Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet / Mark Lynas. 4 stars
41. Powder Burn / Carl Hiaasen. 3 stars
42. Great Cat Tales / Various. 2.5 stars
43. Fire in the Turtle House / Osha Gray Davidson. 4 stars
44. Kingdom Under Glass / Jay Kirk. 3.5 stars
45. Missing / Frances Itani. 4 stars
46. Kiss of the Fur Queen / Tomson Highway. 3 stars
47. Cat & Mouse / James Patterson. 4 stars
48. Lady of Sherwood / Jennifer Roberson. 4 stars
49. Dark Tide / Stephen Puleo. 3.75 stars
50. Collapse / Jared Diamond. 3.5 stars
51. The Hate U Give / Angie Thomas. 4 stars
52. Storm Warning / Nancy Mathis. 4 stars
53. Outlaw / Angus Donald. 4.25 stars
54. The Great Halifax Explosion / John U Bacon. 4 stars
55. A Bone to Pick / Charlaine Harris. 3.5 stars
56. The New Jim Crow / Michelle Alexander. 3 stars
57. Deep Freeze / Lisa Jackson. 4.5 stars
58. Stuff / Randy Frost, Gail Steketee. 4 stars
59. Jane / Aline Brosh McKenna, Ramon K. Perez. 4 stars
60. Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man / Fannie Flagg. 3.5 stars
61. Iron Kissed / Patricia Briggs. 3 stars
62. Red Bones / Ann Cleeves. 3 stars
63. In the Devil's Snare / Mary Beth Norton. 2.5 stars
64. Enchantments / Kathryn Harrison. 2 stars
65. Gulp / Mary Roach. 3 stars
66. The 100 Thing Challenge / Dave Bruno. 3 stars
67. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters / Jane Austen, Ben H. Winters. 3.5 stars
68. Once Every Never / Lesley Livingston. 3 stars
69. Mew is for Murder / Clea Simon. 3.5 stars
70. The Secret Lives of Saints / Daphne Bramham. 4 stars
71. The Good Son / You Jeong-Jeong. 3.5 stars
72. The House Girl / Tara Conklin. 2.5 stars
73. The Sometimes Daughter / Sherri Wood Emmons. 4 stars
74. Forever / Maggie Stiefvater. 2.5 stars
75. The Llama of Death / Betty Webb. 3.5 stars
76. Kitty Cornered / Bob Tarte. 3.5 stars
77. The Venetian's Wife / Nick Bantock. 3.5 stars
78. This Other Eden / Ben Elton. 3 stars
79. My Secret Sister / Helen Edwards, Jenny Lee Smith. 3.75 stars
80. Susannah's Garden / Debbie Macomber. 3.75 stars
81. Mary / Janis Cooke Newman. 3.75 stars
82. How to Cook Without a Book / Pam Anderson. 3.5 stars
83. Stephen King Country / George Beahm. 3.5 stars
84. Locke & Key: Alpha & Omega / Joe Hill. 4 stars
85. The Boat People / Sharon Bala. 4 stars
86. Swimming to Antarctica / Lynne Cox. 4 stars
87. Countdown / Alan Weisman. 3.5 stars
88. The Tie That Binds / Kent Haruf. 4 stars
89. Jonathan Livingston Seagull / Richard Bach. 2.5 stars
90. The Power of Meow / David Michie. 3.5 stars
91. Light on Snow / Anita Shreve. 3.5 stars
92. The Scarlet Plague / Jack London. 3 stars
93. Old Sparky / Anthony Galvin. 4 stars

PBT Trim the TBR

1. Hallucinations / Oliver Sacks
2. The Tattooed Witch / Susan Macgregor
3. The Silver Linings Playbook / Matthew Quick
4. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters / Jane Austen, Ben H. Winters. 3.5 stars
5. Beth / Nora Kay
6. The Book of Joy / Dalai Lama. 3 stars
7. Kitty Cornered / Bob Tarte
8. Herbert Has Lots for a Buck / Elizabeth McLachlan
9. Never Too Late / Jo Barney. 3.5 stars
10. Old Sparky / Anthony Galvin. 4 stars
11. Once Every Never / Lesley Livingston
12. No Will But His / Sarah Hoyt. 4 stars
13. The Dreams of Ada / Robert Meyer
14. Daughter of Time / Sarah Woodbury
15. Deep Freeze / Lisa Jackson. 4.5 stars
16. Susanna’s Garden / Debbie Macomber. 3.75 stars
17. The Power of Meow / David Michie. 3.5 stars
18. Such a Pretty Face / Cathy Lamb
19. Missing / Frances Itani. 4 stars
20. Sylvia / Bryce Courtenay
21. Powder Burn / Carl Hiaasen
22. Beyond Belief / Jenna Miscavige Hill. 4 stars
23. The Horseman’s Graves / Jacqueline Baker
24. Honolulu / Alan Brennert

PBT Decades Bingo



B: 1971: A Gift of Magic / Lois Duncan. 3.5 stars
1976:
1978: Rest You Merry / Charlotte MacLeod. 3.5 stars
1974:
1970: Jonathan Livingston Seagull / Richard Bach. 2.5 stars
I: 1989: Seeing Voices / Oliver Sacks. 3 stars
1981:
1985: Fire Watch / Connie Willis. 2.5 stars
1983: Phantoms / Dean Koontz. 4 stars
1988: Alaska / James A. Michener. 3.5 stars
N: 1991: The Third Chimpanzee / Jared Diamond. 4 stars
1992:
1993: This Other Eden / Ben Elton. 3 stars
1995:
G: 2009: Outlaw / Angus Donald. 4.25 stars
2002:
2006:
2005:
2000:
O: 2012: Kitty Cornered / Bob Tarte. 3.5 stars
2014:
2010: The 100 Thing Challenge / Dave Bruno. 3 stars
2015:
2019: From the Ashes / Jesse Thistle. 4 stars

PBT Poll Ballot Tally

Alabama - civil rights
- The Hate U Give / Angie Thomas. 4 stars
- The House Girl / Tara Conklin. 2.5 stars
Alaska - Inuit
Arizona - Grand Canyon
Arkansas: education
- Tuesdays With Morrie / Mitch Albom. 3 stars
- Stuff / Randy Frost, Gail Steketee. 4 stars
? - The Gown / Jennifer Robson. 4 stars
California - Hollywood
- The Woman in the Window / A..J. Finn. 4 stars
Colorado - Rocky Mountains
- Whiter Than Snow / Sandra Dallas. 4 stars
Connecticut - Constitution
Delaware - business
- The Price of Everything / Eduardo Porter. 3 stars
- The Great Halifax Explosion / John U Bacon. 4 stars
- The Ghost Map / Steven Johnson. 3.75 stars
- The 100 Thing Challenge / Dave Bruno. 3 stars
- Two for the Road / Jane & Michael Stern. 3.5 stars
District of Columbia - presidents
- The New Jim Crow / Michelle Alexander. 3 stars
- Gulp / Mary Roach. 3 stars
Florida - Disney
Georgia - antebellum
- The Invention of Wings / Sue Monk Kidd. 4 stars
Hawaii - volcanoes
- Krakatoa / Simon Winchester. 1.5 stars
Idaho - nature
- Giant George / Dave Nasser. 3.5 stars
- Alaska / James A. Michener. 3.5 stars
- Escape to the Wild / Andrea Hjelskov. 3.75 stars
- The Third Chimpanzee / Jared Diamond. 4 stars
- Forever / Maggie Stiefvater. 2.5 stars
- Kitty Cornered / Bob Tarte. 3.5 stars
Illinois - comedy
- Royal Flush / Rhys Bowen. 3.5 stars
- Big Little Lies / Liane Moriarty. 4.5 stars
- A Cat Abroad / Peter Gethers. 3.5 stars
- Revolution for Dummies / Bassem Youssef. 4 stars
- Murder at the Vicarage / Agatha Christie. 3.5 stars
- Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man / Fannie Flagg. 3.5 stars
Indiana - auto racing
Iowa - politics
- The Great Hunger / Cecil Woodham-Smith. 2.75 stars
- Out of America / Keith B. Richburg. 3.75 stars
- Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography / Chester Brown. 3.5 stars
- Red Bones / Ann Cleeves. 3 stars
Kansas - weather
- Storm Warning / Nancy Mathis. 4 stars
Kentucky - horses
- Split Estate / Charlotte Bacon. 3 stars
Louisiana - southern gothic
- American War / Omar El Akkad. 3 stars
- Where the Crawdads Sing / Delia Owens. 4 stars
Maine - Stephen King
- The Fireman / Joe Hill. 3.5 stars
- Phantoms / Dean Koontz. 4 stars
Maryland - Navy
Massachusetts - witches
- The Lace Reader / Brunonia Barry. 4 stars
- The Witches of New York / Ami McKay. 3.5 stars
- A Gift of Magic / Lois Duncan. 3.5 stars
- Fables, Vol. 22. Farewell / Bill Willingham. 4 stars
- In the Devil's Snare / Mary Beth Norton. 2.5 stars
- The Werewolf of Bamberg / Oliver Potzsch. 4 stars
Michigan - Great Lakes
Minnesota - vikings
- Collapse / Jared Diamond. 3.5 stars
Mississippi - blues
Missouri - pioneers
- Circling the Sun / Paula McLain. 3 stars
Montana - wildlife
- Endangered / Eliot Schrefer. 5 stars
- Kingdom Under Glass / Jay Kirk. 3.5 stars
- Elephant Speak / Melissa Crandall. 4.5 stars
Nebraska - farming
- Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl / Susan McCorkindale. 3.5 stars
- The Dark Heart / Joakim Palmkvist. 4 stars
Nevada - gambling
New Hampshire - hiking
- Dead Mountain / Donnie Eichar. 3.75 stars
- Alone / Richard E. Byrd. 4 stars
New Jersey - mafia
- Manhattan Beach / Jennifer Egan. 3 stars
New Mexico – extraterrestrials
- The Infinite Sea / Rick Yancey. 3 stars
- The Humans / Matt Haig. 3.75 stars
New York - Broadway
- The Rosie Project / Graeme Simsion. 4 stars
North Carolina – Appalachia
- Big Cherry Holler / Adriana Trigiani. 3 stars
- The Sometimes Daughter / Sherri Wood Emmons. 4 stars
North Dakota – paleontology
- Tyrannosaur Canyon / Douglas Preston. 3.5 stars
Ohio - industry
- World Made By Hand / James Howard Kunstler. 3 stars
- Dark Tide / Stephen Puleo. 3.75 stars
- This Other Eden / Ben Elton. 3 stars
Oklahoma - Great Depression
- A Single Thread / Tracy Chevalier. 3.25 stars
Oregon - ecology
- Six Degrees / Mark Lynas. 4 stars
- Fire in the Turtle House / Osha Gray Davidson. 4 stars
Pennsylvania - Amish
- Forgiven / Terri Roberts. 3 stars
Rhode Island - sailing
South Carolina - pirates
- To Kill a Kingdom / Alexandra Christo. 4 stars
- Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters / Jane Austen, Ben H. Winters. 3.5 stars
South Dakota - frontier
- Little Women / Louisa May Alcott. 3.5 stars
- An Echo in the Bone / Diana Gabaldon. 3.5 stars
Tennessee - country music
- Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner's Daughter / Loretta Lynn. 3.75 stars
Texas - space
- You Are Here / Colin Ellard. 3.5 stars
Utah - Mormon
- The Secret Lives of Saints / Daphne Bramham. 4 stars
Vermont - libraries
Virginia - FBI
- Cat & Mouse / James Patterson. 4 stars
Washington - coffee
West Virginia - mining
- Salt: A World History / Mark Kurlansky. 2.5 stars
Wisconsin - cheese
- Iron Kissed / Patricia Briggs. 3 stars
Wyoming - western
- Kiss of the Fur Queen / Tomson Highway. 3 stars
- Educated / Tara Westover. 4.25 stars

Travel Across Canada

Alberta:
British Columbia:
- The Forgotten Explorer / Samuel Fay. 3 stars
- Michelle Remembers / Michelle Smith, Lawrence Pazder. 3 stars
- Hands Like Clouds / Mark Zuehlke. 3 stars
- The Brideship Wife / Leslie Howard. 4 stars
- The Secret Lives of Saints / Daphne Bramham. 4 stars
- The Boat People / Sharon Bala. 4 stars
Labrador:
Manitoba:
- Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography / Chester Brown. 3.5 stars
- Kiss of the Fur Queen / Tomson Highway. 3 stars
New Brunswick:
Newfoundland:
Northwest Territories:
Nova Scotia:
- Missing / Frances Itani. 4 stars
- The Great Halifax Explosion / John U. Bacon. 4 stars
Nunavut:
Ontario:
- The Quintland Sisters / Shelley Wood. 3.75 stars
- From the Ashes / Jesse Thistle. 4 stars
Prairie Provinces:
- 7 Generations / David Alexander Robertson. 4.5 stars
Prince Edward Island:
Quebec:
Saskatchewan:
Yukon:

Play Book Tag

January: Thriller
- Tyrannosaur Canyon / Douglas Preston. 3.5 stars
- Dead to You / Lisa McMann. 3.5 stars
- The Woman in the Window / A.J. Finn. 4 stars
- Caught / Harlan Coben. 3.75 stars

February: survival
- The Infinite Sea / Rick Yancey. 3 stars
- Dead Mountain / Donnie Eichar. 3.75 stars
- World Made By Hand / James Howard Kunstler. 3 stars
- Endangered / Eliot Schrefer. 5 stars

March: Journalism
- After Visiting Friends / Michael Hainey. 3 stars

April: Science Fiction
- American War / Omar El Akkad. 3 stars

May: Comedy
- The Humans / Matt Haig. 3.75 stars

June: Suspense
- Seven Lies / Elizabeth Kay. 4 stars
- Cat & Mouse / James Patterson. 4 stars
- Killer Within / S.E. Green. 3.5 stars

July: Southern
- A Bone to Pick / Charlaine Harris. 3.5 stars
- Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man / Fannie Flagg. 3.5 stars

August: Witches
- In the Devil's Snare / Mary Beth Norton. 2.5 stars
- The Werewolf of Bamberg / Oliver Potzsch. 4 stars
- An Echo in the Bone / Diana Gabaldon. 3.5 stars

September: Psychological
- The Good Son / You-Jeong Jeong. 3.5 stars
- Educated / Tara Westover. 4.25 stars

October: Animals
- The Llama of Death / Betty Webb. 3.5 stars
- Kitty Cornered / Bob Tarte. 3.5 stars
- Circling the Sun / Paula McLain. 3 stars
- Elephant Speak / Melissa Crandall. 4.5 stars

November: Books to Screen
- Ghost Soldiers / Hampton Sides. 3.5 stars
- Stephen King Country / George Beahm. 3.5 stars
- The Silkworm / Robert Galbraith. 3 stars
- Locke & Key: Alpha & Omega / Joe Hill. 4 stars

December: International
- The Bat / Jo Nesbo. 3 stars
- Swimming to Antarctica / Lynne Cox. 4 stars
- Countdown / Alan Weisman. 3.5 stars

Reading Through Time

January: 19th Century Irish Experience
- The Great Hunger / Cecil Woodham-Smith. 2.75 stars

*February: Crime & Mystery
- Dead Mountain / Donnie Eichar. 3.75 stars
- Go Down Together / Jeff Guinn. 4.25 stars

March: Mothers and Daughters
- The Invention of Wings / Sue Monk Kidd. 4 stars
- The Thorn Birds / Colleen McCullough. 3 stars

April: Off With Her Head!
- Mary Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley / Alison Weir. 3.5 stars

May: Explorers
- Alone / Richard E. Byrd. 4 stars

June: Get thee to a nunnery (or a monastery)!
- Murder at the Vicarage / Agatha Christie. 3.5 stars

July: On the Shore
- The Great Halifax Explosion / John U. Bacon. 4 stars

August: Epidemics, Famine and Other Health Disasters
- The Ghost Map / Steven Johnson. 3.75 stars

September: I'll Trade You (Economics)
- Salt: A World History / Mark Kurlansky. 2.5 stars

October: Deception: All Is Not As It Seems
- Mary / Janis Cooke Newman. 3.75 stars

November: Author Biographies
- Stephen King Country / George Beahm. 3.5 stars

December: Predicting the Future
- Countdown / Alan Weisman. 3.5 stars

Wow, it looks like you are planning a very busy reading year! Good luck with all you challenges.

>30 DeltaQueen50: Yes, thank you! As always, I do hope that many books will overlap for each of the challenges!

Looks like some great reading!

Welcome to 2020, Cindy! Looking forward to following along.

Wow! That's an ambitious reading schedule. Looking forward to seeing what goes into each category.

There are a couple that are more...laid back, I suppose.

The PBT Bingo will just be me reading if the year is called, and there's no "deadline" so to speak, except for a bit of a race to get a bingo. :-) (And I'm an admin in the group hosting it, so I am not playing for prizes or being competitive with it.)

The Poll Ballot Tally is another game. I'm not trying to read for ALL the states/tags, but wanted to keep a record, so it's easy to tell when something fits.

Looks like you're all set for 2020! Enjoy!

Have a wonderful reading year!

Best wishes for your 2020 reading!

12x12 Nonfiction, RandomCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic), BingoDOG, Travel Across Canada

The Forgotten Explorer / Charles Helm, Mike Murtha (editors)
3 stars

Samuel Fay was an American hunter who explored the Northern Rocky Mountains (North and West of Jasper, Alberta) over a few years, in 1912, 1913, 1914. His longest trip was 4ish months between the end of June and November, 1914, when he was hunting and collecting wildlife for the US “Biological Review”. The bulk of this book is Fay’s journals while on that trip, though the foreword is someone else’s summary/account of the trip, and there are appendices that include articles Fay wrote about his travels afterward.

I hadn’t realized before starting the book that Fay was a hunter and that was the purpose of his travel. I don’t like hunting. I did enjoy the descriptions, especially of the wildlife; I just kept hoping the next sentence after any wildlife was mentioned wouldn’t be along the lines of “so we shot one (or more)...”. I think I won the book at a conference, and it’s just been sitting here, waiting for me to read it for a while now. It’s not a long book (page-wise), but I was kept from reading it for a long time due to the tiny font in the book! It’s now done and I will donate the book. Overall, I rated it ok.

12x12 KIT Challenges, TravelKIT, AlphaKIT

Round Trip / Ann Jonas
3 stars

This is a creative picture book where someone is going on a trip… leaving from their town, driving through the country into the city… then turning around and driving home again. The creative part is that half-way through, once they leave the city, the reader turns the book upside down to follow along to head home. The photos work in both “directions”.

It is creative. It reminded me of “Mirror Mirror” the poetry book of “reverso” poems – read one way, then you can read from the bottom up and it’s kind of the opposite story of reading it “down”. I guess this one should really get the credit, though, as it was published in 1983! The pictures were a bit more artsy than I like, though of course, they had to be drawn in such a way that they would work right-side-up, and again, upside-down. Overall, I’m rating this ok.

12x12 PBT Challenges, Poll Ballot, BingoDOG, AlphaKIT

Tuesdays with Morrie / Mitch Albom
3 stars

Morrie was a university professor of Mitch’s. When Morrie was diagnosed with ALS, Mitch started visiting, although it had been a couple of decades since he last saw his teacher. Morrie enjoys having people around and loves to give advice. He has come to terms with his illness and impending death and is happy to chat with Mitch about life (and death, and other things).

This is a rearead – read the first time before I wrote reviews. I don’t know what I would have rated it then, nor do I recall if I cried. I didn’t this time. I am not a “touchy-feely” person; in fact, I’m not much of a people-person. I generally prefer animals to humans. So, I suppose I looked at some of the advice with some skepticism (as Mitch apparently did at the time he was talking to Morrie). It is a quick read, though. 3 stars, for me, is “ok”.

Happy 2020 reading! Looks like you are well on your way!

>41 LibraryCin: This book is on my TBR. The Lit teacher at our school had the 11th graders read it--they did not have good things to say about it---but since when do I listen to teens about good books to read? (in general!)

>43 Tess_W: I think it is definitely one of those books you need to read from an older perspective rather than a teenage viewpoint. They need something more hard hitting and in your face at that age, I find.

>43 Tess_W: I think most people rated it higher than I did, so I hope you like it!

Yeah, I can see that it wouldn't really appeal much to teenagers.

12x12 Series, AlphaKIT

Unbound / Neal Shusterman
3.5 stars

This is a collection of short stories set in Neal Shusterman’s “Unwind” world. We revisit some of the characters and the stories are from before, during, and after the events of the main series.

As with most short story collections, I’d rate these individually somewhat differently, though most, I would rate as “good”, 3.5 stars. There were a couple stories that stood out for me, though, and had they been standalones, they would have each gotten a 4 star rating: “Unnatural Selection”, and “Rewinds”. “Unstrung” is also included in this set of stories, originally released on its own to fill us in on Lev while he was away – had to look it up; I originally rated this story 3 stars (ok), but it sounds like I just wanted more of it. I liked the characters and wanted the story to be longer. Overall, for this collection, though, I’m keeping my rating at good, 3.5 stars.

>46 LibraryCin: I am just finishing up the Arc of the Scythe series and then wanted to get onto Unwind as the premise sounds so interesting.

>46 LibraryCin: I listened to the audio of the first one (and would have loved to continue on audio if my library had had the rest in that format), and I loved it! I think I gave the first one 5 stars. The audio may have helped with that, or I may have loved it just as much reading.

12x12 Animals, PBT, Poll Ballot Talley

Tyrannosaur Canyon / Douglas Preston
3.5 stars

When a man is shot in a desert canyon, it seems he was hunting for some sort of treasure. Before the guy who did the shooting got to him, though, veterinarian Tom Broadbent got there and tried to help. While he was unable to help, the man who died had Tom promise to deliver a notebook to the guy’s daughter. Little did Tom know, but the man was shot for that exact notebook.

This had chapters (mostly in the middle of the book) where it was very suspenseful and I wanted to keep reading. On the other hand, there were sections/chapters when it was a bit technical and not nearly as interesting. So, how interested I was in the book varied, depending what was happening at the time. Overall, though, I thought it was enjoyable, and definitely a good story. I really enjoyed the chapters that followed the t-Rex and her life.

12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), PBT, BingoDOG

Dead to You / Lisa McMann
3.5 stars

Ethan was only 7-years old when he was kidnapped. He’s now 16 and being reunited with his family – his parents, his younger brother, and a younger sister who is only 6-years old, whom, of course, he hadn’t met until now. Every family member has to learn to deal with this, as they all learn to live together again, after so many years apart. Things definitely are not going smoothly.

