What Are We Reading And Reviewing in August 2020?

I was told it was a bookworm....but I think someone was mistaken. Tell us what you and your book worm are going to read this month.

Carol's Book Tree For August
📌 - ★

📌The Sleeping and The Dead - Ann Cleeves - 3★ (Pick A Winner...)
📌Penance - Edward Hunt - 5★ (Early Reviewer)
📌The Nicotine Chronicles - 3★ - Lee Child & Others -(Early reviewers)
📌I’ll Be Gone in the Dark – Michelle McNamara - 3★
📌The Bright Lands– John Fram - 5★
📌The Chill – Scott Carson - 5★
📌The Shadows – Alex North - 5+★
📌The Invited – Jennifer McMahon - 5★
📌Two Girls Down – Louisa Luna - 4★
📌Ghost Trackers- Jason Hawes & Grant Wilson - 4★
📌Recursion – Blake Couch - 4★
📌Vicious - V. E. Schwab - 4★
📌Baby Teeth– Zoje Stage - 3.5★
📌A Beautiful Corpse – Christie Daugherty - 4★
📌The Mother in Law– Sally Hepworth - 5★
📌Long Man - Amy Greene - 4.5★
📌East of the Mountains - David Guterson - 5+★
📌Sacrifice - Sharon Bolton (aka Offer) - 3.5★
📌Jason - Laurell K. Hamilton - 2.5★
📌The Ninth Step - Mark Dawson - 5★
📌Lock Every Door - Riley Sager - 5★
📌The Ghost House - Helen Phifer - 4.5★
📌Chills - Mary SanGiovanni - 3.5★
📌Where'd You Go Bernadette? - Maria Semple - 2★
📌The Guest List - Lucy Foley - 4★
📌The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin - 5★
📌Seeing Darkness - Heather Graham - 3★

Ghost Trackers - Jason Hawes & Grant Wilson
4★
For fifteen years, Amber, Drew, and Trevor have barely been able to recall—let alone explain—what happened the terrifying night they decided to explore the old, abandoned Lowry House. According to local legend, the house was cursed by a dark past and inhabited by evil. It burst into flames on the night of their visit, leaving the friends traumatized and nearly dead with only vague memories of the frightening events they had witnessed inside. Now, on the eve of their high school reunion, they have gathered to reopen their investigation and figure out, once and for all, what took place that fateful night . . . before the supernatural entity they escaped threatens to overtake them again.

It's not anywhere near as scary as I had hoped it'd be…but then I put a pretty high expectation on my horror experiences especially when the book has two of my favorite TV personalities as authors on the cover...but that aside I have to say that it's not in any way a bad book. It lays out the story line enough to hold the readers interest…especially if you eat this genre for breakfast, lunch and diner. The characterization is also very good. The reader can actually care about these three friends…Amber, Drew and Trevor, and what happened to them. The build-up of the mystery of what happened in their youth, and the memory they've all blocked out lends a nice chill and an interesting plot to the story. The transition from one author to the others doesn’t have a very smooth flow. At times you are swept up in the events and at other times it reads like a cheesy Sci-Fi TV program. The ending just came across as a little too contrived. Still…first novel by Jason & Grant…I have to call it was a 4 star effort.

The Sleeping and The Dead - Ann Cleeves
3★

Detective Peter Porteous is called to Cranwell Lake where the body of a teenager has been discovered. After trawling through the missing persons files, he deduces that the corpse is Michael Grey, an enigmatic and secretive young man who was reported missing by his foster parents in 1972. For country prison officer Hannah Morton it is the shock of her life. Michael had been her boyfriend, and she had been with him the night he disappeared. The news report that a body has been found brings back dreaded and long buried memories from her past .

I have always loved the Vera series as well as the Shetland Island series...both books and TV series so I was looking forward to this one thinking it would be on the same page. It's not a bad book but it's nowhere close to either of those great series. I didn't like the Peter Porteous character at all. I believe he was just plain tired of being a police officer and really wanted to wash his hands of the entire 10 year old murder. It had a slow start and just never got going in spite of it being a competent mystery. Good book but certainly not the best by this fine lady.

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.

The Shadows - Alex North
5 + ★
You knew a teenager like Charlie Crabtree. A dark imagination… a sinister smile…always on the outside of the group…some part of you suspected he might be capable of doing something awful. Twenty-five years ago, Crabtree did just that, committing a murder so shocking that it’s attracted that strange kind of infamy that only exists on the darkest corners of the internet--and inspired more than one copycat. Paul Adams remembers the case all too well: Crabtree--and his victim--were Paul’s friends. Paul has slowly put his life back together. But now his mother, old and suffering from dementia, has taken a turn for the worse. Though every inch of him resists, it is time to come home. It's not long before things start to go wrong. Paul learns that Detective Amanda Beck is investigating another copycat that has struck in the nearby town of Featherbank. His mother is distressed…insistent that there's something in the house. And someone is following him….which reminds him of the most unsettling thing about that awful day twenty-five years ago.

Give me every book that Alex North has ever written and I will be a happy camper. Oh…that’s right…I’ve already read every book he’s ever written…. this is only his second one. Stephen King and Dean Koontz should start to make room to share the horror honor pedestal they’re sitting on all these years, with Alex North. I have been watching for another book by this excellent, talented author since I read Whisper Man…thank you Mr. North for this excellent offering. I don’t want to give away anything to take the excitement and suspense and enjoyment out of another readers experience with this story but I can say that I absolutely LOVED Jenny and how her story evolved. I thought it was an awesome addition to Paul’s life story and how he handled everything going on. I didn’t guess her big twist at all, but it was a nice surprise. I definitely did not guess who the murderer was, so kudos to Alex North for having me chasing my tail and going in circles the entire book. Get out that “dream diary” you say you keep Alex and get busy on the next one. This was in a word…absolutely 110% …INCREDIBLE.

Pride, Prejudice And Other Flavors – Sonali Dev
Book on CD performed by Soneela Nankani.
2.5**

This retelling reverses the roles of Elizabeth and Darcy. Set in modern-day San Francisco it features Trisha Raje, daughter of a very wealthy immigrant Indian family, with royal connections back in India. She’s an incredibly brilliant “genius neurosurgeon” with a tendency towards quick judgement and, according to her siblings, absolutely NO emotional insight. (She’s clearly the Fitzwilliam Darcy character). Darcy James Caine, known as DJ, is a transplanted Brit of Indian and Rwandan heritage. (He’s the Elizabeth Bennet character.) He’s a brilliant chef and slated to cater the Raje family’s fundraiser for their brilliant scion’s announced run for Governor. He’s also the brother of brilliant artist, Emma, who has a brain tumor that only brilliant neurosurgeon Trisha Raje can possibly remove.

