Breathe To Read

Breathe To Read

Monday, December 27, 2021

Book: Fuzz

 Book: Fuzz

Author: Mary Roach

Pages: 320


This is my 101st read for the year

The author takes a hard look at animals and plants all over the world that are considered "pest" even though they are doing what they only know - survival.  From bears who break into garbage cans and houses, to trees that fall and hurt people because they have reached the end of their life cycle, Roach takes a deep dive into the world of animal control and speaks to experts on what they are doing to humanely control the population.  And in true Roach form, the book has a humor undertone that will leave the reader with smiles and chuckles even among the most serious of subjects.

I have read several of Roach's books and was excited to see this new one.  My first book of hers "Stiff" left me in stitches about the world wth cadavers donated to science.  This book didn't disappoint.  She visits places all over to find out how controlling out of control animal populations are being dealt with.  This subject could have been as dull as dirt, but Roach does a good job keeping the reader entertained even when talking about dung.

Check it out.  As well as many of her other books.  You won't be disappointed.

Stars: 4 1/2 


Book: I'll See You Again

 Book: I'll See You Again

Author: Jackie Hance

Pages: 277


This is my 100th read for the year


This is the memoir of the author - Jackie Hance. In 2009 her three daughters were killed in a tragic car accident when Jackie's sister in law, Diane, was driving her family and her three nieces home from a camping trip. No idea what happened to Diane to cause her to drive for 2 miles down the wrong side of the highway and kill herself, her daughter, and her three nieces - Jackie's three daughters, and three people in the other car she slammed into.
This book covers Jackie's recovery in the 3 years after her daughter's death. Her unimaginable loss became headline news and gave she and her husband unwanted attention when all she wanted to do was grieve for her children. What follows that tragic day is a steady stream of friends that held them up and forced them to go on. Jackie learned to move forward and eventually gets pregnant with her 4th daughter, Kasey, who gives she and her husband Warren meaning to go on.
This is a hard book to review, so I won't. I will just say that I cannot even imagine what it would be like to lose all of your children - especially in a tragic accident that even today there is no clear answer to what happened. There is a documentary called "Something's Wrong With Aunt Diane" which chronicles the accident and Diane' family trying to figure out what happened that caused an accident that killed 8 people. This book covers Jackie's intense grief, and her almost constant thoughts of suicide in the first year after the accident (in case that is a trigger for any readers). Her friends are to be commended for their endless committment to her.
I listened to this book, and even though it was nice to hear the author speak about her own story (since she never really spoke publicly about the accident) she is not a professional reader. But I am glad that I read this because this side of the story was not anywhere in the documentary and I did wonder how she was coping with the loss of all of her children.
Take a look at the documentary and then read this one to learn more.


Thursday, December 23, 2021

Book: Everfound

 Book: Everfound

Author: Neil Shusterman

Pages: 528


This is my 99th read for the year

The final book in the Everlost trilogy:  Mary is slumbering after being reborn back into Everlost, so Milos is in charge of following through with Mary's orders.  Allie has been kidnapped by the group and Mikey and Nick  (who has not become almost nothing but chocolate and forgotten who he was) are set on rescuing her.  

The fighting comes to a head and Nick faces Mary once more. Can he do what he needs to do to stop her even though he loves her deep down?  Joined by a group of afterlights on both sides, the battle to save the living world and the afterworld begins.

This was a good conclusion to this YA novel.  A few new characters are introduced, but mostly the book revolves around the children that have been there since book one.  Shusterman does a nice job wrapping up the series with each character you care about, which is one thing I do like about his novels.  

I enjoyed it.  I think for the middle grade crowd this would be a fun one for them - especially if they are into a dystopian type genre.

Stars: 4




Saturday, December 18, 2021

Book: World War C

 Book: World War C

Author: Sanjay Gupta

Pages: 304


This is my 98th read for the year

Told in the author's own words, Dr. Gupta gives readers an inside look at the pandemic that has been plaguing us for almost 2 years.  He delves into the details of what they saw coming, what went wrong, and where we go from here.  

This was a good book.  I listened to it, which was probably the mistake.  I was looking for my next audio book, but this one is read by Dr. Gupta.  He is a brillant man, but he should have let someone else narrate this book - I would have had an easier time with it.  However - despite that, I gained some amazing insight.  He sticks to the science of the disease, pushing policy and politics aside which is how it should be.  He brings his knowledge as a doctor and a person sworn to protect the public's health and encourages people to maintain their overall health and well being as a path to getting out of this pandemic.