I like the premise of this book and liked most of the book itself. I wasn’t a fan of the ending. I feel like the penultimate event that happened “fit”, but I didn’t like the result of that event, what happened at the very end. It’s YA, so it was very fast to read.

12x12 Travel, Trim (Classic), PBT Trim

No Will But His / Sarah A. Hoyt
4 stars

This is a fictional story of Kathryn Howard, Henry VIII’s fifth wife. Kathryn was still a teenager when she became Henry’s wife (and he was up in years). It wasn’t long that they were married before she was arrested and beheaded for trysts with a few men, some from before she’d even met Henry.

I haven’t read a lot about Kathryn, and I never had a good impression of her. This one, however, gave me a bit of sympathy toward her. Unfortunately, the author’s note didn’t address how much was known and how much was out of the author’s head; I was particularly interested in how much was known from before she came to court. Despite that, I still quite enjoyed it.

12x12 Off the shelf, Trim the TBR (Classic), KITastrophe, BingoDOG

Triangle / Katharine Weber
2.5 stars

Esther was working at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York in 1911 when it burnt down. Her sister and fiancee both died in the fire, but she managed to get out. She was pregnant at the time. In current day, she is 106-years old. A historian, Ruth, has been interviewing her to find out more about the fire. When Esther passes away, Ruth contacts Esther’s granddaughter, Rebecca, to find out how much she knew.

I didn’t find any of the characters likable. The whole music thing with Rebecca’s husband was boring – way too much detail on that, and it really didn’t seem necessary. The info about the fire itself was interesting, but retold a few times in a few different way (interviews, trial transcripts, etc). The very end confused me a little; I may have it figured out, but I’m not positive. The current-day storyline was definitely not one I was interested in, though of course, the fire itself (even if I didn’t like the way it was told), was the best part of the book.

12x12 Travel, Poll Ballot Tally, MysteryKIT, BingoDOG

Royal Flush / Rhys Bowen
3.5 stars

In this third book in the series, Georgie (Lady Georgiana, 34th in line to the British throne) is headed back to Scotland to her family’s castle, where she plans to help her (hated) sister-in-law with an influx of (unwanted) visitors. While there, she is asked by someone at Scotland Yard to watch and listen. It seems that some of the royals’ lives may be in danger! And there do seem to be way too many “accidents” for comfort.

It’s funny, as I started reading this, I wondered why I kept adding this series to my tbr, as it started off slow, and there aren’t very many characters I actually like! I tend not to be impressed even with Georgie – at least at first. I think it’s the interaction between Darcy and Georgie that I keep reading for. Anyway, in the end, I did like it, and I do plan to continue with the series.

12x12 PBT, PBT, Poll Ballot Tally, AlphaKIT, BingoDOG

The Woman in the Window / A.J. Finn
4 stars

Anna, a psychologist who is suffering from agoraphobia (she is scared to leave her house), has a tendency to watch her neighbours through the window. When a new family moves in (parents and a teenage son), she soon meets both Ethan (the son) and Jane, his mother. The more she talks to them and the more she watches the house, she is afraid for them. One day, she sees something horrible, but the police don’t believe her.

I really liked this. The beginning reminded me of “Rear Window”, the Alfred Hitchcock movie (which was later mentioned, as Anna is a huge classic thriller movie buff). It drew me in from the start and, at least for me, the pace kept up almost the entire way through the book. Anna also drinks, so it was hard to figure out what she really saw and what she didn’t. It seems many are tired of psychological thrillers/unreliable narrators, but I’m still enjoying them, this one included! I did figure out a couple of small things along the way, but not the big twists.

12x12 Reading Through Time, Read Thru Time, Poll Ballot Tally

The Great Hunger: Ireland 1845-1849 / Cecil Woodham-Smith
2.75 stars

In the mid-1800s, the main food in Ireland was potatoes. A disease (blight) hit potatoes and was devastating for the people of Ireland. There was nothing else to substitute, as it’s what the most vulnerable populations ate.

This was an audio, and as soon as I heard the narrator, I had a bad feeling. I’m sure I’ve listened to this narrator before; also male and a British accent – sadly both of those are warnings that I am more likely to lose interest and miss a lot of what’s going on. And that’s what happened.

Although, I did follow more than I expected. There was also a lot of politics – coming out of England, how would they help the people (or not)? I followed at least some of the issues with the potatoes, the starving population, and some of the immigration to North America; I missed something about a trial (no idea what that was about), and the queen visited Ireland after it was over, but I missed most of that, as well (beyond that everyone loved her during her first trip). Given how much of it I missed, I couldn’t quite rate it “ok”, but I didn’t want to rate it too low, either, as what I did pay attention to was interesting.

>55 LibraryCin: I own a print copy of that one. I'll stick to it in that format when I finally get around to reading it. My ancestors were all in North America long before then, and no current or past client research focused on lines descended from the Irish potato famine immigrants. I find it interesting though so I'll probably eventually get to it.

Yes, I do suspect it would have been more enjoyable for me in print. I hope you enjoy it!

12x12 PBT, PBT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Caught / Harlan Coben
3.75 stars

Dan is set up by a reporter who is out to catch a pedophile. The charges are later dropped, but Dan’s life is ruined. Meantime, a teenage girl has gone missing. Wendy, the reporter who set things up on Dan, thinks there is still something going on and won’t give up until she finds out what it is.

It’s actually hard to summarize this one, as there are a few things going on. For the most part, though, as with most of Coben’s books, I was kept turning pages; I wanted to keep reading. As usual, there were plenty of twists and turns. Although I didn’t figure out any of the twists, for some reason (I have no idea why), I didn’t feel shocked at most of them. They were a surprise, but the twists didn’t blow me away, like they usually do. I’m just not sure why the end underwhelmed me.

12x12 Oh Canada, Travel Across Canada, Trim the TBR (Classic), BingoDOG, ScaredyKIT

Michelle Remembers / Michelle Smith, Lawrence Pazder
3 stars

This was published in 1980. In 1977, Michelle Smith recounted repressed memories (from when she was 5 years old in 1954/1955) to her psychiatrist (co-author Lawrence Pazder). This book follows that therapy. When Michelle was only 5, her unstable mother gave her away to a cult of Satanists to be abused and used in various rituals.

So, I’ve owned this since I was in high school, but I don’t think I read it back then. The first half was more interesting than the second half, when (view spoiler). The second half got much more religious, and it was less interesting to me. Now, this has since been debunked, and I found that out in the middle of reading it, but I don’t think it affected my rating (though it appears that many rated it 1 star, simply because it’s not true); I actually didn’t want that knowledge to affect how I rated the book.

12x12 PBT Challenges, Poll Ballot Tally, TravelKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl / Susan McCorkindale
3.5 stars

The author, her husband and two sons (7 and 14-years, I think) were living in New Jersey and Susan was working in New York City when they decided to move to a farm in rural Virginia. Susan had to give up a very high paying job, though she wasn’t enjoying it anyway, for her husband’s dream of being a farmer.

It was meant to be funny, and parts were humourous, but not a lot was laugh-out-loud funny for me. Despite the title, the author really didn’t do any farming (at least not as reported in the book); her husband did it all. She did a lot of shopping, when she got into nearby towns and cities. I’m not into fashion at all, so any brand names she threw out there, I just assumed were shoe brands, as shoes seemed to be her favourite shopping/fashion item. Some of the acronyms, I wasn’t sure about.

Despite my comments so far, I did enjoy the book, overall. It did make me realize that although I grew up in a small town (farming community, but not on a farm), it would be hard – even for me, the homebody and nonshopper – to move back. Not for the same reasons, but other shopping items might be tricky to come by (products not tested on animals, for instance).

12x12 KIT Challenges, AlphaKIT, PBT Trim

Never Too Late / Jo Barney
3.5 stars

When Edith wakes up Christmas morning, she discovers her husband of many years has died in his sleep. They were not happy in their marriage, as it had been a shotgun wedding after she’d gotten pregnant 47 years earlier. Now, Edith is discovering many secrets in her husband’s life that she had no idea about. Meantime, her daughter-in-law, Kathleen, has come to her with admissions that something is going on with Brian, Esther’s son, and his marriage. That is, Brian has been very secretive about things, and Kathleen thinks he’s cheating.

I liked this. It wasn’t fast-moving, but there were interesting family secrets going on to learn about.

12x12 Audio, Poll Pallot Tally

Manhattan Beach / Jennifer Egan
3 stars

When Anna is young, she goes on business with her father to visit Dexter Styles and while their fathers are talking, Anna and Dexter’s daughter head to the beach to play. When Anna is grown up, the Second World War is happening, her father has since disappeared, and Anna is working, but what she really wants to do is learn to dive.

I listened to the audio. There were three (?) narrators (the two male narrators (I think) sounded very similar to me; I couldn’t tell their voices apart, plus there was one female narrator). The book was mostly from Anna’s and Dexter’s points of view, but occasionally Eddie’s (Anna’s father’s) POV came into play, as well.

As expected, for me, I lost interest more in the male narrated portions. I did (eventually) enjoy Anna’s, particularly her quest to learn to dive. I did not like Dexter at all, though. (Not surprising, really, as he was a mobster), so I didn’t like when Anna’s and Dexter’s paths crossed. I also just didn’t like him. Not sure if I would have liked it better had I not listened to the audio; I’m still not sure the gangster/mobster aspect of Dexter would have interested me, anyway.

12x12 Oh Canada, ScaredyKIT, AlphaKIT

A Noise Downstairs / Linwood Barclay
4 stars

When Paul came across Kenneth, a co-worker, on a deserted road, it appeared Kenneth was trying to dump a couple of bodies! Paul suffered a head injury while Kenneth was arrested and sent to jail on two counts of murder and one of attempted murder (Paul). Months later, Paul has been working with a therapist for both the head injury and just getting past what he went through. He decides he’d like to revisit the event and try to figure out what happened to make Kenneth do such a thing. When Paul’s wife, Charlotte, brings home an old typewriter – similar to one Kenneth used when he killed his victims – things start happening...

As with all Barclay’s books, this was really good. I loved the idea of the old typewriter and I could hear the sounds it made in my head. It was also quite creepy, at times. It was hard to know what was happening with Paul, and the twists were a surprise to me.

>63 LibraryCin: I enjoyed that one too. But then it would be difficult to not enjoy a Linwood Barclay book!

>63 LibraryCin: Can't wait to get into that one! I tend to read his books in order of publication, and I'm at Parting Shot now.

>64 VivienneR: Agreed!

>65 rabbitprincess: Hope you like it. I definitely don't read them in order. I'm sure there are still plenty I haven't gotten to yet!

>66 LibraryCin: I think the only one of his older books I haven't read yet is Stone Rain, because I don't have a copy. Of the books I have, I've just ended up reading in pub order because of the Promise Falls trilogy and because I want to be "fair" to my older books by reading them first :D

>67 rabbitprincess: I usually try to get to the older ones on my tbr first, as well, but I think I just heard about Barclay's out of order, then add them!

I do have more than one on the tbr, though, so sometimes it's what will fit a challenge, and other times, it's just what peaks my interest at the time. (I had two choices for this month. I probably should have read the other, but I can't even recall which one went on my tbr first, to be honest, half the time! I know I can check...)

12x12 Audio, KITastrophe, PBT, Poll Ballot

The Infinite Sea / Rick Yancey
3 stars

This is a continuation of “The 5th Wave”. The human population has mostly been wiped out by an alien invasion. Some young people are left and a small group of them are trying to survive.

Ok, sadly, it’s hard to come up with a good synopsis. It wasn’t long ago I read the first book, but it was long enough that a recap would have been nice, but I didn’t get one (I don’t think; this time, I listened to the audio, so lost focus for a good portion of it). This was also harder to “get into” because many of the characters go by two names, so that didn’t help me remember things from the first one (I particularly forgot that “Zombie” = “Ben” for a good portion of this one).

I’m still rating it ok for the parts I paid attention to. I think I will continue with the third book, as I still want to know what’s going on (and I will admit that there was an interesting storyline happening at the end of this one). I will just have to remember to NOT listen to the audio. Oh, I also missed until 3/4 of the way through, that the female narrator wasn’t just narrating from Cassie’s POV, but also from Ringer’s. So, I’m not sure how much of Ringer’s story I heard (or, maybe, didn’t hear!), thinking I was listening to Cassie. Sigh.

12x12 Nonfiction, NonfictionCAT, BingoDOG, PBT, Poll Ballot, Reading Thru Time

Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident / Donnie Eichar
3.75 stars

Nine Russian hikers disappeared in February 1959 while hiking in the Ural Mountains in Siberia. When they were found, their tent was all set up nicely, though it had a few rips, and their bodies were a ways from the tent. The oddest part was that they were in various states of (un)dress and not one of them was wearing their boots. This was in very cold -- far below freezing -- weather. The American author heard of the mystery and was interested in trying to figure out what happened.

The book was told in three different “parts” - the hikers (almost all in their early 20s), based on photos and diaries; the searchers, only a month to three months following the hikers’ disappearance; and the author’s trek to Russia to see what he could find out (including a trip to the place they disappeared, and interviews with a tenth hiker (in his 70s when the author met him), who had had to turn back early due to health issues).

I was particularly interested in the parts from the ‘50s. The author’s story, I didn’t find quite as interesting, until he came closer to the end where he ruled out many theories (and, of course, explained why he ruled them out), and put forth a scientific theory as to what may have caused the hikers to retreat from their tent, to ultimately succumb to the elements. There were plenty of photos included, as well.

12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), Poll Ballot Tally, RandomCAT, AlphaKIT

Split Estate / Charlotte Bacon
3 stars

After Arthur’s wife, Laura, kills herself by throwing herself off their balcony in New York, Arthur decides to take his two teenage kids to Wyoming, where they will all stay with his mother on what land she has left that she hasn’t sold (can’t really call it a ranch!). The kids have to learn how to fit in to this rural area, as well as figure out how to deal with their grief.

It’s told from all four characters points of view: Arthur; his mother Lucy; his son Cam; and his daughter Celia. It’s kind of slow, but a decent story. I liked the different points of view that explored their new life in Wyoming, as well as thinking back on each of their relationships with Laura. I wasn’t real happy with the ending, though.

12x12 KIT Challenges, AlphaKIT, Poll Ballot Tally

Forgiven: The Amish School Shooting, A Mother's Love... / Terri Roberts
3 stars

In 2006, Charlie Roberts walked in to an Amish school and shot 10 girls – 5 died, 5 were injured – between the ages of 6 and 13. He then shot himself. He and his family were neighbours to the Amish community, and he (and his father) often worked with the Amish. He knew some of the girls he shot. This was written by his mother, detailing how she came to terms with what happened with the help of the Amish community as they supported each other in this tragedy.

It was interesting, but there was a LOT of God and religion. (I was warned just before I started reading the book.) After a bit, I mostly skimmed over those parts. I will admit that it was quite amazing how the Amish families were able to reach out and support the Roberts’ while the Amish were trying to come to grips with their own losses. It is impressive that years later, she still has a relationship with many of those Amish families (as well as the one injured girl (6-years old at the time) who will never heal).

12x12 Animals, MysteryKIT, BingoDOG, RandomCAT, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof / Blaize Clement
4 stars

Pet sitter Dixie is watching (with the help of her elderly friend, Pete), a service dog to a little 3-year old boy (who needs to be in the hospital for a surgery). Next door, Dixie meets Laura, a beautiful woman who recently moved in. Dixie and Laura quickly become friends when Laura reveals that she recently left her husband and is hiding from him. It’s not long before Laura is found murdered in her house.

This is a pretty good rating for a cozy mystery from me (often they are 3 or 3.5 stars). It’s a light book and a light series, but I really enjoyed this one. Of course, I love the pets in these stories and I love some of the secondary characters – Dixie’s friends and family – particularly her brother Michael, and his partner, Paco.

12x12 Travel, RandomCAT, TravelKIT, BingoDOG

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats / Jan-Philipp Sendker
2 stars

Julia’s father disappeared, so she heads to Burma to find him. When there, she meets someone who tells her a tale of her father and another woman, a women who was not her mother.

Summed up in one word: boring. I have no idea what prompted me to add this to my tbr! Even just before starting, I looked at the title, and wondered about that – based on the title, it did not sound like something that I would like... and I was right. It actually started a bit creepy, I thought, what the man (who ultimately told the story) said to Julia. It might have been more entertaining for me had it stayed creepy! The end was super-unrealistic and eye-rolling.

12x12 Oh Canada, NonfictionCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic), Poll Ballot Tally

You Are Here: Why We Can Find Our Way to the Moon, but Get Lost in the Mall / Colin Ellard
3.5 stars

In this book, the author, a psychologist with a particular interest in navigation, explores why humans are so bad at finding their way. In the first section of the book, he compares us to various animals: birds, ants, bees, wasps, sea turtles, and more. In the second section, he looks at places/spaces like our houses, workplaces, cities, cyberspace and green spaces.

This was interesting. There were a few places where I tuned out a bit (during some of the scientific explanations mostly, but not all), but mostly I found it interesting. It’s no surprise that most animals are much better at navigation (for various reasons) than humans are. This was published in 2009, so the cyberspace chapter may be a bit outdated already.

>75 LibraryCin: This does sound interesting. Was there a takeaway for you?

12x12 Series, AlphaKIT, ScaredyKIT

The Widow / Fiona Barton
3.5 stars

Glen Taylor has been hit by a bus and killed. It is very quickly obvious that he was not a nice man and that he’d likely done some terrible things. His wife, Jean, is left behind to deal with the reporters and her new life without him. One reporter, Kate, soon “befriends” Jean to see if she can get a story.

The book flips back and forth in time and switches viewpoints (between Jean, Kate, a detective, and a couple of other viewpoints - if I’m remembering correctly, though not as often on the others). But, it’s mostly easy to follow as each chapter is headed with whose POV it is and the date. Of course, as the book continues, we learn what those terrible things Glen might have done were. With short chapters, it kept me wanting to read. I did think the ending was a bit abrupt, though.

>76 markon: Well, that's a hard question, so I guess the answer is no. LOL!

12x12 PBT, PBT, Poll Ballot Tally, Trim the TBR (Classic), RandomCAT

World Made by Hand / James Howard Kunstler
3 stars

The world has run out of oil. There has been illness, and not a lot of people are left. Robert is living in his small world in Union Grove, New York. People don’t get very far from where they live, anymore, without vehicles. There is a settlement closeby with a criminal leader, where most of the townspeople avoid. A religious cult has just moved into the abandoned high school. When Robert heads toward the closeby settlement with a friend to buy some supplies, things go terribly wrong and Robert’s young friend is shot and killed.

Despite starting off with a “bang” (so to speak), I found the book moved really slowly. It was ok. There was a bit of weirdness involving the religious cult toward the end, but the happenings picked up a little bit (with a horrible thing happening!). Overall, it was still an interesting read on people trying to get by on a much older way of life – without electricity and so many other modern conveniences as we are used to.

12x12 Trim the TBR, Trim the TBR (Classic), PBT, Poll Ballot Tally, RandomCAT

Endangered / Eliot Schrefer
5 stars

14-year old Sophie is half Congolese and half American. She mostly lives in Miami with her father, but comes back to the Democratic Republic of Congo to live with her mother in the summers. Sophie’s mom runs a bonobo sanctuary. On the way to the sanctuary, Sophie insists on buying a baby bonobo from a trafficker. She only wants to save the little bonobo she calls Otto, but she doesn’t initially realize that although she has helped Otto, overall, it’s not a good idea to buy from the traffickers.

In any case, she is now in charge of taking care of Otto and helping him live. Not long before Sophie is to head back to Miami, her mother has to leave to release some of the bonobos back into the wild. Not long after her mother leaves, civil war breaks out...

Of course, I love animals, so right off the bat, I’m loving the bonobos and the sanctuary. Once the war starts, it is almost non-stop suspense. Not only – how will Sophie get out of this, but what will happen to Otto and the other bonobos? Keep Kleenex handy. Ugly crying all the way. Loved this book! There is also an interview with the author at the end. And, I am happy to see that this is part of a series.

>80 LibraryCin: a BB for me!

>80 LibraryCin: Endangered was a five star read for me as well. I have gone one and read the second one in the series entitled Threatened and it was good, but not as good as the first. I am looking forward to continuing on with this series.

>80 LibraryCin: >82 DeltaQueen50: My library only had Threatened so now I wish they had Endangered as well! We enjoyed Threatened.

>81 Tess_W: Hope you like it!!

>82 DeltaQueen50: Good to have that advance warning. I suppose it's a tough one to live up to. I was quite excited, as it's my first 5 star book in over a year (I had none in 2019 - I'm a tough rater!). I did add the second book to my tbr as soon as I realized it was a series.

>83 JayneCM: Can you request it via ILL (interlibrary loan)?

>84 LibraryCin: That was any library in my whole state. I call it 'my library' but I mean all the libraries I can borrow from!

>85 JayneCM: Oh, shoot! Yeah, when a book isn't available in my province, I think the only time I asked if they could look further, I had to agree to pay a little bit, if need be. I must have agreed (though I don't recall), because they did manage to bring the book in for me. I don't remember having to pay, though. The library that agreed to send it must not have charged them enough for them to feel they had to charge me for it?

12x12 Animals, MysteryKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

The Cat, the Quilt and the Corpse / Leann Sweeney
4 stars

Jillian comes home from an overnight trip to find that not only has her house been broken into, one of her three cats is missing! When the police come, they find that there is nothing else missing. Was Syrah catnapped or did he head outside on his own? Only one of the police is interested in helping figure out if Jillian’s cat was stolen and was the reason for the break-in, but she is quickly taken off the case, so she and Jillian set off to see what they can figure out on their own. Jillian is certain Syrah was stolen.

I really enjoyed this one. The cats seemed extra-involved somehow, which of course, made it more fun for me. And there were a lot of them. I suppose they were a bigger part of the storyline, due to the catnapping. I liked some of the additional characters and some not-so-much. There was one conversation near the start of the book between Jillian and her new policewoman friend, Candace, where I rolled my eyes a bit and thought – neither woman is the brightest bulb, is she? But, it got (much) better.

>86 LibraryCin: I can borrow from within my state for free, but there is a fee for anything else. Some of the fees are quite steep, so I just stick to my library system. I figure there is enough to choose from! I remember when I was about 10, I was determined to read every book in the children's section of the library - but they kept getting new ones and thwarting my plans!