Did I mention that these characters are all brilliant? I just wanted to be sure, because the author manages to mention this in every single chapter! Good thing she does, because most of the time Trisha, in particular, doesn’t act brilliant at all. She’s a complete mess. I worked with surgeons, including some extraordinarily talented and innovative ones – several of the best were women. Not a single one of these women behaved even remotely like Trisha does. I rolled my eyes so often I made myself dizzy.

I did like DJ, although his secrets and guilt were a bit much. But his genuine goodness and steady support of his sister and his friends were admirable qualities. And his way with food! Oh. My. Stars. I was practically salivating whenever the book focused on DJ’s skills as a chef. (And there’s a recipe at the end that I’d like to try.)

In general, though, I think the author was trying too hard to match P&P. There’s even a Wickham character – Julia Wickham. Perhaps if she had just focused on the Bollywood-movie style romance without trying to force the elements of Austen’s classic into her story this might have worked better.

Soneela Nankani did a fine job with less than stellar material. She had a lot of characters to interpret and she was up to the task … even when sisters where talking I was never confused.

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.

Work Song– Ivan Doig
4****

Morrie Morgan has arrived in Butte, Montana just after the end of World War I. Morrie is “an itinerant teacher, walking encyclopedia, and inveterate charmer” who’s been attracted by news of “the richest hill on earth” and a need to get as far from Chicago as possible. While he lands a position at the local library, he’s also soon immersed in the miners’ struggles to form a union and fight for better working conditions and fair wages.

What a charming and engaging story! Per the book jacket, Morgan first appeared in Doig’s The Whistling Season; I have not read that earlier work and didn’t feel I was missing any information to understand Morrie and follow this story.

The pace is somewhat slow. As events unfold we learn about the residents of Butte – Sandison (former cattle baron, and still an acknowledged “big man” in town), Grace (Morrie’s young, pretty, widowed landlady), Griff & Hoop (two old miners who share the boarding house with Morrie), Barbara aka Rabrab (Morrie’s former student, now teaching 6th grade), Jared (a young union organizer, and engaged to Rabrab), and Russian Famine (a waif of a boy who needs guidance). The town, itself, is practically a character with its small café, prolonged Irish wakes, boisterous bar, festival celebration, and church gatherings.

I liked Morrie’s slow, deliberate way of judging the situation. The bookworm in me loved all his literary references, and his ability to cite an appropriate passage, seemingly plucked out of thin air. Make no mistake, he’s no milquetoast librarian; Morrie can (and does) take care of himself, though he’s decidedly uncomfortable with firearms.

Grace is a marvelous strong woman. Principled, kind, compassionate, feisty, courageous and conflicted. Doig’s skill at character building shows in the way her actions reveal her inner struggles.

I need to go back and read The Whistling Season … heck, I need to read ALL of Ivan Doig’s works.

A Beautiful Corpse - Christie Daugherty
Harper McClain series Book #2
4★
“For a woman, being killed by someone who claims to love her is the most ordinary murder of all”. With its antebellum houses and ancient oak trees draped in a veil of Spanish moss, Savannah’s graceful downtown is famous around the world. When a woman is killed in the heart of that affluent district, the shock is felt throughout the city. But for crime reporter Harper McClain, this story is personal. The corpse has a familiar face

The story alone was worthy of at least another half star, if not for that the author kept adding something entirely improbable and unbelievable. . I just couldn’t quiet grasp why a woman as smart and savvy as Harper keep meeting people…some she suspected could be the killer…in dark out of the way places. There were several likely suspects...three men that claimed to have loved the 24 year old law student...could one of them have been her killer? I know this generates suspense...that’s why we read these books…but I hate it when smart people do dumb things. In all fairness, I will say once I got past some of Harper’s silly antics and the cops that labeled her a traitor …not because she was a reporter but because she revealed one of their own as a killer. I believe the author made this story very suspenseful, not with the murder itself, but with the challenges that Harper faced while trying to prove her theory about who the killer was. I enjoyed this well written story enough to pick up book #1 in the series.

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
352 pages - ★ ★ ★ 1/2

Nina is blessed with an excellent memory and a love of reading and books. She's also been blessed (?) with a mother who was absent for large chunks of her childhood and a father who she never met. She was reared by a nanny, and, being the quirky child she was, found refuge in reading. Now, almost 30, she works in a book store, is in several book clubs, and participates in trivia nights at area watering holes. Her orderly, bookish life is thrown for a few huge loops when she is visited by a lawyer representing her late father and when she falls for a member of a competing trivia team.

Cute story - nothing too deep. Nina's friends and family were well-written. Nina's character waffled between anxious puddle and vibrant, take-charge, so a little inconsistent.

The Chill - Scott Carson
5★
Far upstate, in New York’s ancient forests, a drowned village lays beneath the dark, still waters of the Chilewaukee reservoir. Early in the 20th century, the town was destroyed for the greater good: bringing water to the millions living downstate. Or at least that’s what the politicians from Manhattan insisted at the time. The local families, settled there since America’s founding, were forced from their land, but they didn’t move far, and some didn’t move at all…Now, a century later, the repercussions of human arrogance are finally making themselves known. An inspector assigned to oversee the dam, dangerously neglected for decades, witnesses something inexplicable. It turns out that more than the village was left behind in the waters of the Chill when it was abandoned. The townspeople didn’t evacuate without a fight. A dark prophecy remained, too, and the time has come for it to be fulfilled. Those who remember must ask themselves: who will be next? For sacrifices must be made. And as the dark waters begin to inexorably rise, the demand for a fresh sacrifice emerges from the deep.

I love ghost stories…but not just any ghost story. They have to have that “could be true”…”believable” element to them. This one did. What I didn’t like about it was the overly long description of the dam. It just wasn’t necessary to the story and only a structural engineer would really care or be interested. I did like that the author took the time to research it and try to get it right…but it was just overwhelming. I didn’t really find it scary either…but it takes a lot to scare me now days. I can say that it was ‘eerie”. Horror fans will understand the difference between “scary and eerie. Don’t get me wrong…there’s plenty to unnerve the reader and make you stay away from reservoirs for the rest of your life …ghostly apparitions…fanatical small town zealots…and faith that collides with insanity. I had to give it 5 stars. In spite of the few flaws it was an excellent read.

Currently Reading:

Every Word by Ellie Marney (re-read) and
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Will probably re-read Every Move as the last book of the trilogy I'm re-reading.

I will likely then move on to Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle unless something else (like a library kindle book) comes up first.

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.