Good read.

Stars: 4


Friday, December 17, 2021

Book: Everwild

 Book: Everwild

Author: Neil Shusterman

Pages: 448


This is my 97th read for the year

Book two in the Everlost trilogy.  Our main characters - Nick and Mary - are now at odds and the leaders of their own separate groups.  Nick has figured out how to help kids move on into the light, but Mary is determined to have "children" who she can manage and keep under her control there in Everlost.  Meanwhile Allie has discovered other skinjackers like herself and uses this to her advantage to try and locate her family. She needs to know if they survived the crash that killed her.  Along the way - these three's paths cross and everything comes to a head.  Nick - determined to rid Everlost of Mary once and for all hatches a plan that even Mary can't see coming.

This was a good sequel to book one.  Again - it is a middle grade book, and sometimes I would forget that when the writing got overly simplistic.  A lot develops in this book.  More kids develop abilities to the point of almost overkill.  We do find out that there is a place in Everlost where they can go no further.  The middle was a little slow, but the ending picked up and left me definitely wanting to read the third book to see where it is going.

So far, a good series and I am looking to seeing how it wraps up.

Stars: 4


Saturday, December 11, 2021

Book: All These Bodies

 Book: All These Bodies

Author: Kendare Blake

Pages: 304


This is my 96th read for the year

It is the summer of 1958.  Killings have been happening in the midwest where people are being killed and being drained of all their blood.  Michael - a small town boy - never imagines this horror coming to his home town, but one night a local family is killed.  When the police arrive on the scene the only people alive are the baby of the family and a 15 year old girl covered in blood.

What unfolds after the girl, Marie, is put in jail leads the police to learn where some of the bodies are buried and the truth behind many of the killings.  Marie - who will only confess to Michael what happened doesn't want to give up the name of the killer.  Even if it means saving herself.

This was an okay book.  I listened to it while wrapping presents and it passed the time.  It is a fair enough story, and the author's note at the end reveals that it is loosely based on some true crime from the 50s.  What I didn't love was the ending.  I didn't feel like it wrapped up.  Too many loose ends.  You feel that the whole thing is too unresolved.  I was hoping for an epilogue.

Entertaining enough, but not sure I would recommend this one

Stars: 3




Thursday, December 9, 2021

Book: Everlost

 Book: Everlost

Author: Neil Shusterman

Pages: 336


This is my 95th read of the year

This is a story about Nick and Allie.  They were recently in a car accident and ended up in a place called Everlost.  Somewhere between earth and heaven - their souls are stuck.  Only children seem to end up in Everlost.  Not sure what to do, they meet another little boy and start on a journey to try and find out what happened to the rest of their family in the accident.  They meet Mary who has gathered as many lost souls as she could and given them a place to call home.  But Allie isn't buying it and soon tries to lure Nick away to continue on their quest.  When they leave, they are captured by a creature called The Haunter and soon are on a journey they never imagined.  

This was a good book.  Even though it is YA, I really enjoyed it.  I love most of Shusterman's books and this didn't disappoint. It is  the first book in a trilogy and I plan to read them all.  There is good character developement, and the idea of a place like this is clever.  How the children start to discover what it takes to leave which leads into the second book.

Knowing this was YA from the beginning, I enjoyed it.  It is for middle grade readers, but I think a lot of adults who are Shusterman fans will like this one too.

Stars: 4



Friday, December 3, 2021

Book: This Will All Be Over Soon

 Book: This Will All Be Over Soon

Author: Cecily Strong

Pages: 272


This is my 94th read for the year

This is the story of the author and her year during the pandemic which happened right after her cousin died of brain cancer.  She wrote this book as a journal of her time during the pandemic and the story of her cousin's battle and how she dealt with her grief.

This book was just okay.  I love Cecily Strong - think she is one of the funniest members of the SNL cast.  So I decided to give this book a try - knowing full well it would be anything but funny.  But it wasn't good.  It isn't particuarly well written, it is all over the place, and full of pages of text messages.  I wasn't really moved and I should have been - someone died tragically young.  It was just so jumbled that I just wanted it to end.

Just skip it

Stars: 2