>88 JayneCM: LOL!

>87 LibraryCin: I've had that one on my wish list for awhile. Maybe your review will nudge it up a bit.

>90 thornton37814: I hope you like it!

12x12 Reading Thru Time, Reading Thru Time, BingoDOG, Poll Ballot Tally

The Invention of Wings / Sue Monk Kidd
4 stars

Hetty is the daughter of a slave woman. When the “missus’” daughter, Sarah, turns 11, Hetty (at one year younger) is given to Sarah to be her own personal slave. Sarah doesn’t want a slave and tries immediately to free Hetty, but that just doesn’t work. The two grow up together, but eventually Sarah leaves for Philadelphia to get away from the culture and the oppressiveness of being a woman who is unable to do what she wants with her life (she always wanted to be a lawyer).

The story is told from both Hetty’s and Sarah’s points of view. What I didn’t know until the author’s note at the end (though close to the end, I started wondering) was that Sarah (and her younger sister, Angelina) were real people. They left South Carolina and became abolitionists who spoke publicly about ending slavery, and they were among the first feminists, also speaking out (and writing) for women’s rights. This was in the 1830s.

This was really good. I liked both women’s stories. I thought the author’s note at the end was very interesting.

>92 LibraryCin: A genealogy friend just read that one. She really enjoyed it. Another genealogist commented she liked the modern line more than the historic one. It's been sitting at home in a TBR pile for over a year. I need to get to it soon.

12x12 Travel, TravelKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic), BingoDOG

Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange / Amanda Smyth
3.25 stars

Celia’s mom died just after Celia was born, and she was raised by and lives with one of her aunts (and her twin cousins) in Tobago. Aunt Tassi lives with an awful drunk man whom no one likes. When Celia is a teenager, she runs away to Trinidad and finds work in the home of a doctor, helping with the housework and caring for the two kids. But, Celia can’t seem to keep herself out of trouble.

The book was ok. It was kind of slow-moving, and there weren’t very many characters whom I actually liked (Celia included). There were a couple of interesting “twists” at the end.

>92 LibraryCin: - I read this last yer and really enjoyed it. I had suspected it might have been based on real people and liked learning a bit more about how women were involved in the abolitionist movement.

12x12 Travel, BingoDOG, Poll Ballot

Big Little Lies / Liane Moriarty
4.5 stars

It’s trivia night at the school and the parents have been drinking when there is a ruckus and no one seems to be able to say exactly what happened or how someone was killed.

Six months earlier, it was Amabella’s and Ziggy’s orientation to kindergarten. When Amabella ended the day crying because one of the boys tried to choke her, she pointed to Ziggy as the culprit. At this point, Renata (Amabella’s mother) goes on a tear, keeping Ziggy away from her daughter and ostracizing the little boy and his mother, Jane, who believes Ziggy when he says he didn’t do it. Meanwhile, though Jane and Ziggy have just moved here, Jane has already made friends with Madeleine (whose youngest child has just started kindergarten) and Celeste, whose twin boys have also just started.

The story has a lot of characters and it’s hard to get everyone straight, especially at the start... although even toward the end I had to stop a few times to think about who someone was. There are little snippets of interviews interspersed throughout the story, as well, with still more characters (mostly parents who were at the trivia night). There are a lot of serious topics in this book (including bullying and abuse) as we dig into some of the parents’ (and their families’) stories, but it’s often done in a lighthearted, still entertaining way. I thought this was really good, and it was done well, even with the lightheartedness. And I was certainly kept trying to figure out who the heck died at the start (it was never clear until we got to the end!) and what happened there.

12x12 KIT Challenges, TravelKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Lost in NYC: A Subway Adventure / Nadja Spiegelman, Sergio Garcia Sanchez
4 stars

Pablo and his family have just moved to New York City. His first day at his new school, he discovers the class has a field trip planned on the subway to the Empire State Building. Although he is paired up with a buddy, Alicia, they get a bit lost when they accidentally get on the wrong train!

This is a graphic novel and it was very good. There is history of the subway and the Empire State Building, along with real historical photos included. I’ve only been to New York once (and I was on the subway, but found it pretty confusing!), but found the information really interesting. The story itself was also about friendship, but really I think the point was the historical information (geared toward younger readers, but still really interesting).

12x12 Nonfiction, NonfictionCAT, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Her Little Majesty / Carolly Erickson
4 stars

When Queen Victoria was a child, she was treated fairly coldly, and mostly “used” by her mother and a friend of her mother’s, knowing that she would likely be on the throne one day. This backfired on them when Victoria did reach the throne just after her 18th birthday. She married a cousin she loved, and once they were married, he did most of the political work, but he died young. Victoria mourned for the rest of her life for Albert. They had 9 children. Victoria varied on whether or not she got along with various elected Prime Ministers over time. She ruled for decades and she lived to be 81 years old.

I really liked this. The book is not that long, so I’m sure there was plenty left out, but I thought it was very readable and almost read like fiction. Despite all her kids, I didn’t have too much trouble following who was who, but maybe the author made sure to remind us? I didn’t notice. I have read a couple of fictional works about her, but this, I think, is the first nonfiction. I liked some of the extras thrown in about things that were happening at various points in time over the course of Victoria’s life, including fashion.

12x12 Audio, Trim the TBR (Classic), AlphaKIT, BingoDOG, Reading Thru Time

The Thorn Birds / Colleen McCullough
3 stars

This tells the story of three generations of a family based on a ranch in Australia. Fiona (Fi)’s daughter Meggie (short for Megan) falls in love with the local priest when she is only 10 or 11 years old. The priest, Rafe(?), seems to also fall for Meggie as she grows up. Meggie goes on to marry a neglectful husband, Luke, but she misses home too much and leaves him to return, but only after having two kids of her own, Justine and Dane.

I listened to the audio. It was fairly slow all the way through. It did pick up – at least enough so that I didn’t lose focus – particularly after Meggie got married, I thought. I wasn’t as interested in Rafe’s point of view. That was some of when I lost interest, during his parts. (Oh, look – see what happens when you listen to the audio... apparently his name was Ralph! And for a while, I couldn’t tell if it was Rafe or Wraith!) I’m not sure I really liked any of the characters. Looking at some of the other reviews, it seems there was romance? Hmm, really? I didn’t notice. Overall, I’m rating it ok. For a while, I thought about upping that to good, but I’m dropping it back to simply ok. I did like that the audio kept my attention (mostly, especially after Meggie and Luke got married). It was mildly entertaining.

12x12 Overflow, RandomCAT

The Summer List / Amy Mason Doan
3.75 stars

Laura is 35-years old when she receives an invitation in the mail to come home. It’s from Casey, her high school best friend, though they’ve been estranged since Laura moved away to start college 17 years earlier. Laura decides she’s curious enough to see what’s going on, so she heads home. Turns out Casey didn’t send the invitation, and a scavenger hunt has been set up for them.

I enjoyed this. In addition to following the current scavenger hunt, the book backs up in time to when Laura and Casey were teenagers and the years that led up to the estrangement. There were additional chapters in italics thrown in that I didn’t find as interesting. At first, of course, you don’t know who these chapters are following, but after a bit I thought I figured it out, then a name was provided and I was right. It got a bit more interesting after I knew whose story we were following at that point, but I thought Laura and Casey had the better storylines.

>96 LibraryCin: I really liked Big Little Lies when I read it last month. Glad to see that you did too!

12x12 Nonfiction, NonfictionCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

The Woman Who Can't Forget / Jill Price
4 stars

Jill Price can remember everything she did and any major or minor events that took place on any date from the time she was about 11 years old. Before that, she remembers some, starting from when she was 2- or 3-years old. Problem is, the memories bombard her all the time; it just doesn’t turn off. When she was younger, she didn’t know this wasn’t the case for everyone. But, as she got older and tried to explain, people didn’t understand.

Her memories include both the good and the bad, everything. This book explains what’s going on in her head, then goes back to explain how it has affected her at various points throughout her life.

I found this really interesting. I don’t understand the low ratings, though from reading reviews, it seems like some didn’t like the biography/memoir part of the book, but I thought that really illustrated things. Apparently, she was the first person (in the early 2000s?) diagnosed with this: what they called “hyperthymestic syndrome”, but there are others now, as well. Scientists have been studying her (and she seems happy to have them do so to figure out how her brain works), and papers have been written about her, using a pseudonym.

12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), KITastrophe

The Brief History of the Dead / Kevin Brockmeier
3 stars

When someone dies, there is a place – a city – they go until the last person who remembers them dies. Then they disappear from the city. In alternating chapters, this book is in that place, alternating with Laura, who is stuck in Antarctica. She is by herself, as the two others she was there doing research with went for help when they could no longer radio home. But, they didn’t come back, either. What Laura doesn’t know is that an epidemic has hit the rest of the world.

I was ready to rate this 3.5 stars (good), but I dropped it right at the end. I mostly preferred following Laura’s story in Antarctica to the chapters following the various people in the “dead” city. But, the last chapter following Laura was just... weird, I thought.

>103 LibraryCin: that is on my bookshelf waiting for one of the KITS or CATS, I believe. I really am in no hurry to read it.

>103 LibraryCin: - That sounded so promising in the first sentence. But I think I'd rather a book about the dead city.

>105 dudes22: Oh, it is definitely an interesting concept! But, I also love survival stories, so the Antarctica one pulled me in right away!

12x12 Series, Poll Ballot, TravelKIT, AlphaKIT

A Cat Abroad / Peter Gethers
3.5 stars

This is Gethers’ second book about his travels with his Scottish Fold cat, Norton. In this one, Gethers, his girlfriend Janis, and Norton head to France for a year in the countryside. The author would just like to relax at the house (castle?) they are renting for the year, but Janis wants to see as much as she can. Of course, Norton joins them on all their travels.

These are enjoyable stories. A little bit of humour thrown in. A lot of food on this trip (they are in France, after all). It looks like I rated the first book slightly higher at 4 stars. There is one more and I will plan to read it.

>107 LibraryCin: I read and loved the books in this series years ago. I still have them on my shelves.

>108 LadyoftheLodge: I love that you still have them!

12x12 Off the Shelf, PBT, BingoDOG, Trim the TBR (Classic)

After Visiting Friends / Michael Hainey
3 stars

Michael Hainey’s father, a “newspaperman”, died when he was only 35, and Michael only 6. As an adult, Michael took a look at the obituaries, but they didn’t really “line up”. There was something odd, and he wanted to find out how his father died. He and his family (mother and brother) had only been told he’d died on the street, after visiting friends.

It was ok. It was a somewhat interesting search for the author to find out what had happened, but I didn’t like the writing style. He wrote in very short choppy non-sentences (well, some were sentences!). It also jumped around in time quite a bit, maybe more in the first half (that, or I got used to it and didn’t notice as much in the second half). The short sentences and short chapters made it quick to read.

12x12 PBT Challenges, Poll Ballot Tally, AlphaKIT, NonfictionCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Giant George / Dave Nasser
3.5 stars

George was the runt of his litter, a Great Dane who came home with Dave and Christie when he was only 7 weeks old. By the time he was fully grown, though, he was almost 250 lbs! (Almost 100 lbs larger than the average adult Great Dane!) He was also very friendly and loved people. George eventually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s tallest dog.

This was a good story. He’s a sweet dog. There are photos included, as well.

12x12 Off the Shelf, ScaredyKIT

The Other Child / Joanne Fluke
4 stars

It’s 1972. Karen and Mike have only been married a few years. Karen had a daughter before Mike; Leslie is now 10 years old. They want to move out of the city and fall in love with an old fixer-upper out in a nearby small town. But things change after they move... and not for the better. Karen was an interior designer before she married Mike, so she takes on the renovation project for the house. Leslie has a hard time fitting in with the local kids, but she makes a friend in the resident ghost, Christopher. Although Mike is still working his photography job for a magazine, he falls back into some old bad habits.

So, this is an older book of this author’s, published in 1983, I think before she started writing cozies. The writing seemed a bit odd at times, and Leslie (at times) seemed much older than she was, but overall, I liked the story. Not only that, I really liked what she did with the ending. Creepy... (Interesting - some didn’t like the ending, yet it increased the star rating for me.)

12x12 Off the Shelf, NonfictionCAT, PBT Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology... / Jenna Miscavige Hill
4 stars

Jenna is the niece of the head of the Church of Scientology. From a young age – 6 years old, I think – her family was very high up in the Scientology world, and this kept her mostly separated from her parents as she and her older brother were indoctrinated into the Church. It seems their lives were very different from what they call “public Scientologists”, who mostly live normal lives, but are part of the Church. They really didn’t get to be kids.

I really knew nothing about Scientology before reading this. Wow, crazy – the manipulation – of kids, no less! I guess you brainwash from a young age... There is a lot of terminology (and acronyms) that she has to define, and much of it I forgot, even as I read the words (or acronyms) later, but mostly had the gist of them (but there is also a glossary at the back). Of course, I would like to read more now. I think I have one celebrity biography on the tbr, so hopefully I can get to that one sooner rather than later.

12x12 Audio, BingoDOG

The Fault in Our Stars / John Green

2016 Review:
3.5 stars

16-year old Hazel is fighting cancer and needs help to breathe via a machine. At a support group meeting (which bore Hazel to tears), she meets Gus. Gus is 17 and managed to fight off his cancer, though not without losing a leg first. This is their love story.

It was good, but I didn't find it anything special. I guess there was too much poetry and philosophy in it for my liking? I also didn't like Hazel's favourite author and could not, for the life of me, figure out why she liked that book so much! I wasn't surprised with how it turned out. What did surprise me is that I didn't cry. My favourite by John Green easily remains Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

2020 Review:
3.5 stars

Rating remains the same as the first time I read it, and my review could be pretty much the same. I listened to the audio this time and the narrator did a good job. I really wasn’t interested in the whole Peter Van Houten (author) storyline at all. Didn’t like the storyline, didn’t like the character. There was so much of that storyline in the book, unfortunately, that the book wasn’t great for me, either. I actually only remembered one thing from the first time I read it, and that was the beginning – how and where Hazel and Augustus met. Although part-way through, I either vaguely remembered, or just guessed (again) at how it might end.

I was just dropping by to say hi - and noticed that you'd read >70 LibraryCin: Dead Mountain. I had never heard anything about the incident prior to picking up the book and found in rather fascinating on many levels. I, too, found the Soviet Union in the 1950s quite interesting, although I seem to have liked that author's story a bit more than you did.

>115 Dejah_Thoris: Hi! Thanks for stopping in! Have to admit, I've been very neglectful with checking in on other people's threads this year. There's so much to follow!

12x12 PBT Challenges, TravelKIT, Poll Ballot Tally, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Out of America / Keith B. Richburg
3.75 stars

The author is a black reporter, and in the early 1990s, represented The Washington Post in Africa. He was excited to go, to follow his “roots” in Africa. In his three years there, he experienced the civil war and famine in Somalia, the genocide in Rwanda, the many corrupt authoritarian and dictator “governments”, kids in the streets bearing AK-47s. He thought about his African-ness vs his American-ness, and came home (as many reporters in Africa do) beaten down.

The first part of the book is more about his childhood. He grew up in inner-city Detroit in the 1960s and 70s. Initially, he was a minority in his neighbourhood, but that changed. While he continued to go to school with mostly white kids and had friends there, he hated choosing “sides” between his white school friends, and his black neighbourhood friends.

The book included specific chapters on Somalia and Rwanda, and later on, South Africa (and the relative success of the introduction of democracy there vs the mess of it in the rest of Africa). He also has lots of examples throughout the rest of the book on the health care and AIDS in Africa, and plenty on the politics and governments of various countries.

I found the country-specific chapters more interesting, as well as the health care one, rather than the political chapters. I think it was because there are just too many names to remember and who is related to which country/city, etc. I also found the author’s own thoughts and introspection on what he encountered in Africa and his own feelings about being black and being American vs having those African roots. I also found his own biographical details quite interesting.

The edition I read came out in 2009, though it was originally published in 1997. So, this one had an additional foreword, written shortly after Obama was elected president.

12x12 Oh Canada, KITastrophe, PBT, Poll Ballot Tally, Trim the TBR (Classic)

American War / Omar El Akkad.
3 stars

It’s 2075. Tomboy Sarat (Sara T.) and her family live in Louisisana, one of the border states to the “Red”/Southern zone of the US. The Free Southern States are a group of only 4 states that are defying the order to not use fossil fuels. This will lead to the Second American Civil War. Not long before the war starts, Sarat’s father tries to get papers to travel north, but the building he is in is blown up. Sarat’s mother manages to get them on a bus heading to a refugeee camp in Georgia, one of the Red states.

I liked the first half, but I didn’t like Sarat as she grew up. I didn’t like her; I didn’t like the people she was associating with/learning from; I didn’t like the things she was doing. It was a bit boring for a portion after the refugee camp, where the focus of the book really was on the war. (Trying to stay away from spoilers!), it got slightly better for a bit, but I was confused toward the end. Not sure I liked the end, either. Overall, I’m considering it ok.

12x12 PBT Challenges, Poll Ballot Tally, ScaredyKIT

The Lace Reader / Brunonia Barry
4 stars

Sophya left home in Salem, Mass. for California a while back, and hasn’t returned... until now, when her elderly great-aunt, who, in-part, raised her, went missing. The women in her family have an ability to “read lace”, sort of like seeing a future. While home, Sophya, confronts her past, and her family’s past (including violence and abuse), while falling for a local police officer, though they are both a little bit socially awkward.

I had a bit of trouble with this at the start, as there were so many characters to figure out who was who and how they related to each other. Maybe half way through, I figured out the majority of them. There was a lot going on in this story and I didn’t even touch on most of it in my summary. I did like the storyline with Sophya and the cop. I also liked the setting of Salem – I’ve been there once, as a tourist, so it was fun to picture it. Overall, I really liked this. I was surprised at the ending and it’s one where I feel like I should go back and reread, knowing what I know now. (But, I never do... and if I ever did, there would likely be a big enough gap that I will have forgotten, anyway!).

12x12 Oh Canada, RandomCAT, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic), Travel Across Canada

Hands Like Clouds / Mark Zuehlke
3 stars

Elias is the coroner in the small town of Tofino, on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. When a local environmentalist/activist (or “ecoterrorist”) is found hanging from a tree, the initial thought is suicide, but Elias quickly figures out that Ian was strangled before he was hung. The local RCMP, though, is busy preparing for a US Senator to tour the area, looking at the ancient rainforest (and the already clear-cut sections) that the logging companies want to continue to raze.

Especially with the environmental angle, I had hoped this would draw me in more. The mystery itself was interesting, but the characters weren’t as much so – at least to me – until at least the second half of the book. Zuehlke puts a lot of description in the book, which does paint a clear picture of Vancouver Island, but it’s a bit too much for me, overall. I did love the setting, though.

12x12 Oh Canada, BingoDOG, Travel Across Canada

The Brideship Wife / Leslie Howard
4 stars

It’s the mid-19th century, and Charlotte, at 21-years old, is desperate to find a husband. Well, she isn’t that excited about it, but her sister and brother-in-law, high society people, are insisting. The match they want her to make, however, is a jerk, to put it mildly. But, Charlotte doesn’t have a lot of options, until she finds out about a “brideship”. England is sending unmarried women to the colonies in the New World, specifically to Vancouver Island and British Columbia, in what would later become Canada, to provide the men there with potential wives. Although Charlotte is initially hesitant, she ends up on one of the ships...

I really liked this. I liked Charlotte – she is more independent than many women at the time, I think – certainly those of her social class. Although quick to read is nice, I did feel like the book could have gone into more detail/spent more time on many of the topics.

As I always hope for, the author did include a note at the end where she talks about where she learned of many of the issues she covered in the book, including treatment of women, social classes, smallpox in the Native population, the gold rush towns in BC, the culture in those towns, as well as the tendency toward fire in the buildings, and more. She also provided a master list (can’t think of what it’s called) of actual women who sailed on one of the brideships (she used many of the names). Many of the things that happened in the book were events happened to someone in real life.

>121 LibraryCin: That sounds rather intriguing - and I see it's not even published yet! I'll keep it in mind for the future.

>122 Dejah_Thoris: It should be out in just a few weeks!

>121 LibraryCin: - That does sound interesting. BB for me.

>124 dudes22: Hope you like it!

12x12 Reading Through Time, Reading Through Time (Feb), NonfictionCAT (Apr), Trim the TBR (Classic)

This was originally meant to be read in Feb for Reading Through Time, so I'm counting it there, but since I just read it, I am also counting it for this month's NonfictionCAT. I don't usually do that, but my reading has fallen behind with a lack of commute.

Go Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde / Jeff Guinn.
4.25 stars

Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker (later known as “Bonnie and Clyde”) both grew up extremely poor in the slum of West Dallas, Texas. They both loved their families very much and visited as often as they possibly could, even while on the run. They knew they would die young, likely violently. They stole fancy cars, and robbed some small banks and small stores and gas stations, which really only gave them enough money for food and gas. They had very little left over, and mostly had to sleep in “their” car. When they had extra, they often brought it to their families.

I knew nothing of Clyde and Bonnie beyond their names and that they were criminals/gangsters on the run in (I thought) the 1920s (it was actually only for a couple of years in the early 1930s). This book was so well-researched. I feel like, if it’s not (it might already be), it should be the go-to book about the two of them. Their crimes did mostly start off as robberies and stealing cars, but in their haste to not get caught, there were shootouts and people got killed. There were a few other murders thrown in that weren’t part of shootouts, as well.

It was slow to read, but nonfiction often is. That being said, it was fascinating and I was interested all the way through. Now, there were multiple confrontations and shootouts, so I did get a few confused toward the end, and some of the criminals who came and went from the “Barrow Gang” also got a bit confusing, but overall, this was really good. There was also a section of photos included in the middle.

12x12 Series, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic), Poll Ballot Tally

Big Cherry Holler / Adriana Trigiani
3 stars

This is the second book in the series. Marginal *****SPOILER***** for the first book . Ave Maria and Jack have now been married for 8 years. They have a daughter, Ella, and lost a son 3 years ago. Jack is a coal miner, but he comes home one day to let Ave know that the mine will be shut down and he is out of a job. Put that together with the continued grief from the loss of their son, this puts an additional strain on their marriage.******END SPOILER******

It was ok. Not as good as the first one, in my opinion, particularly the first half. It picked up a bit in the second half, but I was annoyed with both Jack and Ave for much of the book. I am undecided on whether or not I’ll read the 3rd book... I probably will, anyway.