Two Girls Down - Louisa Luna
4★

When two sisters disappear from a car park while their mother is in the supermarket, the devastated family hires bounty hunter Alice Vega to help find the girls. Immediately shut out by a local police department already stretched too thin by budget cuts and the growing meth epidemic, Vega enlists the help of a disgraced former cop, Max Caplan. Cap is a man trying to put the scandal of his past behind him and move on, but Vega needs his help, and she will not be denied. With little to go on, Vega and Cap will go to extraordinary lengths to untangle a dangerous web of lies, false leads, and complex relationships to find the girls before time runs out, and they are gone forever.

I really liked the characters of Vega and Cap. Vaga is a more than competent young woman that has a talent for finding missing persons. She takes no grief or attitude from anybody but is always willing to listen. Max Caplan (Cap) is a former police officer turned, what some might term “bounty hunter” that finds he has more than met his match…but in a good way…when he teams up with Vega to find the missing 10 and 8 year old girls that disappeared from their mother’s car in a K-Mart parking lot. The author is very good at creating drama and high tension but she strays here from her main topic and what the story had started very well to be built on…the children that had been either kidnapped…vanished… or stolen. If I had to come up with a word to describe this book I would have to say “predictable”. To its credit it’s an entertaining 300 pages well worth the time to read.

I'll Be Gone In The Dark - Michelle McNamara
3★

“I had a murder habit, and it was bad,” Michelle McNamara says early in the new HBO documentary series I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. “I would feed it for the rest of my life”…and she did. For more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area. Three decades later, Michelle McNamara, a true crime journalist who created the popular website TrueCrimeDiary.com, was determined to find the violent psychopath she called "the Golden State Killer." Michelle pored over police reports, interviewed victims, and embedded herself in the online communities that were as obsessed with the case as she was.

The author Michelle McNamara unexpectedly died in 2016 at the age of 46 while trying to complete the book, on which the HBO show is based, an epic account of the crimes of the man she dubbed the “Golden State Killer”. The book was finished and published by her friend and murder habit co conspirator. This killer had been responsible for so many different California crime sprees in the 1970’s and 1980’s that he already had multiple nicknames… the “Visalia Ramsacker”…the “East Area Rapist”, and… the “Original Night Stalker”. It took years for law enforcement to realize all were the work of the same person. While I found the book interesting…I found that it was repetitive and drawn out with so much information being crammed into it. In retrospect, I believe I like fictional crime more than the real thing.

I actually finished this book the last week of July but forgot to post the review.

An Acceptable Time
By Madeleine L’Engle
4/5 star
In the fifth book of the series, the focus is on Polly O’Keefe, granddaughter of Alex and Kate Murray. Polly is spending the summer with her grandparents. Her friend, Zachary, who is ill comes to visit. When an unusual occurrence happens, Polly and Zach are transported from their time to another time in the same location. The grandparents are upset and don’t want them to take off to see if it happens again. However Zach has heard of the mystical healing of the people who live in that time period and wants to return and they end up there not knowing if they can get back. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and this was probably the best of the five I read. She has written more but I think I’m ready for a break from this series for the time being.

Penance - Edward Daniel Hunt
John Gilifillan series Book #1
5★

The first book in a series of crime novels featuring retired Boston homicide detective John Gilfillan. This story is about the race to find Lori Doyle. Ten years ago, Lori, as a teenager, witnessed a killing. Today, she has established a new life for herself and her daughter in Maine under an alias. Unbeknownst to her, all that’s about to change, as some are seeking her out to do her harm and some to do her good.

From the very first I thought how much this author’s writing reminded me of Michael Connelly and Hunt's character of John Gilfillan was so like Connelly’s Harry Bosch... a highly respected police officer and a former police officers both determined to see that justice would win out in the end. Each series stands alone on it’s own merits but readers that really like one will more than likely really like the other. I received this book one day and finished it in the morning of the next. Yes…I read through the night because I just could not stop. I found it to be exciting, suspenseful and well written with characters that are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination…but totally human. I would have to call Mr. Hunt’s first effort a booming success and I can’t wait to meet John Gilfillan again.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Adelaide Books in exchange for an honest opinion. The views expressed in this review are entirely my own.

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.

Chills - Mary SanGiovanni
3.5★

It begins with a freak snowstorm in May. Hit hardest is the rural town of Colby, Connecticut. Schools and businesses are closed, powerlines are down, and police detective Jack Glazier has found a body in the snow. It appears to be the victim of a bizarre ritual murder. It won’t be the last. As the snow piles up, so do the sacrifices. Cut off from the rest of the world, Glazier teams up with an occult crime specialist to uncover a secret society hiding in their midst. The gods they worship are unthinkable. The powers they summon are unstoppable. And the things they will do to the good people of Colby are utterly, horribly unspeakable

I liked the book well enough but it wasn’t what I expected from the description. It seemed to be much more on the witchcraft/demon-craft side than I really like. I did like the characters and how they interacted with one another. While the book does have a bit of spookiness to the story…I found that it began to flatten out and become repetitive. The author did do a pretty good job of describing and creating atmosphere in the small Connecticut town but the reader never really got a feel for how life was for the characters before the freak snow storm and before the discovery that defied the imagination. It's not a bad book at all and if you like stories involving the black arts you will probably love it.. It’s one of those books that you are either completely into or you’re not.

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
Erik Larsen
5/5 stars
I love Erik Larson and he does not disappoint in his newest non-fiction book recounting the first year of WWII. The book mainly centers on Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England as he and the country wage war against the Nazi Regimen and as he tries to get help from President Franklin Roosevelt. Larson also recounts the lives of Winston’s family and friends during war time and the British citizens as they deal with food shortages, bombing raids, death and destruction and trying to work amidst the German air raids and bombings. Larson’s books are so interesting, that I can’t wait for his next book.

