Breathe To Read

Breathe To Read

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Book: Brigadoon

 Book: Brigadoon

Author: Alan Jay Lerner

Pages: 56


This is my 34th read for the year

This is the musical - yes.  It is on the Rory Gilmore reading challenge, so I grabbed it to "read".  It is mostly the songs, but the story is in there too.  It is one of my favorite musicals, so it was fun.

Stars: 4



Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Book: Mabuhay!

Book: Mabuhay!

Author: Zachary Sterling

Pages: 240


This is my 33rd read for the year

What Amazon Says:
Can two kids save the world and work their family food truck?  First-generation Filipino siblings JJ and Althea struggle to belong at school.  JJ wants to fit in with the crowd, while Althea wants to be accepted as she is.  To make matters worse, they have to help their parents run the family food truck by dressing up as a dancing pig and passing out samples.  And their mom is always pointing out lessons from Filipino folklore - annoying tales they've heard again and again.  But when witches, ogres, and other creatures from those same stories threaten their family, JJ and Althea realize that the folklore may be more real than they'd suspected.  Can they embrace who they really are and save their family?

This book was not well written.  I KNOW it is a kids graphic novel (and I read it for a reading challenge where a food truck needed to be on the cover), but reading many many of these over the years with Finley - there are much better GNs out there for this age group.  Not well written, the character development wasn't there, and I just wanted to get through it.

Stars: 2

 

Monday, February 3, 2025

 Book: Red Rising

Author: Pierce Brown

Pages: 416


This is my 32nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:
Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future.  Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.  Yet he toils willingly, trusting that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.  But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed.  Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago.  Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet.  Darrow - and Reds like him - are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.  Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power.  He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class.  There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies - even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

To start - this is pretty deep Sci Fi.  And while I am a fan, this is a bit futher than I was interested in to continue the series.  I liked Darrow.  I liked the twist - didn't see that coming.  Once he discovered the secret and he infiltrated the "enemy", it lost me a bit.  It moves very fast - even for a 400 page book.  Too many adversaries  It is Darrow's point of view for the whole book which actually got a bit tiresome.  I didn't love the writing style.  The world building was interesting, but not enough to make me want to continue with book 2.

Stars: 3

Book: The Snow Child

 Book: The Snow Child

Author: Eowyn Ivey

Pages: 389


This is my 31st book of the year

What Amazon says:
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel.  Childless, they are drifting apart - he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair.  In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of the snow.  The next morning the snow child is gone - but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.  This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods.  She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness.  As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, tey come to love her as their own daughter.  But in this beautiful, violent place things are arely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

This was an okay book.  I liked the beginning and the idea.  But as the story progressed, and definitely the end was just okay.  Ending got predictable and was underwhelming.  In the beginning the characters were well developed and the mystery of Fiana was intriguing.  But one the mystery was solved and then Fiana enters a relationship with a neighborhood boy, I lost interest.  I am glad I read it, but I wouldn't really recommend it.

Stars: 3


Saturday, February 1, 2025

Book: The Traveling Cat Chronicles

 Book: The Traveling Cat Chronicles

Author: Hiro Arikawa

Pages: 288


This is my 30th read for the year

What Amazon says:
With simple yet descriptive prose, this novel gives voice to Nana the cat and his owner, Satoru, as they take to the road on a journey with no other purpose than to visit three of Satoru's longtime friends.  Or so Nana is led to believe.  With his crooked tail - a sign of good fortune - and adventurous spirit, Nana is the perfect companion for the man who took him in as a stray.  And as they travel in a silver van across Japan, with its ever-changing scenery and seasons, they will learn the true meaning of courage and gratitude of loyalty and love.

This was a great little book.  It is a fast read - the book is very short in stature so 288 pages flew by.  The story is sweet with the cat and Satoru - traveling to find the cat a new home.  It is pretty obvious from the beginning why the search, but it isn't until near the end when it is revealed.  It is well written an the characters are great.  Glad I read it.

Stars: 4


Book: History of the Nashobah Praying Indians

 Book: History of the Nashobah Praying Indians

Author: Daniel Boudillion

Pages: 192


This is my 29th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
Littleton, Massachusetts was originally the Praying Indian Plantation of Nashobah.  Prior to 1654 it was the Native village of Nashope under Chief Tahattawan, a Massachusett Federation Sagamore.  For the first time ever, the history of the Nashobah Praying Indians is told here in full, from 1654 to 1736.  It is a story of suffering and loss, of a people who kept both their faith and heritage in the face of encroachment, war, and disease.  The book begins at the roots of the Praying Indian experiment, follows the doing and sifferings through King Phillip's war and Deer Island, and the long decline afterwards as the Plantation was sold off bit by bit, eventually to become the town of Littleton.  It has been more than 280 years since Wunnuhhew (Sarah Doublet), the last of the Nashobah Praying Indians that lived in Nashobah, passed away, and the Plantation was lost.  Here her story, and the story of all the Nashobah Praying Indians told in full for the first time.  The Nashobah Praying Indians are alive and well in the world, and are still Praying Indians more than 350 years later.  This is their story.