12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), NonfictionCAT

The Fact of a Body / Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
3.5 stars

The author thought she wanted to be a lawyer. She had known since she was a child that she didn’t believe in the death penalty. When she took a position in a firm in Louisiana that defended people on death row, she was shown a video of a confession by Ricky Langley, a pedophile who murdered a 6-year old boy in 1992. She learned of the story just after his second trial that found him guilty of second degree murder, which took the death penalty off the table, although his original trial had put him on death row. The author then had to face her own family history, and writes in this book about both Ricky’s life and trials, as well as her looking back on her own life and confronting what had happened to her.

It took a bit at the start to get “into it”, as I couldn’t figure out where the two stories intersected, or why she went back and forth between the two. It’s a good thing she started each chapter with a place and year, as she did jump around quite a bit between time periods in both her and Ricky’s lives. It took me a while to get interested in her own story, particularly, but it did get more interesting as the book went on.

12x12 PBT Challenges, PBT Bingo, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Seeing Voices / Oliver Sacks
3 stars

Oliver Sacks takes a look at deaf people in this book. There are three sections. The first one focuses on history (how deaf people were treated, communicated with (if at all), etc.), the second on the brain/psychology/science, and the third on deaf culture, with a focus on a deaf university.

It was ok. I don’t know anyone who is deaf, but I was always interested in sign language, at least from high school, when a friend and I got a book out of the library to try to teach ourselves. I later (15-20 years ago) did take an actual class. But, the book itself – some parts were interesting, particularly the culture/university section, but I found other parts quite dry (the middle section). The book is short; almost half of it is Notes.

12x12 Off the Shelf, PBT Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), AlphaKIT

The Book of Joy / Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Douglas Abrams
3 stars

Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Abrams (who had collaborated with Tutu over a number of years) headed to India for the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday and to spend a week discussing joy and how to get there, and celebrating his birthday.

I’m not much into self-help books (this was a gift), but I enjoyed the relationship between Tutu and the Dalai Lama, the camaraderie, the humour. I loved the photos of them dancing, smiling, laughing. For those interested, there is a section at the back that includes meditations and ways that both religious leaders wind down and contemplate things. Overall, the book itself, for me, was ok.

12x12 Reading Thru Time, Reading Thru Time, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley / Alison Weir
3.5 stars

Mary, Queen of Scots was suspected of murdering her second husband, Lord Darnley. Darnley died in an explosion, but it was definitely murder. Many people at the time thought she’d done it, as well as many historians since. Weir looks at many sources to try to sort out whether or not Mary was, indeed, involved. This does pretty much amount to a biography, with a strong focus on events as relating to Darnley.

This is a long book! With lots of detail. That being said, I went back and forth between being really interested and falling back a bit with some of the detail. Now, Weir really was looking at a lot of information to try to sort out who was involved. Boy, talk about “fake news” of the time! And sham trials with a political bent (i.e. predetermined outcome)... Overall, I’m rating it good, but it does take a while to read.

12x12 Reading Thru Time, Reading Thru Time, Trim the TBR (Classic), NonfictionCAT

Alone / Richard E. Byrd
4 stars

In 1934, the author headed to Antarctica to spend a few months on his own inland (while people he was working with were a ways away, and they were in radio contact on specific days/times), while taking weather readings at various times throughout the days. They had built him an underground shelter to live in. In June, as it got colder outside, things started to get dicey for the author. This book includes his memories, as well as some excerpts from his diary while there.

It took a little bit to get going, as I wasn’t as interested in the technology in how they built his shelter and such, but once it was built and the rest of the crew left Byrd alone, it got much more interesting. The cold, oh, the cold! Described very well. (Of course, it’s relative when anywhere from 0 to -30F was “warm”! The coldest day was -83F) He was there over winter, so between April and October (this book covers April through August when he was on his own). It read in kind of a conversational tone, which I liked.

12x12 KIT Challenges, KITastrophe, Poll Ballot Tally, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Whiter Than Snow / Sandra Dallas
4 stars

In 1920, an avalanche hit the mining town of Swandyke, Colorado, just as school let out. There were kids on the street, just heading home, as the snow came tumbling down... The book starts by letting us know this, then backs up to find out about the lives of some of the parents (and one grandparent) of those children. Then, the book leads up to the avalanche itself.

There was no historical/author’s note, so I had to look this up to see if it really happened. It appears that Swandyke was a real town; now it’s a ghost town with some items and buildings, but I couldn’t find any mention of an avalanche that buried children there. However, this is a really good story. It was easy to get the characters mixed up a bit, as there were so many, and with one chapter on each family’s history, it took a minute when they were mentioned again to remember who was who. Even still, I enjoyed all of those families’ stories, though one stood out a bit more than the others for me (the black man working at the mine who had a young daughter).

>133 LibraryCin: This sounds like The Bridge of San Luis Rey.

>134 NinieB: I will look that up. Thank you!

>134 NinieB: No that you bring it up, it does rather sound like The Bridge of San Luis Rey - but I's be willing to bet the styles are very different.

It's a very good book - a quick read. It's a Pulitzer Prize winner, to boot!

ETA: It would fit Man Made Disasters for next month's KITastrophe.

>136 Dejah_Thoris: I took a look and it doesn't quite look like my kind of "thing". It does sound like a style thing that I wouldn't like as much. (Major award winner is usually a bad sign for me! LOL! Usually, not always...)

>137 LibraryCin: I have to laugh - 'major award winner' is often a negative for me, too. Literary fiction, with some exceptions, is not my thing. That said, I keep trying to read Pulitzer Prize Winners from across the major categories (I started with plays, and should probably have stuck with them) and The Bridge at San Luis Rey is set in Peru - I've long had an interest in Latin America. Two birds, one stone, etc.

>138 Dejah_Thoris: Good for you for continuing to give them a try!

ETA: And you never know. I do still sometimes read them, depending on how appealing it sounds.

12x12 Audio, PBT Bingo, Poll Ballot

Alaska / James A. Michener
3.5 stars

This fictional chunkster pretty much tells the entire history of Alaska from before humans, through to about 1990.

It was good, but LONG. It took me 2 months to listen to the 57 hour audio. Because it was so long and covered so many time periods, events, families/people/characters, some sections were more interesting to me than others. (Although it’s so long ago now, it’s hard to remember), I think I liked the section at the start before humans. I also particularly enjoyed the gold rush and the characters that appeared then and continued later on.

>139 LibraryCin: A while back (10 years ago?!) I was reading some of the Pulitzers. The Bridge of San Luis Rey was relatively short and quite readable. And while many of the Pulitzers from that time have fallen into oblivion, it has survived. I'm sure the 80+ year difference in when they were written would make a difference in writing styles!

>140 LibraryCin: I can't even imagine listening to a 57 hour audio book! I did read it many years ago.

>140 LibraryCin: My mother and I joke about Michener that every book basically begins with "The Earth cooled...."

>132 LibraryCin: I read Alone by Byrd years ago and still think about it. What an experience! I always credit my familiarity with Byrd's book (and others) for helping me get a job in a polar research library.

>143 Dejah_Thoris: LOL!

>144 VivienneR: Oh, that is cool. Good for you!

>142 thornton37814: As long as it was, I still prefer either audio or ebook over print for those giant books.

12x12 KIT Challenges, AlphaKIT, Poll Ballot Tally, Trim the TBR (Classic)

The Price of Everything / Eduardo Porter
3 stars

The subtitle is: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do. This is nonfiction and consists of chapters such as “The Price of...” Things, Life, Happiness, Women, Work, Free, Culture, Faith, and Future.

Have to admit that it was interesting as I read it (most of it), but unfortunately, it’s already fading. I won’t remember it. The conclusion (most fresh in my mind) does refer to the 2008 financial crisis quite a bit, and hopes that people will have learned a few things. I do wonder what the author would write now, after things have shut down due to COVID, and are just now starting to reopen for the economy.

12x12 Travel

Escape from Syria / Samya Kullab
4 stars

This is fictional, but the author was a reporter who spent time in Lebanon as Syrian refugees came pouring across the border. To write this story, she compiled common happenings of many of the refugees and made it into this graphic novel, told from the point of view of a teenage girl as her family fled Aleppo City amidst the war in Syria. Her family spent time in Lebanon until they were able to get out to come to Canada (this is known from the start of the story).

The illustrations were very well done, I thought. There were even a couple of iconic images represented (one, much more well-known than the other, though the other, maybe known more in Canada as some of the Syrian refugees arrived; the more well known image is the little boy who drowned as he and his family tried to escape). I quite “enjoyed” the story, as well. I read a memoir not long ago of a boy who got out and also came to Canada, and this graphic novel was interesting from a girl’s perspective (the families had no money – or very little – so many young daughters became child brides, though this was only a very small section in the book). At the end, the author takes many of the quotes and images throughout the story and explains more about them.

12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), TravelKIT

Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World / Seth Stevenson
4 stars

Seth and his girlfriend Rebecca decide they want to travel all the way around the world by surface travel (i.e. no flying). They set out via ships (cargo and cruise), buses, trains (regular speed and bullet trains), and bicycles. Their journey takes them across the Atlantic Ocean, Germany, Estonia, Moscow, across Siberia, down to Japan, China, Cambodia, Thailand, and back east to and across Australia to New Zealand and back to the US. (And I know I’ve missed some places!).

I really enjoyed this (though I disagree on his assessment of cruise ships!). There were some funny moments. Although, despite the leisurely travel pace, there were times where they really seemed rushed, and weren’t able to enjoy where they were. I guess some of it depended on the timing of the travel away from where they were, as it was sometimes difficult to find a way to their next destination, so unless they wanted to wait a week, they might have to continue on right away. He did talk about the different modes of transportation, the history, etc, which I also found interesting.

12x12 Oh Canada, AlphaKIT, Travel Across Canada, Poll Ballot

Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography / Chester Brown
3.5 stars

Louis Riel was a charismatic Metis leader in the late 19th century who led a couple of rebellions as the government of Canada wanted to set up Manitoba and West differently from how the First Nations, Metis, and others already settled there wanted it done. Riel was later hanged. This is a graphic novel that depicts his battle with the government.

It was good. I think the graphic novel format does make it more interesting than I remember it from high school (what little I do remember, and I’ve even been to Batoche, one of the sites in Saskatchewan where he fought). The illustrations were simple, black and white images, but I think they portrayed things well. There is a large notes section at the end that expands what was included in the story. I think the notes took as long or longer to read through than the graphic novel portion itself, but it does add quite a bit of extra info.

>149 LibraryCin: Sounds interesting to me, so I'll take a BB!

>151 Tess_W: I hope you like it! In reading some of the other reviews, some were disappointed that they didn't spend more time in each place, but having read my review, hopefully you'll be prepared that that didn't happen often. I think the focus really was on the other types of transportation. (And the accomplishment of doing it, for them!)

>150 LibraryCin: I often enjoy graphic nonfiction, so I was intrigued by Louis Riel. Unfortunately, my library system doesn't have it, but my search led me to This Place: 150 Years Retold, which looks fascinating! So thank you, for a round-about BB.

>153 Dejah_Thoris: LOL! Sorry you couldn't get "Louis Riel", but hopefully "This Place" turns out to be good for you!

12x12 PBT, PBT, Poll Ballot

The Humans / Matt Haig
3.75 stars

An alien has taken over the body of mathematics professor Andrew Martin. It takes a bit of time for the alien to learn the ways of the humans, but at the same time, he has a purpose. The humans are learning too much about technology (though it’s not nearly as much as there is to know), and this needs to be stopped. Professor Martin, his friends and family (and whatever they know) must be stopped.

I listened to the audio and quite enjoyed it. It had funny moments, and that really drew me in at the start, though it lagged a bit for me in the middle. Overall, I quite liked it.

12x12 PBT Challenges, Poll Ballot Tally, ScaredyKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

The Witches of New York / Ami McKay
3.5 stars

It is the 1880s. 17-year old Beatrice heads to New York to try to get an advertised shop girl job at “Tea and Sympathy”. It turns out the ladies who run Tea and Sympathy (Eleanor and Adelaide) are witches, and Beatrice is showing tendencies towards such, as well as seeing and hearing ghosts. We learn about all three women, their histories, and how things go forward at this time in NYC while the three are considered witches.

I liked Beatrice’s story, in particular, but what I wasn’t crazy about was all the different changing perspectives of so many different characters. I don’t like when I’m a good chunk of the way in and a new character is introduced and I have to try to fit them in. This happened quite a bit in this book, as there was a lot of flopping all over the place, following all the different characters. Toward the end, the story picked up speed a bit, so overall, I’m still rating it good.

12x12 Audio, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Green River, Running Red / Ann Rule
3 stars

In the early 1980s, the Seattle area had a serial killer running around, mostly killing prostitutes. True crime author Ann Rule, by then having published her book on Ted Bundy, lived in the area, and followed very closely what was happening. The killer wasn’t caught for almost 20 years, but when DNA testing came available, he was not only caught, but he admitted to many more murders than they would have been able to link to him via DNA.

Unfortunately, I (once again) ended up with an abridged audio. I was only a kid in the early 80s, and not in the area, so it was more recently that I heard of the Green River killer. The book was interesting, but I would have liked to have listened to the entire book. It did seem to jump abruptly from talking about the victims to following the killer’s life. Not sure if the book actually felt that way or if it felt such because it was abridged.

12x12 KIT Challenges, ScaredyKIT, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

The House of Doctor Dee / Peter Ackroyd
2 stars

Two storylines – Matthew has inherited a house from his father in the current day (book was published in the early 90s), and there is a brief mystery in figuring out whom it once belonged to. Turns it out, Doctor John Dee once lived there (during the time of Queen Elizabeth’s reign in the 16th century). No idea what the Doctor Dee storyline was all about.

This was incredibly boring, especially the Dee storyline. I have no idea what happened in that part except that (I think) his wife, Katherine, was sick. He was apparently a doctor (and possibly a “sorcerer” of some type?). Anyway, not really worth the time, in my opinion.

12x12 Nonfiction, NonfictionCAT, AlphaKIT, Poll Ballot, AlphaKIT

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet / Mark Lynas
4 stars

In this book, the author divides the chapters to look at what would happen as the global average temperature rises 1 degree Celsius, 2 degrees, 3, 4, 5, and 6 degrees. More fires and drought in California and Australia. Melting of ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic. Melting of glaciers in mountainous regions in Pakistan, Nepal, and China near K2 and Everest, leading to less runoff for places that rely on that water. Water levels rising to wipe out New Orleans, put more of New York and London underwater, hurricanes and flooding in Houston, Gakveston, New York. Sand dunes and no water in Africa. All of these causing humans to starve and die or to move to other places already suffering themselves who won’t want newcomers to take up the precious resources that remain. Oceans and forests will be taking on more carbon than they can handle, often speeding up the warming and other consequences.

The author used scientific models and peer-reviewed articles to research this book.

I really liked the way he organized this book. Unfortunately, in the conclusion, he talked about ideally reducing emissions in the next decade. The book was published in 2008, and as far as I’ve been paying attention, things have (really, to no surprise, sadly) only gotten worse. There is no slow down, let alone reduction in emissions, I don’t believe. I feel like this is something everyone should read to educate themselves.

>140 LibraryCin: I've always considered reading a James Michener book, but the lengths of his books are indeed intimidating. On the other hand, I do manage to get through long fantasy sagas, and it would be nice to read a giant tome that's not fantasy, for a change. :)

>140 LibraryCin: Good luck! I think the first one I read wasn't so long or daunting... what was it called?

Creatures of the Kingdom

You could try that one first. Mostly it's animal stories taken from his longer books.

>161 LibraryCin: also South Pacific and Caravans are not that long, either.

>162 Tess_W: Thank you! Good to know! (I might check those out, as well.)

12x12 Off the Shelf, PBT Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), AlphaKIT

Powder Burn / Carl Hiaasen
3 stars

Architect Chris Meadows gets caught up in a drug war in Florida when he witnesses an old flame and her daughter get hit (and killed) by a car. He unwittingly ends up the next target, as he was a witness and can identify the people responsible.

Unlike Hiaasen’s other books, this one did not include humour, nor did it have an environmental theme. I do believe this was co-written with someone else, as well. There was one brief “scene” near the end that was somewhat amusing. I don’t think I really liked any of the characters (including Chris, aka “Meadows” (I am also not a fan of referring to characters by last name only)). Not my favourite topic – drugs – and not as good as the others I’ve read by him. At the same time, I’d consider this one “ok”.

12x12 Animals, RandomCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Great Cat Tales / Various Authors
2.5 stars

This is a book of short stories, poetry, and I think some short nonfiction essays by various authors (including Jerome K. Jerome, Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, and more), all about cats.

I’m just not a fan of short stories. I don’t know why I have the book (my guess is a gift?). Everyone knows I love cats, but short stories just mostly don’t hold my interest much. There were a few that I liked. Overall, though, it may have been that I was trying to read quickly, maybe that I just know I’m not “into” short stories and didn’t give it enough of a chance, via mostly skimming through. Likely if I’d slowed down and taken more time to pay attention, it would have garnered a better rating from me.

12x12 Travel, Poll Ballot

Escape to the Wild: A Family's Return to Simplicity / Abrea HJejlskov
3.75 stars

This Danish author and her husband decided to take their family and live off the grid in the forest in Sweden for one year. Though it doesn’t say it in the book, the back cover says it has turned into six years. This included four children – 15-year old twins, an 11-year old, and a something(11?)-month old.

I love the idea of it, of anyone who is able to do this. It was really hard (no surprise, really). They had some help from another guy who’d done it once before and decided to “join” them (a little ways away) and do it again. Others came by, as well, as the author did write a blog, so people knew what they were doing (though she didn’t mention it often, nor mention how she was posting, how often, etc – though eventually she did mention having a generator that was rarely used; it died in the fall, anyway). Boy, those two sure did have some anger issues, though. There was a lot of fighting between them. I imagine it was incredibly stressful, but I certainly didn’t expect all the anger. The author did address this later in the book – that she had focused more on the conflict and not the things they enjoyed.

12x12 Oh Canada. Travel Across Canada

7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga / David Alexander Robertson, Scott B. Henderson (ill.)
4.5 stars

In this graphic novel, Edwin learns from his mother the history, going back seven generations, of their family and his people, the First Nations Cree. We learn about fighting between the Cree and Blackfoot, then when smallpox hit, then the residential schools in the 1960s, where Edwin’s father and uncle attended.

Wow, this started off with a very powerful chapter, as Edwin tries to kill himself as his mother rushes to him in the hospital. Particularly powerful, again, with Edwin’s father and uncle at the residential school. It was a story of Edwin not only learning about the past, but having to come to terms with all of it and to forgive his father. It is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel, in colour.

12x12 Animals, PBT Bingo, Poll Ballot Tally

The Third Chimpanzee / Jared Diamond
4 stars

This one looks at humans as animals and compares them to our wild counterparts. It looks at evolution, culture, genocide, language, sex, art, and more. It also looks at how we are affecting the planet and other species.

This might be my favourite Diamond book. I think the closer look at other species is what did that for me. I listened to the audio.

12x12 PBT, PBT, AlphaKIT

Seven Lies / Elizabeth Kay
4 stars

Jane and Marnie have been best friends since they were 11-years old. They’ve done everything together. As adults, though, Jane is now confessing (to the reader) that she told Marnie seven (big) lies; the first one was a lie that she liked Marnie’s boyfriend, Charles.

It’s not fast-paced, but I wanted to know what would happen. It’s one of those potentially unreliable narrators, as you wonder if Jane is telling the truth, or what really happened. I’m not sure I really liked any of the characters, but that didn’t change that it was still compelling reading for me.

12x12 Animals, Trim the TBR (Classic), RandomCAT, Poll Ballot Tally

Fire in the Turtle House / Osha Gray Davidson
4 stars

Beginning in the late 1970s, green sea turtles were appearing in very high numbers with tumors on them. Turtles in Hawaii, Florida and the Caribbean, independently. There weren’t many, but there were a few, who wanted to find out what was causing this.

Sea turtles (or any turtles) are one animal I’ve not read much about. Although, this was more about digging to find what was causing the tumors. (I’ll give you two (broad) guesses and the first one doesn’t count.) This book was published in 2001; I can’t imagine things have gotten better in the meantime. This has been on my tbr for ages – I have no idea why it took me so long to read it.

12x12 Audio, Poll Ballot Tally

The Rosie Project / Graeme Simsion
4.33 stars (average over 3 reads)

2015 read: Don is a professor and has only three friends. He is extremely socially awkward. He decides to start “The Wife Project” and comes up with a questionnaire to filter out any unsuitable candidates. His friend Gene goes over some of the applicants to help Don out and sends over Rosie. Don can't figure out why Rosie, as she is completely unsuitable!

I loved this! Don and his never-ending quirks... It's a fun, humourous, happy read. I did feel badly for Gene's wife, though.

2016 reread: The first time I read this, I gave it 5 stars. I think I felt similarly as the first time throughout most of it and last time, maybe upped my star rating for the ending. This time around I’m leaving my rating, overall, at 4 stars. It was still enjoyable and still humourous, and to be honest, I’d forgotten most of what happened in the book, which was nice for a reread. This time around, though, I do think the 5 stars was a bit too much.

2020 reread: This is my 3rd time reading this (the 2nd and 3rd times for different book clubs). I gave it 5 stars the first time around, and I suspect that was mostly due to the ending. The 2nd time and this time around, it’s a 4 star read. It is quite enjoyable and amusing. I listened to the audio this time, for something a bit different, and thought the narrator was quite good.

12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), AlphaKIT, Poll Ballot Tally

Kingdom Under Glass / Jay Kirk
3.5 stars

Carl Akeley (1864-1926) was a famous taxidermist, most notable for setting up dioramas at the American Museum of Natural History. He spent much time in Africa with this two successive wives, on hunting safaris, looking for the perfect specimens for scientific posterity.

I had a bit of a hard time with this. It’s an interesting story and he had an interesting life (he also invented a few things, one of them highlighted in the book being a video camera to take nature videos), but I had a really hard time with the hunting – in my mind, it was just glorified trophy hunting. So wasteful – he would kill animals, but not even use them because they were not exactly what he was looking for for his imagined displays for the museum. He later did help start a sanctuary for gorillas, but only after he’d killed the ones he wanted, and he continued to kill other animals after. It did read like fiction, but the author has notes at the end to explain where he got much of his information and where he “expanded” and how he came to decide on telling it that way.