The Bright Lands - John Fram
5★

The town of Bentley, Texas holds two things dear: its football, and its secrets. But when star quarterback Dylan Whitley goes missing, an unremitting fear grips this remote corner of Texas. Joel Whitley was shamed out of conservative Bentley ten years ago, and while he’s finally made a life for himself as a gay man in New York, his younger brother’s disappearance soon brings him back to a place he thought he’d escaped for good. Meanwhile, Sheriff’s Deputy Starsha Clark stayed in Bentley; Joel’s return brings back painful memories—not to mention questions—about her own missing brother. And in the high school hallways, Dylan’s friends begin to suspect that their classmates know far more than they’re telling the police. Together, these unlikely allies will stir up secrets their town has long tried to ignore, drawing the attention of dangerous men who will stop at nothing to see that their crimes stay buried. But no one is quite prepared to face the darkness that’s begun to haunt their nightmares, whispering about a place long thought to be nothing but an urban legend: an empty night, a flicker of light on the horizon—The Bright Lands

It’s an absolutely wonderfully told story with crime fiction mixed with horror straight out of your worse nightmares. My kind of book in every way possible. We visit the conservative Texas town of Bentley where the residents live, eat and breathe Friday night high school football. I’m not taking about being average ‘fan”…I’m taking about overwhelming, over-the –top obsession. They would do literally anything for the players and very soon they will get a chance that they never in their worse nightmare thought they’d ever have. Strange dreams and a sense of impending dread take over the people. When Joel begins to investigate his brother’s death he soon discovers that the town itself may be responsible. Dark secrets that never should have seen the light of day are soon revealed and Joel finds his life in jeopardy…but the question is…from what? It’s a tale with twisted narratives and a brutal look at the human condition. Loved it from the first page to the last. If you like dark mysteries with a hint of the supernatural thrown in…you will love this book also.

Stiger: Tales of the Seventh, Part One by Marc Alan Edelheit
4****

The long-awaited prequel to the award winning Chronicles of an Imperial Legionary Officer series that started with the bestselling military fantasy book, Stiger's Tigers. A nobleman from an infamous family, Ben Stiger finds himself freshly assigned to Third Legion, Seventh Company as a lowly lieutenant in the opening stages of war between the Empire and the Kingdom of the Rivan. Third Legion has been tasked with pursuing a retreating Rivan army back to the border where the Empire can take the fight into enemy territory.

This was a good book, and that statement coming from someone who is not always a fan of the Roman Empire nor someone familiar with Edelheit's larger series. His writing was well done for both internal struggles and external place descriptions (even I could envision the cattle crossing scene and what the land looked like!), and his character, Stiger, came across as realistic. And he didn't devolve into his angst or his trials, either.

Instead, he reads the men both above him in the chain of command as well as under his command, and uses his knowledge and learning to navigate the various situations he is thrown into. Edelheit also writes about campaigning as though he had been in the armed services or was close to other who had been; the language was authentic.

This book is a prequel to his larger series, and I bought it on a whim at the book selling booth at DragonCon. Glad I did. It is based on the Roman Empire's style of government and Army, though set in the fictional world of Istros. Which I'm OK with.

Where’d You Go Bernadette - Marie Semple
2★

Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect; and to 15-year-old Bee, she is her best friend and, simply, Mom. Then Bernadette vanishes. It all began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle -- and people in general -- has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic. To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, and secret correspondence -- creating a compulsively readable and surprisingly touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.

When was the last time that you planned to take your 15 year old daughter to Antarctica? My guess is of the millions of people that compose the population of LibrayThing and Goodreads…the answer is probably...wait for it...NEVER. Are there even hotels in Antarctica?? Are there non-stop flights taking off from major airports across the country?? The obvious answer to these questions is one of the reasons why this didn’t get more than 2 stars from me. It was completely unbelievable. Maybe it was suppose to be and I completely missed the whole point. The other reason was because these people suffered from a very serious case of being nuttier than a Christmas fruit-cake. There was not a single likable character among them. "Obnoxious" doesn't even begin to describe them. If I thought the mother and daughter were not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier…we meet the father who is busy having an affair with his admin assistant whose resulting pregnancy is brushed under the rug and exalted like it was the next Immaculate Conception. I believe the entire family needs several in-depth sessions with Dr. Phil. Oh…that’s right they’ve already had several session with a "Dr. Phil like" person and the good doctor needs to plan to join them when they go. I don’t know who is responsible for writing the book description but if they think that this is “ a touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world”, they need to get on the plane with the rest of these people. Dr. Phil is going to be a busy, busy man.

The Werewolf of Bamberg / Oliver Potzsch
4 stars

In the mid-17th century Bavaria/Germany, two executioner 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.

The Guest List - Lucy Foley
4★

The bride – The plus one – The best man – The wedding planner – The bridesmaid – The body. On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the lux party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed. But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an comfortably caring toast. And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? Perhaps more important, why?

Picking out the killer wasn’t too difficult as they were after all, on a small island in the North Sea, therefore you knew it had to be someone in the wedding party. Still I didn’t get it right until almost the end…so that alone was reason enough to give extra kudos to the author. I liked the plot of the story but can’t say I developed any real liking for any of the characters. If you had friends like these you wouldn’t ever need enemies. They were all obnoxious, overbearing, judgmental, self-serving, jealous, and rude. It didn’t seem to be a group that was really wishing anyone any future happiness…but that could have been accounted for by the amount of champagne and that good Irish whiskey that they had been consuming before they arrived…and in greater amounts afterwards. I think I’d be making new friends if I were that groom. Overall the book was very entertaining. The desolate island had an appeal that mystery fans will appreciate… and it did keep me turning the pages just to see what other antic this group was going to come up with next. Almost everyone at this party has something to hide…some worse than others…so there were plenty of accusations to go around and stir the embers of revenge. Maybe the body was a character I could like since it was the only one at the party that had the decency to keep it’s mouth shut.

Something Fresh – P G Wodehouse
Digital audiobook performed by Jonathan Cecil.
3***

Book One in the Blandings Castle series, featuring the elderly Lord Emsworth, his son Hon. Freddie Threepwood, and his trusty secretary, Baxter. The basic plot involves Lord E’s neighbor, the wealth American, Mr Peters, and his prize collection of scarabs. Ashe Marson is a writer of a popular mystery/adventure series, who is in need of inspiration – and funds. Joan Valentine is Marson’s lovely neighbor – a young woman who is struggling to find herself and soon takes a “position’ as lady’s maid to her old school chum, Aline Peters (daughter of Mr Peters, and engaged to Hon. Freddie T.)

Wodehouse excels are writing ridiculously plotted societal comedies that poke fun at the aristocracy and just about everyone else as well. There are unlikely disguises, attempts at hiding identities, and a variety of funny missteps along the way. Of course, true love will win out and everyone will be happy in the end.

I had grown tired of the Jeeves series and stopped reading Wodehouse, but I’m glad I gave the author another try. This was a delightful romp and crime caper/comedy. Just great fun to read … or listen to.

Johnathan Cecil does a fine job performing the audiobook. He has a lot of characters to deal with and is up to the task. I particularly like the way he voices Lord Emsworth, the Hon Freddie, and the blustery Mr Peters.

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.