This was a pretty good book.  I am a little biased because I live in Littleton and walk the Sarah Doublet forest often.  I knew a little of the history, but this book is so much more.  We get a good indepth history of the land, the people, and Sarah herself.  I learned so much that as soon as our weather turns for the better, I want to seek out some of these spots, and rewalk the forest with a different view.  He did an excellent job with the writing and the history.  Glad I found this one.

Stars: 4.5


Thursday, January 30, 2025

Book: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London

 Book: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London

Author: Garth Nix

Pages: 432


This is my 28th read for the year

What Amazon says:
In a slightly alternate London in 1983, Susan Arkshaw is looking for her father, a man she has never met.  Crime boss Frank Thringley might be able to help her, but Susan doesn't get time to ask Frank any questions before he is turned to dust by the prick of a silver hatpin in the hands of the outragiously attractive Merlin.  Merlin is a young left-handed bookseller (one of the fighting ones), who with the right-handed booksellers (the intellectual ones), are an extended family of magical beings who police the mythic and legendary Old World when it intrudes on the modern world, in addition to running several bookshops.  Susan's search for her father begins with her mother's possibly misremembered or misspelt surnames, reading room ticket, and a silver cigarette case engraved with something that might be a coat of arms.   Merlin has a quest of his own, to find the Old World entity who used ordinary criminals to kill his mother.  As he and his siter, the right-handed bookseller Vivien, tread in the path of a botched or covered-up police invetigation from years past, they find this quest strangely overlaps with Susan's.  Who or what was her father?  Susan, Merlin, and Vivien must find out, as the Old World erupts danergously into the New.

This book was just okay.  I picked it to fit into a challenge category where a character had to be left handed.  Being left-handed myself, I thought this would be a fun one.  But this book wasn't entertaining.  The character development is just so-so, and the story dragged.  I am glad to be done with it.  I loved the idea of it, but it just fell flat for me

Stars: 3


Book: Half Way Home

 Book: Half Way Home

Author: Hugh Howey

Pages: 242


This is my 27th read for the year

Amazon says:
We woke in fire.  500 colonists have been sent across the stars to settle an alien planet.  Vat-grown in a dream-like state, they are educated through simulations by an artificial intelligence and should awaken at 30 years old, fully trained, and ready to tame the new world.  But 15 years into their journey, an explosion on their vessel kills most of the homesteaders and destroys the majority of their supplies.  Worse yet, the 60 that awaken and escape the flames are only half-taught and possess few useful survival skills.  Naked and terrified, the teens stumble from their fiery baptism ill-prepared for the unfamiliar and harsh alien world around them.  Though they attempt to work with the colony AI to build a home, dissension and misery are rampant, escalating into battles for dominance.  Soon they find that their worst enemoy isn't the hostile envoronment, the AI or the blast that nearly killed them.  Their greatest danger is each other.

I was originally excited to find this book at a used book store because I loved the Silo series by this author.  I read the back cover and it sounded right up my ally (dystopain, new world finding) but I should have paid better attention to the fact that all the characters were 15 years old.  This wasn't well written - even for a YA book.  It was childish and unbelievable.  Main character is very weak to the point of silly.  I did look this up and it was one of his earlier books, so maybe that was the problem?  It didn't seem like the same author from the Silo series.

Stars: 2



Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Book: Little Mushroom: Judgement Day

 Book: Little Mushroom: Judgement Day

Author: Shisi

Pages: 404


This is my 26th read for the year

What Amazon says:
"Until the day humanity falls".  In the year 2020, Earth's magnetic poles disappeared and humankind was nearly wiped out by cosmic radiation.  Within the span of a hundred years, living creatures began to mutate and devour each other while the remaining humans, numbering in the tens of thousands, struggled bitterly in their man-made bases.  In the Abyss, home to the mutated xenogenics, there lived a sentient little mushroom.  Because it had been nourished by the blood and flesh of the decreased human An Ze, not only did it take on a similar-looking human form, but a similar name as well: An Zhe.  An Zhe is determined to go to the human base to search for his spore, which had been harvested by humans.  Once there, however, he faces the omnipresent risk of discovery and certain death as he tries to keep his non-human nature hidden from the Judges, whose responsibility is to inspect for an eliminate xenogenics like himself.  And of all the Judes, Colonel Lu Feng is the most perceptive and merciless - as soon as he determines that someone is a xenogenic, he will execute that person on the spot.  But An Zhe's mutation goes undetected by Lu Feng's eyes, and so a tale of humans and xenogenics unfolds.  

This was an interesting book.  I read it for a reading challenge and it was recommended by my 22 year old daughter, so it was not something I would normally read.  But it was well translated and an interesting dystopian story.  It is imaginative and I liked how they explained how the world became the way it was.

Stars: 4.