12x12 Nonfiction, AlphaKIT, Poll Ballot

Revolution for Dummies / Bassem Youssef
4 stars

Bassem Youssef was a doctor before the Arab Spring revolution in Egypt in 2011. After that, he started doing short satirical/political videos on youtube, and from there, he started a tv show, and he became known as the Egyptian Jon Stewart. This book chronicles Youssef’s experience at this time in Egypt, and his escape from his home country in 2014.

This was very good. I learned at lot, and of course, it has a nice dose of humour to go along with it. There are some parallels with our Western/North American society, as well, some of which he mentions specifically, and some that just popped into my head. He did eventually come to the US, so he can see what’s happening there now (or at the time of writing). This was published in 2017, so still fairly recent.

12x12 Oh Canada, Travel Across Canada, PBT Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Missing / Frances Itani
4 stars

In France, Luc was 12-years old in 1917 when he saw an air battle between one British and two German planes. The British plane came crashing down and Luc ran towards where the pilot landed. He was only able to notice/discover a few things before Germans shoo-ed him away, but enough to find out the pilot’s name, nationality (Canadian), and to collect a few souvenirs before heading home. Back in Nova Scotia, Jack Greenway’s parents are worried for their only son who went off to be a pilot in this war.

This is a very good short story. I would have loved for it to be longer, still, to be able to put more detail into the story. This was based on true events. Itani is a very good writer of war stories.

12x12 KIT Challenges, Travel Across Canada, Poll Ballot Tally, BingoDOG, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Kiss of the Fur Queen / Tomson Highway
3 stars

Champion (later Jeremiah) and Gabriel are Cree, living in northern Manitoba. When they are young, in the ‘60s, they are sent away to a residential school. This book follows them beyond the residential school as they grow into adults.

There was some magical realism in the book, which I’m not a fan of. It didn’t make sense to me. The book skipped ahead – skipped years in their lives – quite a bit. That is, we’d get a very brief time at their age, then suddenly (without any real indication beyond a new chapter or part), we would have advanced years. Some of it was good and held my interest, but much of it was also very vague, and you had to figure out what was going on... it wasn’t clear. I hate that. Despite this mostly negative-sounding review, I am rating the book “ok”, for the parts that I liked.

12x12 Audio, Poll Ballot Tally

Little Women / Louisa May Alcott
3.5 stars

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy are sisters. Their father is away fighting in the Civil War. They don’t have a lot of money, but they are very loved. The make friends with the neighbour-boy next door, Laurie. They are all quite different personality-wise. This follows them as they grow from teenagers into adulthood.

This was good. I read it when I was much younger and did a reread via an audio book for my book club. My mind did travel a bit while listening but mostly it held my attention. I did remember most of it, I think, though more due to the movie from the ‘90s.

12x12 Series, PBT, MysteryKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic), Poll Ballot

Cat & Mouse / James Patterson
4 stars

Serial killer, Gary Soneji, is out of jail and looking for revenge on detective Alex Cross. He wants to kill Cross and his entire family. But, before doing so, he is leading up to it with other killings and taunting Cross. Meantime, Cross is attracted to his kids’ principal, but she is hesitant to date someone with his job.

I really liked this one. I remember the name Soneji, but don’t really remember details of him in the other books (this is 4th in the series), but it’s not necessary to remember anything about him to enjoy this one. If there was anything from the previous book(s) I needed to know, I was reminded of it. I liked the potential relationship between Alex and Christine.

12x12 Series, BingoDOG, TravelKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Lady of Sherwood / Jennifer Roberson
4 stars

King Richard the Lionheart has died and his brother John is now king. The Sheriff of Nottingham is desperate to be sure he is still employed. Robin Hood and his friends, once pardoned by King Richard, are now outlaws once again, and must hide in Sherwood Forest. The Sheriff is upset with Marian and wants revenge. Robin’s father is not healthy, but the two don’t see eye-to-eye on anything.

I liked this much better than the first one. It took a short bit at the start to get “into” it, but once I did, I really liked this one.

12x12 PBT Challenges, PBT Bingo, Poll Ballot Tally

A Gift of Magic / Lois Duncan
3.5 stars

Teen twins, Kirby and Nancy, and their younger brother Brendan, move to Florida with their mom, and learn that their parents are getting a divorce. Nancy seems to have a harder time of it then either of her siblings. At school, she discovers that she has a bit of “magic” in her in the form of ESP. Her sister has a talent for dancing and brother a talent for music. They all try to come to terms with their parents’ divorce while Nancy tries to figure out how best to deal with her “gift”.

I listened to the audio. It was a quick YA read, and things moved quickly, but likely due to being YA. I enjoyed it. I’m not sure any of the kids were particularly likeable, but they’re teenagers (at least the girls are), so...

12x12 PBT Challenges, Poll Ballot Tally, RandomCAT, ScaredyKIT

To Kill a Kingdom / Alexandra Christo
4 stars

Elian is a prince and a pirate. He is not interested in taking over his father’s kingdom, and much prefers the pirate life. Mostly, he hunts sirens. Lira is a siren and the princess of the ocean, and will one day rule the sea (if her mother, the Sea Queen, doesn’t manage to find a way out of Lira doing it – this is putting it mildly). When Lira is punished so that she is turned human and left in the water to die, Elian’s ship comes along and rescues her, not knowing what she really is.

I really enjoyed this. It’s a darker twist on The Little Mermaid. I also enjoyed the banter between the secondary characters (the crew on Elian’s ship).

12x12 Reading Through Time, Reading Through Time, Poll Ballot Tally

Murder at the Vicarage / Agatha Christie
3.5 stars

When Colonel Prothero is murdered at the vicarage, two people come forward to confess. Meantime, in this small town, where Miss Marple lives next door to the vicarage, people are trying to figure out what happened.

This is (kind of) a reread. I have already listened to the BBC dramatization, but this time I actually read it. I believe I rated the dramatization 4 stars, so this one not quite as high. It was good. This was Miss Marple’s introduction, but through most of it, she seemed a very secondary character. The main character, the first person “I”, was the vicar, who found the murdered Prothero, so the story was from his point of view.

12x12 PBT, PBT, AlphaKIT

Killer Within / S.E. Green
3.5 stars

This is a sequel to “Killer Instinct”. Lane was the “famous” vigilante, the “Masked Avenger” they called her.
******SPOILER for book 1******
With the serial killer, the Decapitator, gone, Lane is getting antsy.
******END SPOILER*******
She’s finding unworthy people to go after, but it doesn’t seem to be enough. Also, there seems to be a copycat out there, bringing vigilante justice under her (Masked Avenger) name! Plus, someone has put up a fan website. She never wanted to publicly “celebrate” in this way. Who is running the site and who is the copycat?

I listened to the audio (I did for the first one, as well). This was good, but not quite as good as the first one. There were tense moments, but also a couple of people whom I missed the introduction to, so when mentioned again, I couldn’t place who they were. If there later comes a 3rd book in the series (and I find out), I will read it.

12x12 Off the Shelf, KITastrophe, Poll Ballot, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 / Stephen Puleo
3.75 stars

In 1915, a giant tower meant to store molasses was built in Boston, near the water, near the train tracks, right beside a poor and crowded area of the city. In January 1919, the molasses burst from the tower, creating a wave that eventually left 21 dead and many more injured.

In addition to info on the tower and the disaster, the book included information on politics at the time and other happenings (the war, the Spanish flu). It followed a few families who were affected or who had some “doings” with the tower, who later testified in court. It had information about anarchists at the time (the company that owned the tower blamed anarchists for dropping a bomb in the tower causing the flood).

I found the parts about the families, the people involved, the flood itself, and the trial after to be quite interesting. Where I lost interest (and the book lost a quarter star) was in the political discussion and the anarchists. I read the ebook, which apparently came from the slightly later paperback edition, which included an additional afterword. This was interesting, as the author described letters he received from descendants of many of the people involved.

Happy Canada Day, Cindy! enjoy your holiday.

>184 Kristelh: Thank you, Kristel! Somehow I missed this yesterday!!

12x12 Nonfiction, NonfictionCAT, Poll Ballot, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed / Jared Diamond
3.5 stars

Diamond looks at different societies -- some historical, some current -- to see what they’ve done in order to survive/succeed. Some have disappeared. This includes current-day Montana, the Vikings (in Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, some of the smaller islands nearer Europe...), Easter Island and other Polynesian Islands, the Mayans in Mexico, Haiti/Dominican Republic, Australia, China, Japan, New Guinea, Rwanda... He looks at some of them in more detail than others.

And I found some stories more interesting than others: Montana, Vikings, Easter Island, Rwanda, Haiti/Dominican Republic. He had a few chapters at the end that looked at business – the economy “vs” the environment. I was surprised to hear about how one of the big oil companies is set up in New Guinea – to the benefit of the environment around the area!
Too bad more oil companies didn’t do similar (or too bad it wasn’t required that they all do better, as it apparently can be done).

I do have a hard time rating a lot of nonfiction 4 stars and higher. I think those that I rate that high read more like fiction, this one was good, but it didn’t read like fiction.

12x12 Off the Shelf, MysteryKIT

Alaska Bound / Margaret Frank
3 stars

Patience and Forrest meet at the airport, heading to Alaska. Patience is going to help with a count of whales as an environmental assessment for a proposed oil rig. Forrest is heading back home where he is a police officer. When they cross paths again in Alaska, things become dangerous.

Was a bit put off at the start with all the “romance” going on. Too much. The rest of the plot might have been better, except there were a lot of characters and I somehow “missed” the introductions of some and when they came up later, I wasn’t sure who they were. Figured some of that out, but it moved very quickly (the book was short), so it got a bit confusing, as well. Just about everyone had secrets and might have been double crossing others or at least lying/hiding things. Might have been better if there had been more time to flesh out the characters and the happenings a bit more? In any case, I didn’t particularly like any of the characters, either. Overall, I’m rating it ok.

12x12 Series, RandomCAT, Poll Ballot

Fables, Vol. 22. Farewell / Bill Willingham
4 stars

There is a war coming between Rose Red and Snow White. And a final wrap up for many of the characters.

Storylines with war are not as interesting to me, and I was happy with how this ended. I enjoyed the wrap ups for many of the characters, particularly for Snow and Bigby’s cubs/kids. There was one text section in the middle, then more wrap-up text at the end by the author, which I quite enjoyed. As always, illustrations are quite nice and I’ve always loved the extra touch of the borders. The cover actually folds out and includes many (all?) characters in the series. One of the extras at the end of the book is the “key” that shows you who is who on the cover. There is also an additional 4 page fold-out close to the end of the book.

12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), Poll Ballot

The Hate U Give / Angie Thomas
4 stars

Starr is a black girl who lives in a black neighbourhood, but goes to a white school. When she is in a car after a party with one of her black friends, they are pulled over by a cop, and Khalil ends up being shot by the police officer. Starr talks to the police about what happened – Khalil didn’t deserve to die – but decides to not let on to others she knows that she was the one with him when they were pulled over. She continues to lead a double life until things start coming out.

This was really good. I listened to the audio and the narrator was very good. This really does show the unfairness (to put it mildly) of racial profiling and the overreactions of police towards a black teenager. I have to admit there was one part where Starr got really upset about something racist her white friend said – I didn’t even know it was a racist thing (fried chicken?). There were humourous parts in the story to lighten things up a bit, which I thought were done really well. I am happy (for the most part, except one thing) with how the book ended.

>189 LibraryCin: - This was our "Reading Across Rhode Island" book in 2018. The author even came and had a couple of appearances. Book clubs, schools, libraries - it's a state-wide read every year.

12x12 Nonfiction, KITastrophe, Poll Ballot, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Storm Warning: The Story of a Killer Tornado / Nancy Mathis
4 stars

On May 3, 1999, Oklahoma saw multiple tornadoes, including one of the biggest to hit a city. All the years leading up to it, though, had meteorologists, most notably Ted Fujita (Mr. Tornado), studying tornadoes. This helped with warnings (although for a long time in history until the 1950s (after another deadly tornado in 1947), weather forecasters were not even allowed to say the word “tornado”!) that could help people take cover. The book not only looks at the tornado in 1999 (and the one in 1947), but also looks at the history of weather forecasting – with a focus on tornadoes – and at the life of Ted Fujita (who created the Fujita scale).

It got a bit bogged down in the history at the start of the book (but, I was also having trouble finding larger chunks of time to read, which can help me focus), but it got better as the book went on. Of course, when we hit the 1999 tornado, no question – this was the best part of the book. I still found the rest quite interesting, though

12x12 Travel, TravelKIT, PBT Bingo, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Outlaw / Angus Donald
4.25 stars

A minor character in the Robin Hood tale, Alan Dale, tells this story. When only 13 “summers” old, he manages to escape his sentence of a hand being chopped off (as a thief), and ends up with Robin Hood and his men in the forest. He is given training in fighting and music, and is with them on many of their adventures, including saving Marie-Anne from having to marry the sheriff.

This was surprisingly violent and quite unlike any other Robin Hood story I’ve read or seen. Granted, I’ve not read very many, but still. Robin Hood. himself, is portrayed quite differently from what I expected. I really liked this one, though. Interesting that I often am not all that interested in war/fighting scenes, but the big one in this book really had me engaged. I don’t know if it was something with the story itself that I was more interested, or if it’s the way the author writes, or something else, but this was really really good for me.

It is a series and I will continue. Hopefully I’ll like the next one, though. It does concern me that it seems to be about the Crusades – again, we have that war/fighting bit that often I end up skimming and being bored by, so hopefully it holds up as this one did.

12x12 Reading Thru Time, Read Thru Time, Poll Ballot, Trim the TBR (Classic), AlphaKIT, Travel Across Canada

The Great Halifax Explosion / John U. Bacon
4 stars

On Dec. 5, 1917, two ships collided in the Halifax Harbour. One of them was loaded down with explosives, meant to head to Europe for the war effort. Instead, with the collision, a good chunk of Halifax and neighbouring Richmond were wiped out in an instant, along with a couple thousand (likely a low estimate) people, and more thousands injured.

This was very well researched. It does include some discussion of the war, and a soldier from Nova Scotia who ended up helping out after the disaster, as he was back home after being severely injured. Also includes a detailed account of the ships and crew involved in the collision, as well as tidbits of time of some of the civilians on shore who were affected (lost family members, lost homes, injuries...).

12x12 PBT, PBT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

A Bone to Pick / Charlaine Harris.
3.5 stars

Aurora Teagarden is a librarian and used to attend meetings of the Real Murders club in her town. They disbanded, but she knew (somewhat) the elderly Jane from the club. When Jane dies, Aurora is surprised to learn that Jane has left everything to her (except her cat and a bit of money). Aurora suddenly owns a small house, and has plenty of money. But, she finds an odd item in Jane’s house and isn’t quite sure what to do with or about it...

I quite enjoyed this! I really liked the guy Aurora started dating and I loved that she now has her own house. It’s a short/quick read.

12x12 Audio, Poll Ballot, Trim the TBR (Classic)

The New Jim Crow / Michelle Alexander
3 stars

This book takes a look at mass incarceration in the US and, in particular, the effect on black men.

Well, sorry, but I imagine mine is not a popular opinion. I’m not convinced. Although she tried to link it to black men, most of what she talked about holds true for all criminals with a record. She ties some things to people of colour, but not everything (unless I missed it, which is possible, given that I listened to the audio). I actually agreed with some of the laws, and such, though many of the laws and sentences are ridiculous, no question. I certainly don’t agree with any type of racial profiling, however.

I listened to the audio which may have made a difference. It’s hard enough to read a bunch of stats and such, but maybe harder still to listen to it. By the end, though, I was really tired of the phrases “mass incarceration” and “black caste system”. I was likely also tuning out more the longer the book went, so I very well may have missed a number of arguments.

12x12 Off the Shelf, PBT Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), AlphaKIT, ScaredyKIT, MysteryKIT

Deep Freeze / Lisa Jackson
4.5 stars

Jenna was an actress until an accident on her last movie. She quit and left for a small town in Oregon, after divorcing her husband and taking her two teenage daughters with her. Unfortunately, there seems to be a serial killer in the area, and Jenna seems to be the target of smaller crimes.

Probably not the most exciting summary, but I was really hooked on this one! I could call it a mystery, a thriller, suspenseful, and horror. I added in horror after reading one night before bed and having to convince myself to get up and do the nightly routine, including heading to the basement to clean the cat litter! Didn’t want to head down there... Although she wrapped up this book, at the end she started up what will be the second book in the series. I had already decided if it was a series, I’d be continuing; she didn’t need the cliffhanger to convince me.

12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), Poll Ballot, AlphaKIT, NonfictionCAT

Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things / Randy Frost, Gail Steketee
4 stars

The authors are psychologists who were the first to really study hoarding behaviour. This tells of some of the psychology of hoarding and presents many case studies of people they worked with. Hoarding is usually associated with OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), but the authors feel that it should be its own category.

People who hoard show different symptoms of different mental health disorders, including OCD, perfectionism, anxiety, and more I’m forgetting. People have different reasons they present for not wanting to get rid of their things, including not wanting to be wasteful, growing attached to their belongings, and more. Their families are affected. The case studies in this book include children of hoarders and how they are affected, as well as children who are, themselves, hoarders. One chapter also looks at animal hoarding.

I can see myself, just a tiny bit in some of the traits the authors present in their case studies, but I don’t go anywhere near the extremes of people who really are hoarders. I found this so interesting.

12x12 KIT Challenges, AlphaKIT, RandomCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Jane / Aline Brosh McKenna, Ramon K. Perez
4 stars

This is a graphic novel, modern-day retelling of Jane Eyre. Jane is an orphan who manages to leave the unloving home where she grows up to move to New York City to become an artist. While at school, she finds a job as a nanny to a girl whose mother has died and her father is never around.

This was really good. In addition to being a very well-told story, the illustrations are really well done and easy to follow.

12x12 PBT, PBT, Poll Ballot, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man / Fannie Flagg
3.5 stars

Daisy Fay is an 11-year old growing up in Mississippi in the 1950s. Her parents don’t always seem to get along. Her dad drinks, and doesn’t seem to have much luck with the businesses he sets up. It’s told in diary/journal form when Daisy Fay is 11, 15 and 17/18 years old.

It was good, but nothing special. There was some humour. Still not exactly sure who the “Miracle Man” is.

12x12 Series, Trim the TBR (Classic), ScaredyKIT, MysteryKIT, Poll Ballot

Iron Kissed / Patricia Briggs
3 stars

Mercy is a shapeshifter (coyote) who was raised by werewolves. She is brought into a fae community to help sniff out a murderer. Somehow someone Mercy knows who is not the murderer (or was this a retaliation murder?) is arrested, so Mercy is trying to help find who is the (one of the?) real murderer(s?). In addition, Mercy is torn between two men, one the alpha werewolf.

Listened to the audio, and I had a hard time focusing (that may be obvious from my summary!). Enjoyed what I paid attention to, but I’ll try to remember not to listen to another audio in this series, for as long as I continue the series. I’ll at least try the next one (not audio) and see if I want to continue after that at all.

12x12 Series, (May) MysteryKIT, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic). Poll Ballot

Red Bones / Ann Cleeves
3 stars

When this small Shetland Island sees two deaths in a very short time, one apparently accidental, and one a suicide, the police begin to wonder. Mima, an older lady who owns the land an archaeological dig is happening on, is accidentally shot and killed. And not long after, one of the people working on the dig appears to have committed suicide.

There are a lot of characters and I had a hard time keeping some of them straight, especially as to how they related to each other. I did think the book picked up in the second half when the second body was found. Or, really, when it appeared the person was missing. For the first half of the book, I thought it was time to give up on the series, but with the second half, I think I’ll do one more. Just not on audio. This one wasn’t, but I’ve read one of the others on audio, and that is definitely not the way to go for me for this series.

12x12 Off the Shelf

Little Disasters / Sarah Vaughan
4 stars

Liz is a pediatrician and is called in to help with an emergency of a baby who was brought in with a skull fracture. The mother’s story is fishy. Unfortunately, Liz is friends with the mother. Even so, others are alerted and there is an investigation.

This is told from multiple points of view, including Jess’s, the mother of the baby. We don’t get a full account of what’s happened until later in the book, with a couple of twists along the way. I’m not a mom, but you can see how stressful parenting can be in some instances. I thought this was really good. It kept me reading and wanting to know what happened to that poor little girl.

12x12 Read Thru Time, Reading Through Time, NonfictionCAT, Poll Ballot Tally

The Ghost Map / Steven Johnson
3.75 stars

In the mid-19th century, London was hit (a couple of times, a few years apart) by a cholera epidemic. It hit quickly and in a small area within London. While many went with the prevailing theory of miasma (something in the air) of spreading it, Dr. John Snow did additional research and found that it was something in the water. He was able to convince one doubter, a reverend who knew and visited many of the sick. Together, they continued to promote their theory.

I really liked this investigation and the medical history in this book. There is an additional chapter or two at the end that talks more about cities (I think it’s mentioned in the extended version of the title), and the pros (environmental – yup) and cons (spread of epidemics/pandemics) of having such a huge majority of the world’s population living in cities. This was the part that wasn’t quite as interesting to me and where I took off a quarter star.

>203 LibraryCin: I seem to recall losing interest in the last couple of chapters as well, but everything before that was neat.

>204 rabbitprincess: It really was!

12x12 PBT Challenges, Poll Ballot, RandomCAT

Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner's Daughter / Loretta Lynn
3.75 stars

Originally published in 1976, this is country music star Loretta Lynn’s autobiography.

She’s pretty old-fashioned, but of course that could also just be that she’s a product of her time. I loved her “storytelling” style – it read like chatting with a friend as she tells stories of her life. I was not as interested in the other celebrity stories, and was more interested in her home life. Some interesting celebrity tidbits, though: I didn’t know Chrystal Gayle was her sister; she and Patsy Cline were friends; she felt badly for Olivia Newton John when people were “against” her winning country music awards because she wasn’t from Nashville.

I liked the first half of the book much better, as it focused more on her home life – growing up poor, her father working in a coal mine; marrying at 14-years old... Sissy Spacek was perfect to narrate the audio! So, overall, I’m rating it good (3.5 stars) with an extra quarter star for Sissy Spacek.