The Nicotine Chronicles - Lee Childs & various other authors
3★

From the introduction by Lee Child:
Food scientists have discovered a complex compound naturally present in, among other things, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. The compound offers us a number of benefits: it improves our fine motor skills; it increases our attention spans; it improves our cognitive abilities; it improves our long- and short-term memories; it lessens depression...In and of itself, it has no real downside. It's called nicotine. We should all get some. The problem is the delivery system...The most efficient way is to burn dried tobacco leaves and inhale the smoke. Ten seconds later, the compound is in your brain, doing good in all its various ways. Unfortunately, the rest of the smoke doesn't do good. And therein lies a great mystery of human behavior. To get the good, we risk the bad. Or we prohibit ourselves the good, for fear of the bad. Which approach makes more sense?

Lee Childs and the others authors that contributed stories to this book, employee the cigarette as a bonding experience for each of the characters featured in these short stories. I can’t say that the object used was in any way my favorite thing to have these stories based on …but they were what lead the characters to share their individual stories and experiences. Having always been a huge Lee Child fan and a fan of many of the other authors that contributed to the book… I was thrilled to have received this book from the Early Reviewer site. While the stories were all interesting I just couldn’t get in out of my head that the cigarette was the drawing point for these well done stories. The writers never indicated that they were advocating for smoking, but it could be viewed as such by some I’m sure. I believe the idea was for these writers to capture what went on in the characters brains while they were making their “bad decisions” and the momentary small amount of contentment such bad decisions can produce…but I guess I just don’t get it. I gave the book 3 stars for who wrote it and how well done the stories were…but I would never have bought this book. I understand there are other “chronicles” books with similar topics.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Akashic Books in exchange for an honest opinion. The views expressed by this reviewer are entirely my own.

Recursion - Blake Couch
4
Reality is broken. At first, it looks like a disease. An epidemic that spreads through no known means, driving its victims mad with memories of a life they had never lived. But the force that’s sweeping the world is no pathogen. It’s just the first shock wave, unleashed by a stunning discovery—and what’s in jeopardy is not our minds but the very fabric of time itself. In New York City, Detective Barry Sutton is closing in on the truth—and in a remote laboratory, neuroscientist Helena Smith is unaware that she alone holds the key to this mystery . . . and the tools for fighting back. Together, Barry and Helena will have to confront their enemy…before they, and the world, are trapped in a loop of ever-growing chaos.

Sci-fi is not my favorite genre but Blake Couch is one of my favorite authors so when this was recommended by a fellow bibliophile I thought I would give it a try. It’s a sci-fi novel that touches on so many different aspects and blends them into a really interesting novel. We have topics such as the nature of memory…neuroscience…all the possibilities of dealing with time… physics… philosophy… and…well you get the idea. Some may find the novel difficult to believe but who knows what may be possible? The television was unheard of 100 years ago. Blake Couch is a wonderful writer and everything he produces is more than entertaining. The man could write about cabbage boiling and I think I would like it.

Seeing Darkness - Heather Graham
Krewe of Hunters series Book #30
3★
Special Agent Jon Dickson of the FBI’s Krewe of Hunters is on the trail of a suspected serial killer based on the scantest of clues and unreliable witness testimony. When he realizes Kylie’s vision might be his best lead, he must gain her trust and get close enough to guide her new talent. Though she doubts herself, the danger Kylie sees is all too real—and the pair will have to navigate a murderer’s twisted passions and deceptions to stop the killer from claiming another victim.

I have always liked the "Krewe of Hunters" series. "The Ghost Story Junkie" in me has always found the stories well done...suspenseful...with helpful and evil ghost making their appearances along the way and a competent "Hunter" send in to investigate. As much as I love this genre I have found that it does have problems. The main one being that there is just so many ways that a house or a person can be haunted by a spirit before the story becomes predictable. This series has started to become predictable. To offset this somewhat the author throws in either silly, often obnoxious/annoying women...a lot of romance...loads of protest or disbelief that the "Krewe" person assigned to the case has to spend half the book trying to convince the "haunted" one to trust him or her and believe they can help. Seeing Darkness is a good easy, slow read, and readers that want what amounts to a cozy ghost story will really like it, but the series has slowed down considerably with the 30th book. It was worth 3 stars but I had hoped for more.

More Than This
Patrick Ness
5/5 stars
This book centers on Seth. He grew up in England but after his brother died, the family moved to the Pacific Northwest. Between his brother’s death and a personal issue that scandalized him and his family, Seth decides to kill himself. However, after he does try to drown himself, he wakes up and there is no body at home and there is no one in the town he lives in except for Regina and Tomasz who he befriends and the mysterious Driver who keeps trying to chase them down. I read this in a few days because it was so compelling and hard to put down!

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).

Baby Teeth - Zoje Stage
3.5

MEET HANNA: Seven-year-old Hanna is a sweet-but-silent angel in the eyes of her adoring father Alex. He’s the only person who understands her. But her mother Suzette stands in her way, and she’ll try any trick she can think of to get rid of her…ideally for good.

MEET SUZETTE: Suzette loves her daughter, but after years of expulsions and strained home schooling, her precarious health and sanity are weakening day by day. She’s also becoming increasingly frightened by Hanna’s little games, while her husband Alex remains blind to the failing family dynamics. Soon, Suzette starts to fear that maybe their supposedly innocent baby girl may have a truly sinister agenda. A battle of wills between mother and daughter reveals the frailty and falsehood of familial bonds

“Maybe it was a mistake to set Mommy on fire” This line from the book sets the stage for the remainder of the story. I found the book to be dark and extremely terrifying. Not terrifying in a horror inducing way, horrifying that the parents would allow the behavior displayed to reach the point that they were controlled and terrified by their own child. There exists such a deep division between the parents in their views of this “sweet” little girl whose goal is so very obvious from the first is…to KILL MOMMY. It’s a constant battle of wits between this struggling mother and her psychotic young daughter that takes child rearing anxiety to a demented and horrifying new level. This child needs help…she is either miles beyond mentally ill…or maybe she was just been born this way. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that her behavior and mental thoughts and desires are a far stretch from what anyone would consider as normal. What we see is that she is entirely in charge… constantly bringing out the very worse in her parents. I didn’t exactly like the book but I couldn’t say I disliked it either. I don’t cringe easily… but this story certainly caused some very disturbing moments. I was compelled to see where this was going to end but I was in no way comfortable with the story or the visions it brought….for that alone the author gets 3.5 stars.

Vicious V.E. Schwab
4★

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates…brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find…aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the arch nemeses have set a course for revenge…but who will be left alive at the end?