>206 LibraryCin: My uncle played guitar for Loretta Lynn 8 years before the movie was made and he is in the movie. He is the red-headed guitar player. His only words were, "Miss Loretta Lynn", and after she faints he runs to her and says, "Are you okay"? Loretta's husband fired all the band members after her collapse because he felt they weren't good for her. My uncle died a few years later and Loretta attended his funeral.

>207 Tess_W: Hey, that's really cool, about your uncle. Wow, about her husband firing everyone. :-(

12x12 PBT, PBT, Poll Ballot, NonfictionCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

In the Devil's Snare / Mary Beth Norton
2.5 stars

In addition to looking at the accusations and trials of the “witches” in the Salem, Mass. area in the late 17th century, this author looks at other things happening in the area at the time to see if there is a connection. Specifically, the First and Second Indian Wars happened in the years leading up to the witch accusations and trials.

I do find the Salem witches an interesting topic, but a number of nonfiction books I’ve read about it (including this one) have not held my interest. I do find it hard, sometimes, to read books with a lot of quotations from other sources, and this one (and other books on this topic) has a lot of that.

12x12 Oh Canada

The Couple Next Door / Shari Lapena
4 stars

After the babysitter cancels last-minute, Marco convinces his wife Anne to leave their 6-month old baby home alone while they go (and take the baby monitor with them, plus a promise to check on the baby every half hour) to a dinner party at their neighbours’ place next door. When they arrive home an hour after they last checked on her (Anne trying to convince Marco to come home for that last half hour), the front door is open and their baby is gone!

This was really good. I wanted to keep reading. It turns out they both had secrets from each other. The neighbours were awful! I did figure out part of it at one point close to the end, but not all of it. And there was a twist (of course!). It was a fast read, and enjoyable.

Sounds in the beginning like the MCann case! Once, when my oldest was a baby, maybe 4-5 months old, I decided to "walk" while he was napping. He was a good sleeper, a nap from about 1-4. He was in his crib, the house was locked. I only went around the block and I could see the house from every single step. Then I started to think about what if a fire broke out? What if somebody entered the front of the house when I was watching the back, or visa versa? That was my first and last time leaving my child alone when I wasn't either in the house or on the porch reading. Even when were in the house alone (my husband often traveled), I would have all the doors locked. I wasn't afraid, just cautious.

12x12 Animals, MysteryKIT, AlphaKIT, ScaredyKIT, Poll Ballot, PBT

The Werewolf of Bamberg / Oliver Potzsch
4 stars

In the mid-17th century Bavaria/Germany, two brothers are executioners at neighbouring towns. Bartholomaus had come to replace the executioner, who disappeared at the end of the witch trials about 40 years earlier. Although the brothers are estranged, Jakob agrees to attend – with some of his family – Bartholomaus’ wedding. When they arrive in Bamberg a few days prior to the wedding, they discover that people have been going missing and parts of some of them have been found. Locals are convinced there is a werewolf attacking the people of Bamberg. This is beginning to be reminiscent of the witch trials from decades ago.

I really liked this. This is the 5th in the series and one of my favourites. Jakob’s two daughters are stubborn and strong. As I learned in the first book, at the time, executioners not only tortured and killed (it was their job), but they were also healers. They were the very bottom class of people and really were not permitted to rise above their station. Very interesting. Even more interesting was the brief author’s note at the end describing the panic surrounding werewolves at the time, not too long after witch trials that had happened. So, in addition to the characters being based on the author’s ancestors (he descended from the Kuisl executioner family), some of the events that make up the basis of the plot really happened.

12x12 Audio, ScaredyKIT

All the Wrong Places / Joy Fielding
4 stars

There is a serial killer choosing his victims via online dating sites, and he sets his eyes on Paige. Paige, meanwhile, is dealing with a lot of things, including the fact that her husband cheated on her with her cousin, and she has recently lost her job. She is also helping her friend Chloe deal with some things, and Paige’s mother seems to be having some health issues.

I listened to the audio, which was well done. This was less of a thriller than I’d expected, as much of the book focused on Paige and her family and their relationships, as well as Chloe. The POV changes often throughout the book. There were a lot of characters to hate in this book, including of course, the killer.

So, the ending. I’m trying to keep it really vague. The end was a surprise, but not the usual twist, then shock kind of fast surprise. It was a slower dawning of what happened, as characters continue about their business. Still a surprising ending, but it came on a bit differently, more slowly. Well done, I thought! I do wonder if there will be a sequel.

12x12 Travel, RandomCAT, KITastrophe, NonfictionCAT

The Band that Played On / Steve Turner
3.25 stars

This book tells the biographies of the eight musicians on the Titanic. They were split into two groups on board, playing in different areas of the ship, but it seems that they joined together to play on deck as the ship sank.

I usually like biographies, but this one had eight. That’s a lot, and it was a small amount of information on each one, so as we continued on in the book, it was easy to forget who was who. It was more interesting once they boarded the ship to read about that. Much is speculation, including what songs were played, but that part was still more interesting to me.

The book continued on after they died with some information on their families, regaining any items found (though only three of the musicians’ bodies were recovered), and stories of (in one case) the father not acknowledging an illegitimate child (and therefore any compensation money should come to him, not to his son’s girlfriend and child); I can’t remember now if it was the same family (I think it was), but a sister who was mentally unstable and played a nasty “joke” on the rest of her family (that was one I believe I’d already heard about).

Overall, I’m rating it between ok (the biographies) and good (the disaster and aftermath).

12x12 Series, PBT, Poll Ballot

An Echo in the Bone / Diana Gabaldon
3.5 stars

Possible spoilers for earlier books...This book has Bree and Roger (and their two kids) back in the 20th century -- in 1980, so be specific. Claire and Jamie remain in 18th century North Carolina, although through much of the book they are travelling, intending to get back to Scotland. Ian is with them for part of the way.

Overall, I liked this one. I like the 20th century storyline, and I liked Claire, Jamie and Ian’s storylines, as well. I lost a lot of interest in Lord John Grey and William’s parts in the book, though. Up until William met up with Ian – then they got more interesting. I do normally like John Grey, but I just couldn’t get interested in his parts at first. As always, I enjoy the medical history in the book – Clair bringing her 20th century knowledge to the 18th century. There were a couple of surprises at the end of the book.

12x12 Trim, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR

Enchantments / Kathryn Harrison
2 stars

This fictional book follows one of Rasputin’s daughters after he has been murdered. She (a teenager by this time) goes to live with the Romanovs and is there (I think) when they are taken away before they are murdered.

I can’t really tell you much more than that. I listened to the audio and it did not hold my attention at all. She seemed to be all over the place chronologically, which didn’t help. There would be something about her father, then living with the Romanovs and back and forth. Oh, and throw in some after the Romanovs were killed. Too bad – I usually do enjoy reading about the Romanovs.

12x12 Travel, TravelKIT

Bill Bryson's African Diary / Bill Bryson
3 stars

This is a diary as Bill Bryson travelled around Kenya, mostly visiting slums and refugee camps and similar places. He was travelling with people from an NGO/charity called CARE.

It was decent (44 pages for my ebook), but not nearly long enough. I would have loved for there to be more. He has his trademark humour, and he met some interesting people, but in one day, I’ve already forgotten much of it. It was just too short to really get “into”.

12x12 Travel

The Book of Hidden Wonders / Polly Crosby
3.5 stars

When Rommily is 9 years old, she and her dad move to a place in the country; Rom doesn’t remember much about her mom. Her dad, an artist, decides to write and illustrate a picture book, with Rom as the star. This turns into a series of books as Rom grows older. Not only that, but there seems to be a treasure hunt with clues in the books. Rom, herself, doesn’t know what the treasure is, and fans of the book are constantly showing up, looking for it.

It was good, but there were odd parts that I wasn’t sure about – magical realism? A fantasy in Rom’s head? Real? I couldn’t figure out a few of those things, and (no surprise to me) I did lose a bit of focus in those parts. I did not like Rom’s friend Stacey at all. It did get a bit more interesting/fascinating at the end (if also somewhat sad).

12x12 Nonfiction, Poll Ballot, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Gulp: Adventures of the Alimentary Canal / Mary Roach
3 stars

The title pretty much tells you what this one is. Mary Roach is looking at the alimentary canal, or pretty much the digestive system (apparently it is a portion of the digestive system). She is looking at what goes in one end and comes out the other. And bits of what happens in between.

I listened to the audio. I’m not sure if there was as much humour as usual, or maybe I just missed some of it. I’m rating this one ok, and although the audio was fine, I think my mind did occasionally wander. Not sure if it would have had a higher rating if it hadn’t been the audio or not.

12x12 PBT Challenges, Poll Ballot, PBT Bingo, Trim the TBR (Classic), BingoDOG

The 100 Thing Challenge / Dave Bruno
3 stars

The author decided he wanted to try – for one year – to live with 100 “things” or fewer. That is, 100 personal possessions. It’s a way to curb his “American-style consumerism” – the always wanting more, or better, or bigger. He took about a year to plan how he’d do it, and to get down to those 100 items. He came up with rules, and admitted that it may not work the same if others want to try.

It would be harder for me, as he didn’t want to pressure his family (wife and 3 daughters) to do this with him, which meant shared items (one of his rules) didn’t count as “his” personal 100 things. I live alone. The bed, and other of his shared items, might have to be considered my personal things. Again, though, he encourages people who want to try to come up with their own rules around it, or ever a different number.

It was ok. He mused into a lot of philosophy, as well. I guess doing something like that might change how you look at the world.

12x12 Off the Shelf, Trim the TBR (Classic), PBT Trim, Poll Ballot

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters / Jane Austen, Ben H. Winters
3.5 stars

This retelling of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility” adds in some additional... characters, adventure, etc. in the form of sea monsters! The Dashwoods – mother and three sisters – are put out of their house and must move to an island. Their son/brother inherited all the money, and though he initially intended (on a promise to his dying father) on providing his family with some money, his wife convinces him they can’t afford to. Anyway, while on the island, they still manage to visit with a lot of people, and to find men for the eldest two sisters, Elinor and Marianne, to fall in love with (in fact, Marianne has a choice of two men... though one has an odd facial/health issue in the form of tentacles).

It was a bit hard to keep the characters straight, between using first names or sometimes a title with last names (Mr. or Miss). I thought the book did pick up in the 2nd half and especially the last 1/3 with the sea monster and underwater action! I did enjoy those parts of the book, odd as they might have been. There were some good illustrations that were added to the book, as well. It helped me picture some of the odd sea creatures. It also included humourous book club discussion questions, which I quite enjoyed reading, as well.

>221 LibraryCin: I read both this and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and I liked the Sense and Sensibility one better. The sea monster bits felt more fun, from what I recall. The zombies were just gross.

>222 rabbitprincess: Interesting. I haven't (yet) read the zombie one but this one convinced me to. Hopefully I'll still like it.

12x12 Oh Canada, Trim the TBR (Classic), PBT Trim

Once Every Never / Lesley Livingston
3 stars

Clare is in England with her aunt when, at a museum, she touches an artifact and it transported to another time. Clare’s best friend Al is with her and they figure out that she was transported back to when a woman led her tribe against the invading Romans. Of course, there is a hot warrior to help keep things interesting... and a kidnapping in Clare’s current timeline.

It was ok. For some reason, I just didn’t get into it as much as this type of story might normally grab me; I’m not sure why that is. I guess I didn’t really “connect” with the characters. Not sure what else it might have been. I believe this is the first in a series, but at this point, I don’t plan to continue.

12x12 Audio, Poll Ballot Tally

A Single Thread / Tracy Chevalier
3.25 stars

It’s 1932. Violet is a single woman in her 30s and is living with her complaining oppressive mother. She jumps at the chance to move away, and becomes involved with a group of women who embroider cushions for a church. There, she makes friends and discovers a purpose in life (in addition to the newfound freedom from her mother). While on holidays, she also meets Arthur, who is, unfortunately, married.

It’s a slow moving book. I listened to the audio and my mind did wander some. I do suspect it might have rated it slightly higher had I read it. I almost rated it a bit lower, but I was focused enough throughout the end of it, that I wanted to up it just a little (that’s why the 1/4 star). Anyway, it’s also just after WWI, and this is shown to affect many of the characters. It is a time where some things are less accepted, and that is portrayed in the book, as well. It was interesting how the few times Hitler was mentioned, the context reminded me very much of Trump.

12x12 Oh Canada, TravelKIT, Poll Ballot Tally?

The Gown / Jennifer Robson
4 stars

It’s 1947. Ann is working as an embroiderer for Hartnell, who designed Princess (now Queen) Elizabeth’s wedding gown. Miriam has just come to England from France and also finds work as an embroiderer for Hartnell. The two soon become friends and roommates. In 2016, Heather’s grandmother has just died, and she is left a box with her name on it and embroidery inside it. Her grandmother never talked about her life in England before she emigrated to Canada, and Heather wants to find out more.

I really liked this. I wasn’t sure what I was going to think, as I’m not much for fashion, so I think if there had been more focus on the gown than there was (and all the details in creating it), I might not have liked it as much. But, I liked all the additional stories of Ann, Miriam, and Heather. They all had a romantic interest, and as Miriam got to know Ann better, more of her own past in France was revealed. I did, at one point, stop to look up a photo of the gown itself, and even looked for a video of Princess Elizabeth’s and Prince Philip’s wedding.

You've had some good reading recently, and diverse topics.

>227 VivienneR: I do tend to read quite diversely (is that a word!?) most of the time. :-)

I actually found it coincidental (it wasn't on purpose) that I grabbed both "The Gown" (ebook) and "A Single Thread" (audio) at the same time. Though they were each set just after different world wars, they both had a main character who did embroidery!

12x12 Animals, AlphaKIT, MysteryKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Mew is for Murder / Clea Simon
3.5 stars

Theda is a reporter and has an idea for a story on cat hoarders after she comes across an older lady in her neighbourhood who seems to have an abundance of cats. She may or may not be a hoarder, but the neighbour sure doesn’t like the woman or her multiple cats. When Theda comes around again, she discovers the woman dead. The police think she just fell, so it was an accident, but Lillian (the old woman)’s young friend and helper (and musician) Violet, doesn’t agree. She insists Lillian must have been murdered.

30-some years old and Theda’s still a bit of a partier, so I wasn’t crazy about that (I thought she acted way younger than her age). Wasn’t as interested in the bar hopping and the music, but loved the cats! So, it was up and down for how interested I was in certain parts of the book, but overall, I liked it enough to look into the next in the series. If it has more focus on animals, I’ll continue; if it’s more focus on music, it’s unlikely. (Another one with a cat title, so I will continue on.)

12x12 Travel, RandomCAT

The Kitchen God's Wife / Amy Tan
3.5 stars

Pearl and her mother are often at odds with each other. Pearl’s mother, Winnie, immigrated to the US from China, not long after WWII. Pearl doesn’t realize just how much from her life in China Winnie hasn’t told her. But, her Aunt Helen hints that there are secrets... Aunt Helen encourages Winnie to tell Pearl and also encourages Pearl to reveal her own secret to her mother – a secret about her health.

This was good. It was told at the start and end by Pearl, but the majority of the book, in the middle, is Winnie relating her story – her life in China – to Pearl. It’s written as if the reader is Pearl. I liked Pearl’s portion of the story, but when we switched to Winnie it took a while for me to warm up to the story and become as interested as I ended up being. Ultimately, Winnie’s story was the “meat” of the book.

>230 LibraryCin: I read that this year for the Mother/Daughter theme somewhere and also enjoyed it, rating it 3.5 stars.

>231 Tess_W: It's definitely a good mother/daughter one!

12x12 Nonfiction, Trim the TBR (Classic), NonfictionCAT, Poll Ballot Tally Travel Across Canada

The Secret Lives of Saints / Daphne Bramham
4 stars

“Saints” in the title refers to the religion, “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” (LDS), or more specifically, fundamentalist LDS (FLDS) – that is, the polygamous branch of the LDS/Mormons. This book includes info from various, mostly former, FLDS – that is, it includes some memoir-type info with regard to some people (again, mostly those who have left), but the second part talks about the law, courts, trials, and even that some governments look the other way (British Columbia in Canada seems the worst for that).

This book does focus more on the Canadian FLDS (and leader/prophet Winston Blackmore) than any other I’ve read, so that was interesting to me. I’m in Calgary, Alberta, and though I knew about Bountiful, BC (actually called Lister, which I didn’t know), I did not know that there is a small population of FLDS in Alberta, as well, mostly in/around Cardston. The FLDS is so intertwined, though, that it started with a history, and there is also much about the communities in Utah and Arizona, and of course, about Warren Jeffs.

I have read quite a bit about the FLDS so many names are already familiar to me in that I’ve read some of those memoirs. I know that a few of the Canadian FLDS had a trial wrap up in BC last year, so I’m going to look that up to refresh my memory on what happened there. This book was published in 2008, so things have happened since then (like the trial in BC). I found the second part of the book – the legal stuff – much more interesting than I expected, and found myself even more interested than in the first half of the book; I guess much of that was exasperation and frustration at all the laws they are breaking... and in some cases, flaunting (in addition to polygamy, there is, of course, all kinds of abuse, plus bilking the government (i.e. taxpayers) out of as much money as possible – they need all that extra income to feed their 15+ wives and 70+ children (ok, that might just be Blackmore with that many, but you get the picture)).

12x12 PBT, PBT, Trim the TBR (Classic), ScaredyKIT

The Good Son / You-Jeong Jeong
3.5 stars

When 25-year old Yu-jin wakes up one morning, his house is strangely silent. He is used to hearing his mother at certain times every day. Not only that, he thinks he had a seizure the night before and can’t remember how or when he got home. It’s not long before he discovers his mother’s body in a puddle of blood. What happened the night before...?

This was good. It was slow-moving as Yu-jin tried to figure out what had happened. It does make me, a little bit, not to want to walk by myself at night (though not possible for me to always avoid, as I don’t drive).

12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), Poll Ballot

The House Girl / Tara Conklin
2.5 stars

In the mid-19th century house slave Josephine is planning to escape. Current day, Lina is a lawyer. Her law firm wants to file a reparations lawsuit, but needs to find a descendant to represent. While Lina looks for such a descendant, she is drawn into Josephine’s story. Josephine is thought to be the real artist behind the art supposedly created by a white woman, the woman Josephine serves.

I may have that summary a bit “off”. I listened to the audio, but I’m not going to fault the narrator for my loss of focus. I have listened to this narrator before and rated those books 4 and 5 stars (for the 5 star book, she as one of a few narrators). So, unfortunately, I did lose focus many times in this book, so I never really cared about the characters and I wasn’t all that interested in the story.

12x12 PBT, PBT, Poll Ballot, NonfictionCAT, RandomCAT, AlphaKIT

Educated / Tara Westover
4.25 stars

In this memoir, Tara Westover primarily recalls her childhood, growing up in a Mormon family in Idaho. Her parents didn’t believe in education, or public health, or anything government-related. Her father sold scrap metal from his junkyard, and enlisted all his kids to help, including his youngest, Tara. As she and her siblings grew up with no education, a few of them decided to leave to get that education they’d been missing. Tara was left at home along with her extremely abusive brother, Shawn, until she was able to get away, as well.

It started off a bit slow, but it built and built, I thought. It was hard as the book continued on – even as Tara left TO get that education she missed out on while growing up – to watch how hard a time she had cutting ties with her abusive family. I guess – it’s her family. Even as she grew to know how they were just wasn’t right, they were still her family.

12x12 Reading Through Time, Reading Through Time, AlphaKIT, Poll Ballot

Salt: A World History / Mark Kurlansky
2.5 stars

This is pretty much what the title says. It looks at how people have used salt throughout the world and throughout history – what they’ve used it for, how they’ve obtained it and made it useful to them, and more.

It was very long. Some parts were interesting, but much was kind of dry for me. I did learn a couple of interesting things, like ketchup was initially an anchovy sauce! Nothing to do with tomatoes! And places in England ending in “wich” in the name at some point had salt mines.

>237 LibraryCin: - I have this as an e-book and I started it once but got bored. I'll still probably try to read it again at some point, but not sure when.

>238 dudes22: Unfortunately, it's also quite long. :-( Good luck when you give it another try.

12x12 KIT Challenges, AlphaKIT, Poll Ballot, Trim the TBR (Classic)

The Sometimes Daughter / Sherri Wood Emmons
4 stars

Sweet Judy Blue Eyes was born at Woodstock to a high hippie mother, Cassie. Cassie later becomes upset when her husband Kirk “sells out” and goes to school to become a lawyer, so she leaves Kirk and Judy when Judy is only 6-years old to live on a commune. Cassie pops in and out of Judy’s life as the years go on and as Judy grows up.

I really liked this. Have to admit this was a rare book that started stronger than it ended – at least for me. Overall, though, I’m going to keep it at the 4 star rating I was thinking throughout the first half of the book. I was a bit disappointed in some choices Judy made as a teenager. I did love the relationship between Judy and her dad, though.

12x12 Series, AlphaKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic), Poll Ballot

Forever / Maggie Stiefvater
2.5 stars

Possible spoilers for previous books... Maggie is now a wolf; everyone thinks she is missing, but Sam knows otherwise as she is staying with him. Famous musician Cole (who has also been missing, I think) and friend(?) Isabelle also know that Maggie is still alive.. Isabelle’s father(?) is insisting on a wolf hunt to get rid of the wolves once and for all.

I missed a bit too much in the first half to give it a higher rating. As usual, a better recap would have been appreciated... but then, maybe there was one and I missed it? It did pick up for me in the second half, and I paid more attention (I was listening to the audio, so that’s always easier for me to lose focus). It’s unfortunate I never did really figure out where Cole or Isabelle fit in, nor did I like either character very much.

12x12 Animals, PBT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

The Llama of Death / Betty Webb
3.5 stars

Teddy is a zookeeper, but at this moment, she helping at a weekend fundraiser for the local no-kill animal shelter, a Renaissance Faire, where she is with the llama who is providing rides to the kids. The llama, Alejandro, likes kids, but not-so-much adults. The first night, there is a ruckus in the llama pen when the man who runs the local wedding chapel is founded murdered. Teddy’s mom ends up being suspected.

This was a good, solid, enjoyable mystery. I’ve found all the ones in this series to be this way. I do love the additional animal tidbits that are added in. I actually liked that many of the characters didn’t want to talk to Teddy as she tried to find out more to clear her mother’s name (a little more realistic than many cozies where people just go ahead and blab to the amateur sleuth).

12x12 Off the Shelf

Confessions on the 7:45 / Lisa Unger
3.75 stars

Selena and Martha meet on the train. Selena has just discovered/confirmed her husband is cheating with the nanny. She and Martha each confess things to the other, and Martha makes an odd comment. As Selena tries to sort out what to do about her husband and the nanny, she gets a text from Martha, “Martha. From the train”. Selena never gave Martha her number...

The start was similar to “Strangers on a Train”. It was a bit slow-going, as I guess many of these kinds of psychological thrillers are. We follow a few different characters’ perspectives, and we back up in time to hear how we got to this point, particularly in Martha’s life. I feel like my just under 4 stars could be due to the slow-moving, but considering there are other slow-moving thrillers out there that I’ve rated 4 stars, maybe I’ve just been reading too many of them? Of course, a couple of the twists brought my rating up just a touch.

>242 LibraryCin: The Llama of Death is undoubtedly one of the best book titles ever! The book cover is pretty adorable too. :)

>244 mathgirl40: LOL! Yes. :-) The others in the series have similar titles.

12x12 KIT Challenges, AlphaKIT, Poll Ballot Tally

Where the Crawdads Sing / Delia Owens
4 stars

In the early 1950s, 5- or 6-year old Kya watches her mother walk away from the shack Kya and her siblings are growing up in. She doesn’t come home. Over the next few years, Kya’s older siblings also walk away, until it’s only Kya and her neglectful (and sometimes drunk and abusive) father. When Kya is 9 or 10, her father leaves, too. Kya spends all her time in the marsh and doesn’t feel comfortable with other people, who tease her and call her “Marsh Girl”. In 1969, a young man is found at the bottom of a fire tower. They aren’t sure if it was an accident or not, but the sheriff is investigating as if it’s not.

The book brings us up in time to the event in 1969, and slightly beyond. It’s pretty slow-moving, but the last quarter or so of the book, I found really dramatic and I upped my rating due to that.

12x12 Audio, MysteryKIT

Cover of Snow / Jenny Milchman
2.25 stars

When Nora wakes up one morning, she discovers her cop husband, Brandon, has killed himself. Nora had no idea this was coming, and she must find out what led to it. While doing so, she uncovers not only personal secrets her husband kept from her, but also some disturbing things covered up by the small local police force.

I listened to the audio, and sadly, the narrator had a very monotone voice that did not keep me interested at all, though it sounds like something that should be interesting. I did hear some of the secrets that were uncovered at the end... maybe they were meant to be exciting twists and turns, but I missed so much in between that it just wasn’t all that interesting. It started interesting -- and even having now finished it – I do wonder what led Brandon to kill himself...? I’d kind of like to just find a summary with all the spoilers.

12x12 Animals, PBT, PBT Bingo, Poll Ballot Tally, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Kitty Cornered / Bob Tarte
3.5 stars

Bob and his Linda have a mini-zoo in their house: ducks, geese, rabbits, various birds and six cats. This book focuses on their cats and how they came to be in Bob and Linda’s lives.

I love how he showed each cats’ personality – they really are all different. There was humour in this book, and I discovered after that he has other books about their other critters – I’ve added one more to my tbr. I wasn’t necessarily impressed with a few things they did (indoor/outdoor cats; (at least) one was declawed; I’m not sure they really understand the best way to introduce cats, as they seemed to be the type that just let them “sort it out”), but maybe he just didn’t go into detail or explain? Really, though, you can see how much he loves his cats and he has some great stories, and some of them do include some of the harder things – the vet visits, peeing outside the box, shy/feral cats.

12x12 Trim the TBR, Trim the TBR (Classic), AlphaKIT, BingoDOG

The Venetian's Wife / Nick Bantock
3.5 stars

Sara works at a museum and isn’t looking for a new job when she is contacted by email, out of the blue, but someone she doesn’t know. This man is offering her a mysterious well-paid job, and their contact is to only be via email. It turns out he would like her to help him find and acquire 4 original sculptures from the 15th century. Meanwhile, she does miss seeing the man at work she has a crush on.

This is something very different, with illustrations peppered on most (if not all) pages; it was part in diary form and part email. This surprised me. I was a bit doubtful about it and could not remember why I added it to my tbr. I’m not that much into art, and it has an odd subtitle. It was good, though. It moved quickly, so was not very long and did not take long to read.

12x12 Nonfiction, Poll Ballot, TravelKIT

Two for the Road / Jane & Michael Stern
3.5 stars

Jane and Michael Stern are married and have been travelling across the US since just after they married in 1970 to find local eateries (aka “roadfood”) and review them. This is a memoir of their travels and the food.

This was entertaining. Many chapters focused on an area and at the end of each chapter they included a couple of recipes of things they mentioned in the chapter. (Except the chapter on the awful food they tried (or smelled and didn’t try!) The recipes at the end of that chapter included foods that many people dislike). I’m not one who reads recipes, but each recipe had a story to go with it, so I did read that. I bake more than cook, and I’m not an adventurous eater. That was one of the nice things about this book – though there were some odd things, much of it was just “American” food (bbqs, pies, ice cream, steak, etc.). Although I don’t eat meat often, I really want to try a steamed cheeseburger (head to Meriden, Connecticut for that one)!

12x12 KIT Challenges, Poll Ballot, KITastrophe

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 / Simon Winchester
1.5 stars

Krakatoa is a volcano that erupted in 1883. I think it has erupted many(?) times since then.

Can’t tell much more about this, as I (unfortunately) listened to the audio. It was a male British voice (the author), so I recognized immediately that I was in trouble. I was bored. It didn’t hold my interest at all. It did seem to start with a lot of historical information about the area (Java, Sumatra). Beyond that, I think it took a long time to get to the volcano, but even then, I wasn’t really listening. For some reason, he went on about Islam at the end, though I’m unsure as to why. Despite listening to the entire thing, I’m having to read other summaries and reviews to find out what happened.

12x12 Off the Shelf, RandomCAT, Poll Ballot

The Fireman / Joe Hill
3.5 stars

There is a new plague – a spore – that is spreading throughout the population. It causes people to suddenly burst into flames. When a nurse, Harper, comes down with it, her husband leaves her and she is driven from her home as there are people out there who are hunting down and killing those with “Dragonscale”. They are marked with an elaborate tattoo when infected, so it can be hard to hide. Harper ends up in the woods with a group of other people hiding out with Dragonscale, including a man they call “The Fireman”. Things take a turn for the worse at this camp when their leader is seriously injured.

This was good. It was long, but it was good. I liked that Allie, the teenager, was portrayed realistically – at least I thought so. Good and bad, temperamental, like a teenager. We also had some crazy characters and some power-hungry ones. I do wonder if there will be a sequel.

12x12 Nonfiction, Poll Ballot, MysteryKIT, AlphaKIT

The Dark Heart: A True Story of Greed, Murder, and an Unlikely Investigator / Joakim Palmkvist
4 stars

This is true crime in Sweden, a translation. In 2012, a man, Goran, disappears. His oldest daughter (in her 20s), Sara, is set to inherit her father’s forestry business. Goran was very well off (though stingy with what he spent). Goran had had a feud with his neighbour for a long time, and he had been upset with Sara for dating the neighbour’s son. It was longer than one would expect before Sara even reported her father missing. In the meantime, a woman named Therese had recently set up “Missing Persons”, a volunteer group who help police with searches.

The book gave a lot of info about police procedure -- what the police need to do and how they need to do it while investigating -- which I found quite interesting. I did think Therese took a few too many chances, though! Yikes! Overall, I found this really interesting and quite enjoyed reading it.

12x12 Overflow

The Arrival / Shaun Tan
3.5 stars

This graphic novel is told entirely by illustrations. No words. A man is leaving his wife and child to travel (immigrate) someplace new.

This was well done. The illustrations are beautiful. I was able to figure out what was going on, at least at the start and end. There were a few things in the middle that confused me a bit. There were no words at all, and I felt like it was meant to represent how someone who doesn’t speak the language might interpret things, but some of it was just so odd, I couldn’t quite figure it out. And I felt like (if that’s why the no words), the man would have started to figure things out a bit more as time went on. The “story” is 3 stars (ok), but the illustrations brought it up for me to 3.5 (good). I want to rate it higher because it’s so original, but I’m just not sure. It really is a beautiful book, though.

12x12 KIT Challenges, MysteryKIT

The Woman Outside My Door / Rachel Ryan
4 stars

When 7-year old Cody comes out of the bushes in the park and tells his mom his “new granny” gave him sweets, Georgina panics. The only grandmother Cody ever knew, Georgina’s mother, died 6 months earlier. At home, Cody gets phone calls; if Georgina answers the phone, the person on the other end doesn’t speak. Other odd things start happening. Georgina feels that someone is stalking her little boy. However, Georgina is still dealing with the loss of her mother, plus there are things going wrong in her marriage.

I thought this was really good. You can’t tell if she is a reliable narrator. I was annoyed by Georgina’s husband, Bren, who kept dismissing her fears. I felt like he changed his mind a bit too quickly, though, when he started believing Georgina’s fears. He shouldn’t have dismissed them so quickly to start with, but he also seemed to come around too fast, in comparison with how he’d originally reacted. Even still, it kept me reading. It’s a fast read and kept me wanting to find out what was going on.

12x12 Oh Canada

Half Spent Was the Night / Ami McKay
2.5 stars

This is a short story sequel to Ami McKay’s “The Witches of New York”. In this one, our three witches are preparing for Christmas. They are invited to a ball, but they don’t know the host and are unable to figure out why they were invited.

I listened to the audio, and I may not have that summary exactly right, but it’s something along those lines. I caught bits and pieces of the story, but missed much of it. I even went back and re-listened to the second half because I felt I missed all of that half (it was short, the second half was only 41 minutes). I wanted to like it. I like witches and I like Christmas, but it just didn’t hold my attention. Caught a bit more of the second half the second time around, but not much.

12x12 PBT Challenges, Fall Flurries, RandomCAT, ScaredyKIT, AlphaKIT, PBT Bingo, Poll Ballot

Phantoms / Dean Koontz
4 stars

When Jenny, a doctor, arrives in her small town of about 500 people with her much younger sister Lisa, to whom Jenny is now guardian, the place is still like nothing she’s ever experienced. When they arrive at home, they find her housekeeper on the kitchen floor, dead. The phone is not working, so they head next door to use the neighbour’s phone to call the police, but the neighbours are no where to be found. And no working phone. Jenny and Lisa investigate a bit further to find people either missing or dead.

I really liked this one. A bit creepy to be reading by myself after dark, but isn’t that what horror is for!? The author has a note at the end about the writing of the book, which was also interesting.

12x12 Travel, PBT, Poll Ballot

Circling the Sun / Paula McLain
3 stars

Beryl grew up in Kenya in the early 20th century. Her mother left when she was only 4-years old, and took Beryl’s brother with her, home to England. But, Beryl and her father wanted to stay in Kenya on their farm. Beryl grew up quite independent (though she married a few times). She went on to train horses and eventually she learned to fly.

I listened to the audio and missed parts of the book. I have no idea where her second husband came from, but I didn’t like him, nor her first husband (first husband was worse, but the second husband – though seemed better initially, really wasn’t). I didn’t like Beryl much, either - particularly the sleeping with a friend’s (or acquaintance’s?) husband. I guess there weren’t really any characters I liked. The first chapter started off with something about the flying, and it took ages to get back to it. I began to second-guess that Beryl had even done that, but they finally came back around to it almost at the end of the book. And I don’t think she ever came back to what happened with the “ornery” horse. I wanted to know! What happened!? Overall, though, I’m rating the book ok.

>258 LibraryCin: That's been on my wish list ever since I read Beryl Markham's West with the Night, which was excellent. She wasn't at all likeable, but she led an interesting life.

>258 LibraryCin: - >259 pamelad: - I've had it on my wish list for the same reason, but it looks like it can stay there for a while longer.

>259 pamelad: >260 dudes22: I actually read it for my f2f book club. We don't meet for a few weeks yet, but it will be interesting to hear what others thought.

12x12 Animals, PBT, Poll Ballot

Elephant Speak: A Devoted Keeper's Life Among the Herd / Melissa Crandall
4.5 stars

Roger Henneous was a zookeeper, taking care of the elephants at the Oregon Zoo, for three decades between the 1960s until he retired in 1997. He did not use punishment as an incentive to train them to do things, but used rewards. The Oregon Zoo was the premier zoo in North America for the care of their elephants.

This book follows his life, along with the elephants he loved and took care of for all those years. Zoos also progressed a lot during this time (even still, Roger and the other keepers never got as much as they wanted for their elephants – it all takes money). He finally retired after a few years when he lost both parents, as well as a number of the elephants.

I loved this. It is sometimes hard to read about wild animals “behind bars” at zoos, but I still loved this story and I loved the elephants. Roger and his staff did as much as they were able to to help those elephants. There were still a few things I didn’t agree with (bull hooks, no matter how “gentle” they were while using them), and some of the (now) controversial things the author quoted Roger on from more recently on why they did the things they did.

12x12 Trim the TBR, Trim the TBR (Classic), Poll Ballot Tally, PBT Bingo

This Other Eden / Ben Elton
3 stars

It is sometime in the future and the world is in bad shape with regard to the environment. Plastic Tolstoy is all about marketing. He has created and sells the Claustrosphere. Only the rich can afford them, but that’s where people (those who could afford them) intend to go once the air is no longer breathable and water is no longer drinkable. Well, that’s already happening, but the effects are being staved off as much as possible. There is still an environmental movement, though, that believes that the Earth can be repaired.

There’s a lot more going on than what I’ve described and there are a lot of characters. The book is meant to be humourous, but mostly I found it odd. There were some funny parts. I did like how it ended. But, Ben Elton has better books.

12x12 Audio

Sworn to Silence / Linda Castillo
4 stars

Kate grew up in an Amish community, but something happened when she was 14. She ended up leaving the community and became the chief of police in the nearest town. When a girl’s dead body appears, then another, Kate is brought back to that awful thing that happened when she was younger, as she tries to solve the murders in her small town. But, it can’t be the same guy who haunted the town back then – it’s just not possible.

This was really good. I listened to the audio and it kept my attention all the way through. I liked Kate, but I didn’t like the romance that suddenly happened almost toward the end of the book. I didn’t like him and I thought the romance came completely out of the blue. But, the mystery was really good, as was learning about Kate’s background and what happened when she was younger.

12x12 Nonfiction, Trim the TBR

My Secret Sister / Helen Edwards & Jenny Lee Smith
3.75 stars

Helen and Jenny were sisters, but neither knew the other existed until they were well into adulthood. Jenny had been adopted out to a loving couple; she grew up with plenty of advantages and became a professional golfer. Helen was left behind in an abusive home, with a(n) (physically) abusive father and a neglectful mother. She had an older brother, but he managed to get away from the family and the home while Helen was still quite young.

This book tells of both Jenny and Helen’s lives from when they were children up to and a bit after they finally met when in their late 50s. The chapters alternate between them each telling their own stories. Have to admit that Jenny’s life was kind of boring (I’m also not a fan of golf!), but poor Helen. It was her sad story that kept me most interested. They grew up not far from each other, so there were some interesting coincidences when they may have even crossed paths when younger.

I kept waiting for them to find out about being twins (it’s mentioned right on the front cover). It was pretty much the very end of the book when this was “revealed”, so it might have helped with expectations to not have that full front on the cover. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for them to find out.

12x12 Series, Trim the TBR, PBT Trim

Susannah's Garden / Debbie Macomber
3.75 stars

Susannah’s mother, Vivian seems to be losing her memory about 6 months after Susannah’s father died. Susannah hadn’t been home much as she wasn’t close to her father. But, she needs to go home to try to convince her mother to move to assisted living. Susannah’s 20-year old daughter is finished her first year of college, but hasn’t found a job, so Chrissie decides to come help her mom with packing Vivian’s house. At the same time, Chrissie has other other ideas, as she wants to have fun this summer, so when she meets bad boy Troy...

It wasn’t fast moving, and I would have rated it good, anyway, but I upped the rating by a 1/4 star for a couple of the twists at the end of the book. I did like this. I preferred the storyline between Susannah and her mother over Susannah and Chrissie; Chrissie seemed more like a drama-queen teenager than an adult. Susannah met up with other friends from high school, as well, and I wasn’t a fan of her friend Carolyn’s romance, as it seemed out of place, but it did end up tying in at the end, as well.

>258 LibraryCin: I borrowed this from the library, which has just reopened for Click and Collect. It only took a few pages to realise that it wasn't for me. The tone is wrong, too sentimental. It should be British, Colonial, stiff upper lip.

I can now delete it from my wishlist.

>267 pamelad: I read if for my "real life" book club. I do wonder if the audio made a difference? Maybe I would have liked it more if not via audio. Hard to say now. Oh, well.

12x12 Read Thru Time, Reading Through Time, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Mary: Mrs. A. Lincoln / Janis Cooke Newman
3.75 stars

Mary Todd was Abraham Lincoln’s wife. She grew up in a well-off family, but Abraham was poor. They had four sons, but only one, Robert the oldest, made it to adulthood. Although Mary loved her son with all her heart, Robert never returned that love, nor the affection she so craved.

Ten years after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, Robert had Mary confined to an insane asylum, though she insisted she was sane and didn’t belong there. This book goes back and forth in time from when Mary is confined to the asylum (and her attempts to have Robert have her released) back to when Mary met Abraham, their courtship, marriage and all the way up to what led Robert to confine her.

I quite liked this. I went back and forth, on thinking Mary didn’t belong in the asylum to wondering if she did. I can’t say I liked her much, but I certainly felt badly for her, as Robert was awful to her. I took 1/4 star off my rating because there is no historical/author’s note at the end. I know nothing about the real Mary – did these things really happen?

>269 LibraryCin: I think they really did happen as I've read a biography of Mary Todd Lincoln. She did seem to go insane after the death of her son. Back then, any mental disturbance had two consequences: 1)chained in the attic 2) asylum. Then even institutionalized women for post partum depression and menopause. Furthermore, they could be shipped in a cage-like container on a train to the asylum.

>270 Tess_W: Thanks, Tess. Someone else has given me a recommendation for a nonfiction biography of her, so I'm going to look into that one.

12x12 PBT, PBT, Fall Flurries, RandomCAT

Ghost Soldiers / Hampton Sides
3.5 stars

Close to the end of WWII, there were American (and a few other nationalities) prisoners of war being held by the Japanese in the Philippines. When one POW camp was brutally massacred, the American Rangers decided to go in to rescue the POWs at another one before the same thing could happen there. This book goes back and forth between the POWs: how they came to be in the camp and their life there leading up to the rescue and the rescuers and their dangerous mission to get them out. In the end, they saved over 500 POWs, many who were sick.

This was good. I found the POWs story more interesting than the rescuers, though there were still portions of both that held my interest. The book started with a “bang”, describing the other POW camp and how almost all of them were murdered except for a very few who managed to escape. Then, it switched to the story at hand, going back and forth. It did pick up in the last half to third of the book, as the rescue was about to happen, and as it happened.

12x12 Trim the TBR, Trim the TBR (Classic), NonfictionCAT

How to Cook Without a Book / Pam Anderson
3.5 stars

This book basically gives tips on cooking. The idea is that if you know how to do a few things without needing a recipe, you can change up those things to make it interesting, and you don’t need as much time to cook. The tips are more than the “formulas” for cooking the various things without a recipe; there are other time-saving tips, as well.

It was good. I had the ebook that I looked at on my 2nd generation Kobo (Touch), so the photos, unfortunately, were black and white. I bookmarked some things to make a note of before returning the book to the library (though it says “without a book”, it will take a few tries to make some of the things before I can go from memory).

I don’t like cooking. Some of these things will still take more time than I’d like, and I rarely eat meat, so I kind of skimmed over some of those parts. I did appreciate that for some things, she did make vegetarian/vegan suggestions, as well. In addition to the formulas, the author gave examples. For instance, a formula might say XX amount of starches, XX amount of protein, etc. Then she would also list a bunch of starches or proteins you can use (which is helpful when you don’t cook!).

I don’t tend to just read cookbooks, so I was glad that this book was more than that. Although it says “without a book”, I do feel like this is a useful book to own to go back to for the tips. That being said, I don’t plan to go buy it.

12x12 Oh Canada, KITastrophe

The Pull of the Stars / Emma Donoghue
3.5 stars

This is set in Ireland in 1918, during the influenza pandemic. Julia is a nurse in a maternity ward, so we follow her at work for a few days with the flu being a constant threat. Bridie is an orphan (an adult now) who comes to volunteer in the hospital, so Julie and Bridie get to know each other while helping the women in the ward.

I listened to the audio and thought there was a bit too much detail in the birthing of babies than I like to read/hear about. Ugh! The story was good, but I was a bit disappointed in that the influenza seemed more of a background than the main part of the story, which was the women having babies. There was an author’s note at the end, and I was interested to learn that the woman doctor was the one real person as a character in the book.

12x12 Reading Through Time, Read Thru Time, PBT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Stephen King Country / George Beahm
3.5 stars

This book is part-biography of Stephen King and partly looks at the places where King grew up, lived, spent time... and where he modelled some of the settings for his books. It includes photos of many of the places.

I liked it. It was published in 1999, so there is probably a lot more current stuff that could be added if it was updated. The book also looked at some of the movies that were made from King’s books. I particularly enjoyed the section on “The Shining” (Stephen and Tabitha lived in Colorado for a short time). I also love that they are both so supportive of libraries, to the tune of gifting a couple of local libraries a lot of money to help them out.

12x12 Series, PBT, MysteryKIT

The Silkworm / Robert Galbraith
3 stars

Just before his newest book will be published, author Owen Quine goes missing – again. He’s done this before. His wife comes to PI Cormoran Strike to find him. She thinks he has gone to a writing retreat, but it’s much more sinister.

I do like the personal stories of Cormoran and his assistant Robin. There were parts of the mystery that didn’t hold my attention as much, though. I did have a bit of a hard time remembering who some of the characters (suspects) were. Overall, I’m rating this one ok, but I do think I’ll continue the series – for now, anyway.

12x12 PBT Challenges, PBT Bingo

Fire Watch / Connie Willis
2.5 stars

This is a book of short stories. I am not usually a big short story fan. I find that if I lose focus for even a short time, I can never really get back into the story because it’s too short. I’ve missed too much. So, as usual, I didn’t follow more than half the stories. A few were ok, but overall, I wasn’t a fan.