I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. This is an author that I have never read before but thought the idea behind the book sounded interesting and I was willing to give it a chance. The cast of characters is very small and that sometimes doesn’t work well…but in this case it came together really well. I didn’t especially like either Victor or Eli but I somehow don’t think the author really wanted the reader to spend a lot of time developing feelings for them…we were suppose to focus more on what they discovered and how the world perceived it. I really liked one of the quotes from the book and have found it increasingly true. I believe it was Victor that said, ““Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human”.

East of The Mountains - David Guterson
5+★

It’s about a dying man’s final journey through a landscape that has always sustained him and provided him with hope and challenges. When he discovers that he has terminal cancer, retired heart surgeon Ben Givens refuses to simply sit back and wait. Instead he takes his two beloved dogs and goes on a last hunt, determined to end his life on his own terms. But as the people he meets and the memories over which he lingers remind him of the mystery of life’s endurance, his trek into the American West becomes much more than a final journey.

I first read this author’s Snow Falling on Cedars and really, really enjoyed it....so I looked forward to reading this one and I was in no way disappointed. He knows how to tell a story and make the reader feel the joy or the pain of his characters. As with all books there may be some sections that some readers will want to skim through I skipped through a lot of Ben’s service record in WWII…but it certainly took nothing away from the journey that Ben decided to make, and that is really what the story is about. Ben is almost dead when he and his dogs start the journey back to the east side of the mountains. He knows he’s more than likely not coming back… he expects to die…but he will do it on his own terms…just the way he has lived his life. Ben asks the question that the book poses throughout…”When all that has given joy and meaning to life has ebbed through death and change in our final years, what is the point of living?” It's thought provoking. Sometimes comforting and sometimes painful, but I don’t believe I have ever read a book that presents a more powerful challenge…daring the reader to put themselves for 279 pages in the shoes of Ben Givens and answer that question.

Man In the Empty Suit
by Sean Ferrell
2.5/5 stars 8/16/2020
The man in the empty suit is a time traveler and has returned home to celebrate his birthday in New York City with versions of himself from years past. But when one of his versions is killed, the main character hides out with Lily, a young, poor woman taking care of a man with physical and mental disabilities while he figures out what to do. I had a hard time suspending disbelief while reading this one. I didn't understand why there were so many versions of him and why were they trying to kill him or any of the other versions. I did like his relationship with Lily, the young woman he befriends but overall I can’t recommend it.

The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin
5★

A bizarre chain of events begins when sixteen unlikely people gather for the reading of Samuel W. Westing’s will. And though no one knows why the eccentric, game-loving millionaire has chosen a virtual stranger—and a possible murderer—to inherit his vast fortune, on things for sure: Sam Westing may be dead…but that won’t stop him from playing one last game!

It’s cataloged as Young Adult but those that are just “young at heart” will find plenty about it to enjoy. Many readers will remember having read it in their younger days. I didn’t have that added pleasure since I don’t believe it was ever chiseled in stone:) I can’t remember when I have had so much fun with a book. The author has managed to blended a superb mystery… that is actually more a puzzle than a novel…and endow it with a vivid and extensive cast of characters that sets the stage for the fun and well told story that follows. I loved those last few pages when time suddenly speeds up and we learn what happens to the children as they grow up… and about the deaths of the older characters who were already adults when the story started. Overall I would have to say that it is just one fun read to be enjoyed by not only teens and “tweens”, but also by the lingering child in all of us.

The Ninth Step - Mark Dawson
John Milton series Book #8
5★

John Milton is a former assassin for the British government. He is trying to atone for his past sins by offering his services to those people who have no-one else to whom they can turn. Milton is keeping a low profile in London when he meets Eddie Fabian. Fabian confesses that he is considering suicide, and that the reason for his depression was the abuse that he suffered as a child. Milton offers to help, but, before he can, Eddie is found dead in circumstances that Milton considers suspicious. And then events take a turn that no-one could have anticipated… Milton’s attempted good deed becomes a quest to unveil corruption at the highest levels of government and murder at the dark heart of the criminal underworld. Milton is pulled back into the game, and that’s going to have serious consequences for everyone who crosses his path.

There is so much about John Milton that reminds me of Jack Reacher... although Jack asking for “forgiveness” for anything rather boggles the mind. I also can’t picture John Milton looking anything like Tom Cruise…which, thanks to Hollywood, that is who I see now with every Jack Reacher book. This book makes John more “human” and more compassionate than ever before as he is determined to complete the 9th step of the 12 step program that his friend Eddie was working on before he was found dead. His death was called a suicide but John believes Eddie was murdered. The ninth step is “making amends” for past wrongs committed to others. In investing his friends death John finds himself drawn into the tasks of completing that step… not only for Eddie but for himself as well. Milton then devises a diabolically clever plan for justice. It seems that each John Milton novel shows and expresses more and more of his humanity. He is slowly shedding his self-loathing, but each step costs him more. John Milton’s story just keeps getting better and better with each book. If you like Lee Child’s Reacher series…forget the Tom Cruise image…you will probably also make friends with John Milton.

The Mother In Law - Sally Hepworth
5★

From the moment Lucy met her husband’s mother, she knew she wasn’t the wife Diana had envisioned for her perfect son. Exquisitely polite, friendly, and always generous, Diana nonetheless kept Lucy at arm’s length despite her desperate attempts to win her over. And as a pillar in the community, an advocate for female refugees, and a woman happily married for decades, no one had a bad word to say about Diana…except Lucy. That was five years ago. Now, Diana is dead, a suicide note found near her body claiming that she no longer wanted to live because of the cancer wreaking havoc inside her body. But the autopsy finds no cancer. It does find traces of poison, and evidence of suffocation. Who could possibly want Diana dead?

If domestic dramas and mysteries are your type of book then this author is one you should check out if you haven’t already. This story focuses on two women, Diana and Lucy. Diana is Lucy’s mother-in-law and the two of them have a very uncomfortable relationship, to put it mildly. The characters are complicated and to me the biggest mystery was why Diana treated Lucy like a stranger even after she had been married to Diana’s son for 10 years When Diana suddenly dies the police and the coroner say that it’s an apparent suicide. No one believes it because Diana is the last person anyone would think would commit suicide. The police eventually listen and begin investigating. Diana is a character that is hard to warm up to… I believe the term “cold fish” would best describe her. Lucy though, is a character you will love immediately. The book has quick pacing…a suspenseful plot and the story was never predictable. Another good read from this author.

The Ghost House - Helen Phifer
Annie Graham series Book #1
4.5★

There’s not much that scares Annie Graham. Not even the horrors she has witnessed during her years on the police force. Then she agrees to look after her brother's farmhouse, she finds herself drawn to the crumbling old mansion in the woods nearby. But an innocent exploration of the empty ruin and the discovery of the diary of former resident Alice leaves her more than a little spooked. She knows it holds the secrets to a dark past, and she has to find out more. What was the terrible truth that Alice uncovered? And how could what happened to her over 100 years ago help solve the murders of young women in the town? Annie needs to stop the serial killer before she becomes his next victim – but the past comes back to haunt her in ways she could never have expected.