Oh (and this isn’t saying much for the stories themselves), something I did like was that she had a short (2-3 paragraph) introduction to each story. I liked many of those better than the stories! They did build up a bit of “atmosphere”, so to speak, for the stories.

12x12 PBT, PBT, Trim the TBR (Classic), ScaredyKIT

Locke & Key: Alpha & Omega / Joe Hill
4 stars

This is the final book in the Locke & Key series, so I don’t want to do too much of a summary so as not to give anything away. I guess I’ll just say that prom is coming up and although Tyler isn’t interested in going, his younger sister, Kinsey is going with her boyfriend. Things will come to a head after the prom.

I thought this was one of the better books in the series. As with the others, there is some gore. The illustrations are done very well.

12x12 KIT Challenges, TravelKIT, Travel Across Canada, Trim the TBR (Classic)

The Boat People / Sharon Bala
4 stars

In 2009 or 2010 a boat of refugees arrived in British Columbia. There were over 500 people aboard, coming from Sri Lanka. This really happened, and this book is a fictionalized version of this. The refugees were “detained” (basically, jailed) until they had their initial hearings (just as to whether or not they were allowed into Canada at all; later hearings determine whether or not they can stay.)

Mahindan is a mechanic and has arrived with a young son (5 or 6 years old); unfortunately, his son is not allowed to be detained with his father, so he is initially sent with some of the women detainees and their children, and later placed with a Canadian foster family. Priya is studying to become a lawyer; she wants to be a corporate lawyer, but is assigned to help as counsel for the refugees. Grace has been assigned as an adjudicator for the hearings; she has been informed by a government minister of (I think) public security to be wary and watch for the terrorists who are aboard, because he is certain some of them are.

The story is told from all three viewpoints. Priya has a Sri Lankan background, but does not speak the language. Grace’s background is Japanese and her family has been in Canada for a few generations now (her grandparents and parents were interred in the Japanese concentration camps during WWII. The two women learn more about their families’ backgrounds, as well.

This was really good. I was really frustrated with Grace for – what I felt was – relying too much on Fred’s (the minister’s) rhetoric. I guess I wanted to believe all of their stories. I wasn’t as interested in Mahindan’s background in Sri Lanka – well, some was interesting, but I did lose a bit of focus when talking about his courtship to his son’s mother. Without giving too much away, I really had no idea how it would end, and yet I was still surprised.

12x12 Off the Shelf, AlphaKIT, Travel Across Canada

The Quintland Sisters / Shelley Wood
3.75 stars

The Dionne quintuplets were born in a small town in Northern Ontario in 1934. It was amazing that they all lived. However, not long after they were born, they were taken from the parents to live across the street in a building built to keep them safe and healthy. 17-year old Emma was there when they were born to help the midwife. She becomes a nurse and is one of a revolving door of nurses and teachers (in addition to Dr. Dafoe and others) to help take care of the girls. They’ve immediately become sensations, being so rare. People come from all over to see the girls in their purpose-built play room, so the girls are visible to outsiders, but the visitors aren’t visible to the girls.

The story is told in diary form from Emma’s point of view up until the girls are 5-years old. It is interspersed with real newspaper articles. It’s a sad story, as the parents rarely had access to see their daughters. Since this is fiction, I don’t really know what the parents were like, but I waffled between feeling bad for them and really not liking them, as they were very strict and the father seemed more interested in the money and control of the girls’ lives.

I did appreciate the historical note. Emma was, as I’d suspected, not a real person. I was surprised at the end, but she did put a bit into the historical note that might help explain. I definitely want to find and read some nonfiction on the Dionne quintuplets.

12x12 PBT, PBT, TravelKIT, AlphaKIT

The Bat / Jo Nesbo
3 stars

Harry is a police officer/detective from Norway. When a Norwegian woman is murdered in Australia, where she’s been living, Harry heads down to help the local police with the investigation. It seems that this may actually be the work of a serial killer, though it wasn’t initially obvious. Add in an Australian aboriginal police officer, a homosexual clown, and a Swedish barmaid as a love interest, and we have “The Bat”.

I didn’t find the backstory/personal interest story all that interesting. I do know I’m not as much a fan of noir mysteries. Is this one? Not sure. Also not always a fan of police procedurals. Is this one? It had a bit of that feeling to it (of both), but maybe it didn’t quite fit the definitions. Anyway, I’m calling this one “ok”. It did pick up at the very end, but somehow I think I missed an important tie-up. If I didn’t miss it, then something went very wrong. I don’t think I’ll be continuing the series.

12x12 Audio, ScaredyKIT, AlphaKIT

The Institute / Stephen King
4 stars

Luke is a very gifted kid. He is going to go to college already at only 12(?) years old. But, he doesnt’ get the chance. He is kidnapped and his parents are murdered. And taken to the “Institute”. There are other kids here. They aren’t necessarily super-smart like Luke is, but they have other gifts: telepathy, telekinesis. Things are done to these kids...

I really liked this. I listened to the audio and it the narrator was good. I was a bit disappointed in the ending. I’d like to say more, but don’t want to spoil it for anyone. At the same time, I’d kind of like to know what happens with the characters going forward.

12x12 KIT Challenges, Fall Flurries, PBT Bingo, MysteryKIT

Rest You Merry / Charlotte MacLeod
3.5 stars

Peter Shandy is a professor at a small college. Many of the faculty live close to each other, and at Christmas they go all out in their neighbourhood to decorate. It’s called the Illumination Festival and it attracts people out to see the lights. While Peter is away, there is a Christmas party. When Peter returns, he finds the assistant librarian dead in his house. It appears she was trying to fix some decorations and she fell. But, on looking closer, Peter doesn’t think it was an accident. The last time the librarian was seen, she was leaving the party.

I quite liked this. It’s a quick read and, unfortunately, the first in a series. I will continue on (if I can find the next book(s), as this one was originally published in 1978). I don’t read a lot of Christmas-themed books, so the Christmas-y stuff was kind of fun, too.

12x12 Nonfiction, NonfictionCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic), TravelKIT, PBT

Swimming to Antarctica / Lynne Cox
4 stars

Lynne Cox was a long distance swimmer. In the ocean. When she was a teenager in the 1970s, she swam with a group of other teenagers to cross the Catalina Island Channel in California. They were the first teenagers to do so. It only fuelled her desire for bigger, longer, colder swims. She worked for 10 years (meanwhile doing other swims: English Bay, Cook Strait (between the North and South Islands of New Zealand), the Nile River (ugh!) in Egypt, and many more) to be able to cross the Bering Strait (from Alaska to the Soviet Union – this was during the Cold War, which is why it was so difficult to get permission). Ultimately, after all that, she swam in the Antarctic Ocean in 32 F water for a hour.

This was really good. I’m not much into sports or swimming, but it was so interesting to learn all the planning and different things they have to think about and arrange when they do such swims. And it was even somewhat suspenseful – the cold! She obviously lived through it all to write this memoir, but to read about what was going through her head (and going on with her body) while she swam in water that was in the 40s F (then later, 30s!). So interesting!

>284 LibraryCin: Sounds interesting. On my wish list it goes!

>285 Tess_W: Hope you like it!

12x12 Travel, AlphaKIT, TravelKIT

The Turn of the Key / Ruth Ware.
4.25 stars

The book starts off with Rowan in jail, but we don’t know why. From there, she is writing letters to a lawyer, begging him to believe her story. We back up through these letters to find what happened. When she applied to be a nanny to three girls at their home, at the end of the interview, one of the girls gave her a “hug” and warns her away from coming back. Rowan takes the job, anyway, and is scared out of her wits when there are footsteps coming from above her room, apparently in a long-ago locked attic. The house itself is decked out with all modern amenities of a smart-house, where everything can be controlled via an app on a phone. This includes cameras and speakers in most rooms.

I listened to the audio and I don’t think I ever lost interest. This was so good. I really didn’t know what was going on and I wanted to keep listening to find out. It was creepy – at least there were plenty of parts that were. As the twists were coming at the end, there was one I guessed just minutes before it was revealed. The ultimate twist was the very end, though. The end added the extra 1/4 star for me.

12x12 Read Thru Time, Reading Through Time, AlphaKIT, RandomCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic), PBT

Countdown: Our Last Best Hope for a Future on Earth / Alan Weisman
3.5 stars

This primarily looks at human overpopulation of our planet. How can we survive? What do we need to do and how do we do it? Weisman looks at different countries, communities, cultures... Some are ones that have promoted large families. In some cases, some countries are reaching or have already reached their limit of what their country or area can realistically support – what have they done/are doing to help with this?

This was interesting, certainly a topic that many consider taboo, but really is one of the biggest issues when it comes to the issues with our planet’s environment (the other one being consumerism... which, of course, is amplified with a larger world population). Have to admit, though, it took a long time for me to read; it did help that a good chunk of it at the end was references.

12x12 Trim the TBR, Trim the TBR (Classic)

The Tie That Binds / Kent Haruf
4 stars

80-year old Edith is in the hospital with a police guard outside her door. Her “young” neighbour and friend, Sandy, describes her life – as he heard via his father (who was once in love with her) and from as long as he’s known her – leading up to what happened to find her where she is now.

I really liked this. It’s not fast moving, but the beginning sure had me wondering what happened. This is very much like his other books, though. Not a page-turner, but the characters are so well-done that you care about them and want to know what happens.

12x12 Animals, PBT Bingo, Trim the TBR (Classic)

Jonathan Livingston Seagull / Richard Bach
2.5 stars

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a seagull. He is not like the other gulls, though. He loves to fly. This makes him an outcast.

This was a bit odd. Lots of philosophical stuff that I’m not that interested in. It was a very fast read, as it’s less than 100 pages, and many of the pages are photographs of seagulls flying.

>290 LibraryCin: I would agree with your word: odd. I have not yet read the book, (and I won't), but I did see the move in the '70, and thought: odd! Much of the movie was seagulls flying.

Oh, I've not seen the movie. Seagulls flying in the movie makes sense. There must have been someone speaking overtop of that (a voice-over - that's the word!) that know what the seagulls were meant to be thinking?

>292 LibraryCin: Yes!

12x12 KIT Challenges, KITastrophe, RandomCAT, AlphaKIT

Floodpath: The Deadliest Man-Made Disaster of 20th-Century America... / Jon Wilkman
3.5 stars

In 1928 a fairly newly built dam near (and meant to serve) Los Angeles burst. The ensuing flood killed possibly around 500 people. This book looks at the building of the dam, the disaster itself, and the aftermath – the trial and the groups put together to try to figure out what went wrong. A long-time, popular man at the head of LA’s waterworks for decades was mostly fingered as being responsible, as he was the one mainly responsible for the building of the dam.

It was good. It was pretty slow to start, as the building of the dam wasn’t all that interesting to me. But it got better (that is, more interesting) once the flood actually happened. Even the follow-up in trying to figure out what happened kept my interest more than the initial building of it.

12x12 Animals, RandomCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic), PBT Trim the TBR

The Power of Meow / David Michie
3.5 stars

The header of the title reads: “The Dalai Lama’s Cat and...”. The book is told from the point of view of HHC (His Holiness’ Cat). HHC is able to wander about and listen in on conversations, so as to learn about mindfulness, meditation, and Buddhism herself, and to put it to use.

There is a bit of a storyline amidst the learning about mindfulness etc. The cook at the monastery has had a heart attack, so after she is released from the hospital, she and her adult daughter come to the Dalai Lama to learn about mindfulness. The daughter, Serena, works closeby at a bookstore/cafe, which is often visited by HHC. When a lady comes in to the restaurant and has an allergy attack, she storms out and makes a complaint against the cat. Turns out, she has something to do with Serena.

Anyway, the book was a gift. I’m not that much into meditation and such, but I am a cat person. The author seems to know cats and their mannerisms, so it was entertaining to read HHC’s viewpoint. I was also interested in Serena’s storyline. I’m not sure I’ll read more in the series, although “The Art of Purring” might be enjoyable. I’m considering this one a good read. It was 199 pages, and very fast to read.

12x12 Trim, Trim the TBR (Classic), Fall Flurries

Light on Snow / Anita Shreve
3.5 stars

Nicky is 12-years old. She and her father moved from New York to rural New Hampshire after Nicky lost her mom and sister. While they are showshoeing one day, they come across an abandoned baby left to die in the snow.

The book alternates between the current situation with the found baby and backing up to time to learn about how Nicky and her Dad came to where they are now.

This was good. It started off with a “bang” and I wanted to keep reading. Part-way through, I wasn’t happy with some of the decisions they made – especially Nicky’s father, being the adult. But I did like the way the book ended.

12x12 Off the Shelf, ScaredyKIT, Trim the TBR (Classic)

The Scarlet Plague / Jack London
3 stars

It’s 2070-something. “Granser” is telling his three grandsons about the “Scarlet Plague” that happened in 2012 or 2013. It was a disease that killed (ridiculously fast once it hit – within minutes or hours – no time to get help) a very large proportion of the 8 billion people on Earth at the time. Granser was one of the few who lived through it. Civilization is trying to rebuild itself, but the focus of the story is on the plague and aftermath as Granser saw it.

It’s a short story, so doesn’t take long to read. I was impressed with the guesstimate of 8 billion people on Earth in 2012 – not too far off. I never did figure out why the man cried so easily, though, at taunting from the boys. Overall, it’s an ok story.

12x12 Travel

A Thousand Splendid Suns / Khaled Hosseini

2009 review:
4.5 stars.

Mariam is the illegitimate daughter of a rich father and his housekeeper. The story follows her, from the 1970s through the 2000s during her lifetime in Afghanistan. I won’t summarize anymore, as I don’t want to give anything away.

Wow! This may shape up to be one of my favourite books read in 2009. A couple of times I had to double check that it was written by a man, he does such an incredible job of telling the life of two women in Afghanistan, and the struggles that they go through. I liked it better than The Kite Runner.

2020 reread (audio):
4 stars

It took a while to get into it. I wasn’t sure if it was the story this 2nd time around or if it was the audio. I rated it higher (4.5) the first time around and because it took a while to get into it this time, I kept my rating at 4. Which is still really good, so it did pick up. At the end, though, they revisited some characters from early in the book and because I missed some at the beginning when the story seemed “slower” I wasn’t even sure who some of those people were. The bulk of the story is very good, though.

>298 LibraryCin: I really loved that book! It would probably be in my top 10 of all time.

12x12 Oh Canada, Travel Across Canada, PBT Bingo

From the Ashes / Jesse Thistle
4 stars

Jesse and his two older brothers (Metis-Cree) were abandoned by their parents when Jesse was only 3-years old (older brothers Jerry and Josh were 4 and 5). They spent a short time in a foster home before their paternal grandparents in Ontario came to get them. Jesse did not do well growing up – he got into trouble with alcohol and drugs, stealing, and he was off-and-on homeless. He was in and out of jail a few times before he eventually turned his life around.

This was really good. Jesse also writes poetry and it is sprinkled throughout the book. The chapters are short and overall, the book is fairly quick to read. So many times I shook my head, and thought: ok, this has to be rock-bottom, when you’ll turn your life around. But it wasn’t. So many times. I also wondered occasionally how he remembered as much as he did looking back on his life, given all the drugs and alcohol, but he addressed this in a note at the end.

12x12 KIT Challenges, TravelKIT

The Invention of Hugo Cabret / Brian Selznick
4 stars

It’s 1931 and Hugo is twelve years old. His father died in a fire at the museum he worked at and his uncle, who had been taking care of him since, has disappeared. Hugo is living and hiding in the “bowels” of the train station where he helped his uncle fix the clocks. Hugo is good with mechanical things and when he comes across an “automaton” his father was trying to fix, Hugo is convinced his dad left him a message if Hugo can only fix it himself. He has been stealing from the toy vendor in the train station for the parts he needs, but things take a turn when the old man who runs the toy kiosk catches him stealing.

This book is a mix of text and many many beautiful black and white illustrations. I enjoyed it. Much of that enjoyment did come from the way the book was done. I am going to (right away) listen to the audio, as I am curious how that is done.

>302 Tess_W: Thank you! :-) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, too, Tess!

Not adding this to my challenges, again, but to keep all my reviews in one place, I am adding my review for the Audio of "Hugo Cabret" here.

(Audio) The Invention of Hugo Cabret / Brian Selznick
3.75 stars

It’s 1931 and Hugo is twelve years old. His father died in a fire at the museum he worked at and his uncle, who had been taking care of him since, has disappeared. Hugo is living and hiding in the “bowels” of the train station where he helped his uncle fix the clocks. Hugo is good with mechanical things and when he comes across an “automaton” his father was trying to fix, Hugo is convinced his dad left him a message if Hugo can only fix it himself. He has been stealing from the toy vendor in the train station for the parts he needs, but things take a turn when the old man who runs the toy kiosk catches him stealing.

Audio:
I’m going to give the audio 3.75 stars, although for both the physical book and the audio, I think the story is more like 3.5 stars. The extra – for the physical book – is the illustrations. The extra for the audio is the sound effects. The audio managed to fill in the gaps which in the physical book are illustrations by either describing in words what is happening in the physical book’s illustrations or by the sound effects, or a combination of both. I do think the audio was done really well, although if I’d recommend one form over the other, I’d have to go with the physical book for the illustrations.

12x12 Nonfiction, RandomCAT, Trim the TBR (Classic), Trim the TBR (PBT)

Old Sparky: The Electric Chair and the History of the Death Penalty / Anthony Galvin
4 stars

This book not only looks at the electric chair, but it starts off looking at hanging as a punishment. In the late 19th century, in the US, they were looking to replace hanging as the default punishment for anyone sentenced to death. The author starts by looking at hangings and why they thought it should be replaced. Over all the decades that the electric chair was used (it has only ever been used in the US), it was never upgraded or improved. There was a moratorium on the death penalty in the late 60s until 1976, but even then, there needed to be more rules governing when it would or could be used. Also, in 1976, states were looking at replacing the chair, primarily with lethal injection.

The book points out the issues with all three of these types of capital punishment. They can all be botched, badly, even when trying to find the most “humane” way to administer the death penalty. The book looks at notable cases where the electric chair was used – Ted Bundy being the one name I recognized. They also looked at the youngest child (a 14-year old innocent black boy) to be put to death, and also the youngest girl (16 or 17, I think). The author also has two chapters near the end on innocent people being put to death.

Not exactly Christmas reading, but I found this really interesting. Having always lived in a country that doesn’t have the death penalty, I have waffled. Must admit – it doesn’t make me sad that Ted Bundy was put to death. However, when you hear of innocent people, I’m not convinced. And innocent people being put to death may be a higher number than people want to believe. It’s also more expensive to hold someone on death row (I knew that already). I was horrified to read that – even when there is additional evidence found to prove that someone is innocent, the Supreme Court is ok with that innocent person being put to death! As long as they were convicted in a proper trial, there is no need to release them! It would require a new trial, but that will only happen if the trial was not done properly the first time around. THAT is horrifying.

12x12 Animals

Shelter: Lost & Found / R.A. Conroy
4.5 stars

It’s 1974. When Peggy moves to a city in New Jersey, fresh off a bus with only her suitcase, she comes across some boys tormenting a dog. She helps the dog by bringing him to a nearby shelter. She is convinced by the look of the dog that he has been abused and is horrified when she learns that the shelter staff know the dog (the owner calls him “Boy”, but the staff call him “Lucky”) and are legally required to return him, since abuse cannot be proven. After a short time, though, Peggy is offered a job with the shelter.

The shelter is very run down and as Peggy learns about what it takes to run an animal shelter, she helps with new ideas for raising some funds. The shelter currently cannot even afford to keep the heat running, and winter is coming. Their van could use help, too. Unfortunately, when the manager of the shelter has an accident and will be laid up for potentially a year, he puts Peggy in charge, and Peggy agrees, but is very unsure of herself. Not only that, a very rude vet has just started at the shelter as an intern, and he and Peggy aren’t seeing eye to eye.

No surprise (animals, especially rescue animals) – I really liked this! The focus wasn’t always on the animals, though. It showed a lot of what it takes to run a shelter, and it also showed the “holes” in the law for taking care of the animals in their care. Like Peggy, I was very emotional about much of it. There are definitely parts that hit the heartstrings, so have a Kleenex. At first, I didn’t like any of the staff – they all seemed crotchety. I only liked Peggy and Terry (the manager) – at least at the start. Terry was the only person who seemed nice to her and willing to train her (before his injury).

The book has some beautiful pencil illustrations, and I will add that even one of the illustrations had me briefly in tears! The author includes an author’s note about the laws at the time and she has worked in shelters and she knows about animal welfare. I did know most of what’s covered in the book, but I did learn a few things, as well. It’s just unfortunate that the animal welfare/cruelty laws really haven’t changed much. Last book of the year and one of my favourites!

My top 10 (4.25+ stars):
Endangered / Eliot Scharfer
Big Little Lies / Liane Moriarty
7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga / David Alexander Robertson, Scott B. Henderson (ill.)
Deep Freeze / Lisa Jackson
Elephant Speak: A Devoted Keeper’s Life Among the Herd / Melissa Crandall
Rescue: Lost & Found / R. A. Conroy
Go Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie & Clyde / Jeff Guinn
Outlaw / Angus Donald
Educated / Tara Westover
The Turn of the Key / Ruth Ware

Dishonourable mentions (1.5-2 stars):
Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 / Simon Winchester (audio)
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats / Jan-Philipp Sendker (audio)
The House of Doctor Dee / Peter Ackroyd
Enchantments / Kathryn Harrison (audio)

ETA: See list below... hopefully for some Touchstones. Editing is not bringing up any of them... and they didn't appear the first time. I'm trying something different

ETA (again): I don't think it's working. If anyone wants a quick link to any of them without searching, the touchstone should still be with the review on this page, so a Ctrl-F should find it for you.

>307 LibraryCin: "Endangered" was my only 5 star book this year. I had 0 5-star books last year.

Interesting stats for me:

Stats
179 books
63,152 pages
= 353 pages / book (average)

Canadian authors (I've probably missed counting some): 26 out of 179 = 14.5%

Some genres (some of these will overlap, and I probably missed some, too):

Nonfiction (not including Biography/Memoir): 38 out of 179 = 21.2%
YA + Children’s: 18 out of 179 = 10%
Biography/Memoir: 27 out of 179 = 15%
Graphic novels: 7 out of 179 = 3.9%
Mystery/Thriller: 29 out of 179 = 16.2%
Historical Fiction: 26 out of 179 = 14.5%

Nonfiction + Biography/Memoir: 65 out of 179 = 36.3%