It was almost the perfect ghost story for any fan of the genre. It had characters that you could really like and characters that you could really hate. The killer was sometimes more to be pitied than hated. It wasn’t real “spooky” and the ghosts were, for the most part, just people that happened to be dead but desperately needed to tell their story. The story was enough to satisfy the “Ghost Story Junkie” but cozy enough that most anyone could read it without diving for the lights and the covers. The only thing that kept it from a 5 star rating was that the police were portrayed as being a bit on the dense side. I know the British police are different than the U.S. police but the lack of a weapon shouldn’t reflect a lack of common sense. I’m really looking forward to more books in this series. I saw that many reviewers made comments about the sentence structure and the writing style of the author but I just didn’t see that. The only time that incorrect language and sentence structure bothers me is if I am the writer…otherwise, I just want to read a good story.

Long Man - Amy Greene
4.5★

A river called Long Man has coursed through East Tennessee from time immemorial, bringing sustenance to the people who farm along its banks and who trade among its small towns. But as Long Man opens, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans to dam the river and flood the town of Yuneetah for the sake of progress—to bring electricity and jobs to the region—are about to take effect. Just a few days remain before the river will rise, and most of the town has been evacuated. Among the holdouts is a young, headstrong mother, Annie Clyde Dodson, whose ancestors have lived for generations on her mountaintop farm; she’ll do anything to ensure that her three-year-old daughter, Gracie, will inherit the family’s land. But her husband wants to make a fresh start in Michigan, where he’s found work that will bring the family a more secure future. As the deadline looms, a storm as powerful as the emotions between them rages outside their door. Suddenly they realize that Gracie is nowhere to be found. Has the little girl simply wandered off into the rain? Or has she been taken by Amos, the mysterious drifter who has come back to Yuneetah, perhaps to save his hometown in a last, desperate act of violence?

The story is set in 1936 when unemployment and rising water levels get even worse in Depression-era Tennessee. The town has started to evacuate it’s residents...and they all know that this is the end of the line…. rock bottom for most of them including the parents of the 3-year-old child who has disappeared. It’s an often familiar tale about the sacrifices people are expected and forced to make in the name of progress. Mystery...family saga...backwoods romance…it’s unforgettable. What lost it half a star for me was that after the author set the stage with the child’s disappearance the story moved forward at a snails pace. This will be fine with some readers but I found it a bit annoying...but nevertheless a good story.

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.

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.

Dead Presidents: An American Adventure into the Strange Deaths and Surprising Afterlives of Our Nation's Leaders
Brady Carlson
4/5 stars
Brady Carlson, reporter and NPR Radio Host traveled around the country with his son tracking down a number of dead presidents' graves, looking into the manner of their deaths and how they were remembered. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and loved all the trivia. I definitely recommend this book.

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”.

Lock Every Door - Riley Sager
5★

No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen’s new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan's most high-profile and mysterious buildings. Recently heartbroken and just plain broke, Jules is taken in by the splendor of her surroundings and accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind. As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story...until the next day, when Ingrid disappears. Searching for the truth about Ingrid’s disappearance, Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew's sordid past and into the secrets kept within its walls. What she discovers pits Jules against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building’s hidden past, and escape the Bartholomew before her temporary status becomes permanent.

Jules thinks the offer to house sit is too good to be true…especially with all the bizarre rules and conditions she has to obey in order to receive her pay. The Bartholomew…a storied Manhattan building…wants to pay her thousands of dollars to simply occupy a vacant and luxurious apartment. Jules soon gets the feeling that all is not as it seems at the Bartholomew Well gee Jules…what was your first clue? The empty apartment? The rules that you couldn’t have anyone in, nor could you go out? Jules was desperate but I would have thought she would have at least questioned these conditions and not made up excuses for them and be completely unconcerned when the strange, scary things start to happen.. Of course it is very well written… but I wouldn’t expect anything else from Riley Sager. This is his third book that I have read and I have found each one is scarier and more suspenseful than the last. The ending of this one took a turn that was completely unexpected…but that’s what keeps Sager fans returning. It’s another 5 star offering. Thank you Mr. Sager. I’m anxiously awaiting your next one.

Sacrifice - Sharon Bolton (aka The Offer)
The Nevernight Chronicles Book #11
3.5★

It starts off as a mystery and becomes much more, Tora Hamilton is an outsider at her new home on the rocky, windswept Shetland Islands, a hundred miles from the northeastern tip of Scotland. Though her husband grew up here, it’s the first time he’s been back in twenty years. Digging in the peat on their new property, Tora unearths a human body: at first glance a centuries-old bog body, interesting but not uncommon. But realizing that the body is in fact much newer, that the woman’s heart has been cut out and that she was killed within a few days of bearing a child, Tora, herself an obstetrician, becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to her—even when the police, her colleagues, and eventually her husband warn her against getting involved. Reading town records and researching local lore, Tora discovers a disturbing link to ancient Shetland legend and uncovers a collection of deep, dark secrets—the kind of secrets worth killing for.

I really wanted to like this book more. Sharon Bolton has been a long time favorite of mine. I believe I have read almost everything she has written to date. Sacrifice has a mind catching plot. The writing is Bolton through and through so it’s very well written. The problem comes with Tora… the main character that has been placed on this Scottish isle to carry the story line along. Along with her cool and aloof personality and her outsider status, it makes her the perfect protagonist. She is very difficult for the reader to warm up to but, her struggle to find justice for the murder victim and her search for truth in the face of growing adversity are well portrayed and add to the suspense. Medical and forensic details are a great addition to the story making the early parts of the investigation interesting and believable. Also adding old island mythology gives the story a dark supernatural element that I was thoroughly intrigued with. If you can bypass the fact that a young obstetrician would not be as aggressively getting involved as Tora does …then this is a great story. Tora just comes across as a bit “too much” and unbelievable in her actions. If you can put that out of your mind and just go on with the story… then you will more than likely really like this book. It has atmosphere…a look into the old legends…a brutal murder to solve and the appearance of a character from one of my other favorite series by this author…Detective Sergeant Dana Tullock …a character in Bolton’s later Lacey Flint series.

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).

I've read and reviewed three books in August (may finish one more, but we'll see). Ready Player One which was very interesting, especially since I was an '80s teen, Chasing Cassandra which, as always, was an interesting historical romance by Lisa Kleypas and Serpent and Dove which is a debut YA fantasy involving witches. All three were Kindle library loans, a service I just recently discovered. I enjoyed them all.

Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies
J.B. West
5/5 stars
J.B. West was the Chief Usher of the White House from 1940’s in which he worked for the Roosevelts until his retirement a year or so into the Nixon’s’ first term in the White House. His role (along with his staff) was to assist in the daily lives of the president and his family which included planning social events, renovations to the White House (and each President’s wife had their say so in those changes) and supervising the staff. Each President had a budget for the White House but that did not cover all their expenses which they then had to pay for themselves. This was well written and a wonderful look at the Presidents’ wives and their roles in the lives of their husbands and country.

Bambi: A Life in the Woods
Felix Salten
4/5 stars
This is the original tale of Bambi written by Felix Salten and the source material for Disney's film. Bambi grows up in the wild with his mother and other animal friends while trying to avoid the danger from other animals and hunters. I thought this was wonderfully written and enjoyed the illustrations and I felt it was a pretty realistic depiction of life in forest for the animals.

I had decided to read this book after reading The Queens of Animation by Nathalia Holt who talked about the book being an allegory of the treatment of Jews in Europe. According to Wikipedia - " ... it was subsequently banned in Nazi Germany in 1936 as "political allegory on the treatment of Jews in Europe."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bambi,_...."

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.

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.

The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin
5*****

January 12, 1888 began as an unseasonably warm morning across Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Minnesota, the weather so mild that children walked to school without coats and gloves. But that afternoon, without warning, the atmosphere suddenly, violently changed. One moment the air was calm; the next the sky exploded in a raging chaos of horizontal snow and hurricane-force winds. Temperatures plunged as an unprecedented cold front ripped through the center of the continent.

This is a very, very good book and one that I will re-read at some point to re-capture the details that escaped on the first go round. And it was also delightful to read a weather geek explain the phenomenon that caused this catastrophic blizzard: high pressure, low pressure, and how they work. Maybe someday I'll understand that aspect!

Laskin does a phenomenal job researching the lives of the families caught up in this push into the Western US plains. He researches the history and places where 5 or 6 families originated, their customs, reasons for making the voyage, experiences to get to their ports, and other similar stories from the time. So we get to know some families, know that they had stories similar to other people from the same region or on the same transport, and they were not plucked up and placed in the Dakotas or Nebraska out of thin air.

There is a great deal of research into early American weather forecasting, especially what worked and what didn't. And the Signal Corps and Lieutenant Woodruff, who was an active duty soldier in charge of the weather forecasting and relaying messages East from the various points in Montana and the Great Plains, interpreting them, and drawing them on a map ready for the telegraph machines.

When the storm hits, Laskin again goes into detail about the snow and ice and crystals, as well as what extreme cold does to the human body based on survivors' stories and medical evidence. It is also important to know, and I didn't, that there were survivors who lasted the night, only to die the next morning when the blood from their freezing limbs began to circulate around their hearts.

So it's a heart-wrenching historical account, very similar to "Isaac's Storm" and tales about the Northwest Passage, of people who left one land and set of difficult circumstances for hope of a better life, only to have that life changed so tragically. And I find it a good dovetail with the details of the Indian Wars in the 1870's and the pioneer settlements that were discussed in Prairie Fires as they pre-dated Laura Ingalls Wilder's story.

>56 threadnsong: I read this before I started rating/reviewing books, but I thought it was really good, as well.

The Penguin Lessons: What I Learned From a Remarkable Bird
Tom Michell
4/5 stars
Tom Michell recalls his time in South America as a traveler, a teacher and an owner of a penguin. Tom is traveling in Uruguay when an oil spill occurs. He witnesses thousands of birds entrenched in oil, mostly dead except for one penguin who is still alive but coated with oil. He makes a decision to rescue him and clean him up. He christens him Juan Salvador and Michell takes him to his new assignment in Argentina, teaching at a boy’s school where all the students adore Juan. What a delightful story of survival and friendship!

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.

The Rowan by Anne McCaffery
3***

Please note LT friends: It was a busy August, then there was DragonCon, so I'm only now getting to my last two August reviews. Thank you for your indulgence!

Even as a child, the Rowan was one of the strongest Talents every born. Telepaths across the world had heard her mental distress calls when her family's home was suddenly destroyed. . . . Years later, she became a Prime Talent, blessed with a special power which stretched across the stars. But without family, friends--or love--the Rowan's power was not enough to bring her happiness.

A good, strictly sci-fi Anne McCaffery with some well-written women lead characters. The Rowan, of course, is our main protagonist, and we see her from childhood through into adulthood. The story takes place in a future time when Earth's inhabitants have colonized planets and move not through engine power but through the vast abilities of telepaths.

She is found after a mudslide because her mind will not stop shouting, and the Prime (the primary telepath of her planet) insists on rescuing her. This Prime is also a doozy of a character and is created for that purpose: not every female character can be likeable! Contrast her with the Rowan's primary caregiver, and some snippy cousins, and you have a good human basis for this sci-fi story.

Once the Rowan grows into adulthood, however, the story navigates in and around and through this interstellar travel, an invasion by an alien species, and a love story between equals. I did have to shake my head at McCaffery's /the Rowan's statement that she "never felt more womanly" than after she gave birth, but there you have it. Definitely a good and decent read and insight into a future of possibilities.

Slavery by Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon
5*****

In this groundbreaking historical expose, Douglas A. Blackmon brings to light one of the most shameful chapters in American history--an "Age of Neoslavery" that thrived from the aftermath of the Civil War through the dawn of World War II.

Wow. I grew up in the South, among very educated folks and those not quite so (as in, good ol' Southern culture), and I had no idea. Just none. I am horrified and saddened and it now changes how I see the world.

Blackmon does an excellent job with tracing what must have been horrifying stories about how Reconstruction fell apart, how the Northern states decided that the Southern states had best "tend to their own affairs" when it came to re-enslaving African-Americans, and how both Northern and Southern industrialists (read: railroad and steel barons) benefitted from ghastly practices.

It's set mostly in Alabama, though there is a chapter on Atlanta and Georgia re-enslavement. Basically, a black man could be picked up for vagrancy, theft, bearing a firearm, or any number of charges, sent to prison, his fine is paid, and the person who pays his fine gets to use his labor to pay back the fine with interest. Then he is sent to coal mines or forced to work in and around coke ovens till his debt was paid or he died. That practice sheds light on current discussions about cash bail and court costs as further causes of poverty in poorer, African-American communities.

It's gripping, hard to read, and brilliantly written. Definitely deserving of a Pulitzer.