Monday, January 27, 2025

Book: How To American

 Book: How To American

Author: Jimmy O Yang

Pages: 240


This is my 25th read for the year

What Amazon says:
"I turned down  job in finance to pursue a career in stand-up comedy.  My dad thought I was crazy.  But I figured it was better to disappoint my parents for a few years than to disappoint myself for the rest of my life.  I had to disappoint them in order to pursue what I loved.  That was the only way to have my Chinese turnip cake and eat an American apple pie too".  Jimmy Yang is a standup comedian, film and TV actor and fan favorite as the character Jian Yang from Silicon Valley.  In How to American, he shares his story of growing up as a Chinese immigrant who pursued a Hollywood career against the wishes of his parents:  Yang arrived in Los Angeles from Hong Kong at age 13, learned English by watching BET Rap City for three hours a day, and worked as a strip club DJ while pursuing his comedy career.  He chronicles a near deportation episode during a college trip to Tijuana to finally becoming a proud US citizen 10 years later.  

This was a pretty good book.  I listened to it and the author reads it which made the book I believe.  His story begins in Hong Kong to his immigration to the US at age 13, to 2018 when the book was written.  He does a deep dive into what made his decisions, the poor and good choices he has made, and how his parents view his choices.  It has laugh out loud moments that were probably made better with the audio verison.  Good book - glad I listened to it.

Stars: 4


Book: The Illiad Graphic Novel

 Book: The illiad Graphic Novel

Author: Gareth Hinds

Pages: 272


This is my 24th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
More than three thousand years ago, two armies faced each other in an epic battle that rewrote history and came to be knkown as the Trojan War.  The Illiad, Homer's legendary account of this 9 year ordeal, is considered the greatest war story of all time and one of the most important works of Western literature.  In this stunning graphic novel adaptation - a thoroughly researched and artfully rendered masterowkr - renowned illustrator Gareth Hinds captures all the grim glory of Homer's epic.  Dynami illustrations take readers directly to the plains of Troy, into the battle itself, and lay bare the complex emotions of the men, women, and gods whose struggles fueled the war and determined its outcome.

After reading Clytemnestra earlier this month, I wanted to read the Illiad and Odessy in hopes that she might be mentioned in the story.  I did decide to start with the graphic novel for this daunting novel series, just to get a taste until I have more time.  Sadly in the graphic novel, she is not mentioned, but I did enjoy the story.  Artwork was okay. 

Stars: 4

Sunday, January 26, 2025

Book: Death on the Nile

 Book: Death on the Nile

Author: Agatha Christie

Pages: 320


This is my 23rd read for the year

What Amazon says:
The tranquility of a luxury cruise along the Nile was shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway had been shot through the head. She was young, stylish, and beautiful.  A girl who had everything - until she lost her life.  Hercule Poirot recalled an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: "I'd like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger."  Yet under the searing heat of the Egyptian sun, nothing is ever quite what it seems.  A sweeping mystery of love, jealousy, and betrayal, Death on the Nile is one of Christie's most legendary and timeless works.

This was a pretty good book.  I have only read one other Agatha Christie book.  (I know I know).  I have seen the most recent Death on the Nile movie, and enjoyed it, and the book follows it pretty close.  I like Hercule Poirot as a detective.  Story flowed nicely and it was a quick and easy read.  I have another on my list to read this year, and I am looking foward to it.

Stars: 4



Book: Onyx Storm

 Book: Onyx Storm

Author: Rebecca Yarros

Pages: 544


This is my 22nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:
After nearly 18 months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there's no more time for lessons.  No more time for uncertainty.  Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it's impossible to know who to trust.  Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Areian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with NAvarre.  The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves - her dragons, her family, her home, and him.  Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destory everything.  They need an army.  They need power.  They need magic.  And they need the one thing only Violet can find - the truth.  But a storm is coming - and not everyone can survive its wrath.

This is a 3rd book in the Fourth Wing series and I swore to myself I was going to stop after book 2.  But Yarros is a master of cliff hanger endings so here we are. I have a personal struggle problem with stopping series even when they are not my favorite and that is what this really is.  While this is KIND of one of my favorite genres (fantasy) this truly is romantasy and that one is not my cup of tea.  Yarros is a okay world builder (she is no Rowling or Martin).  I felt like this was more like book 2 1/2.  Like she was setting up what is coming in the next book more than moving the story along very much.  This book is SPICY.  But I found it less so this time than the other two books - felt she focused more on battles and character and world building which was a plus.  Another cliff hanger ending? You bet - this is a FIVE book series, so she had to right?  And it was a doozy.  She is great an those cliff hangers and keeps people buying her books because of them.  Darn you Yarros.  

I did like one part of the book very much, and that was her dedication in the front.  It said "to the ones who don't run with the popular crowd, the ones who get caught reading under their desks, the ones who feel like they never get invited, included, or represented.  Get your leathers.  We have dragons to ride."

Stars: 3.5


Friday, January 24, 2025

Book: Finders Keepers

 Book: Finders Keepers

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 544


This is my 21st read for the year

What Amazon says:
"Wake up genius".  So announces deranged fan Morris Bellamy to iconic author John Rothstein, who once created the famous character Jimmy Gold and hasn't released anything since.  Morris is livid, not just because his favorite writer has stopped publishing, but because Jimmy Gold ended up as a sellout.  Morris kills his idol and empties his safe of cash, but the real haul is a collection of notebooks containing John Rothstein's unpublished work - including at least one more Jimmy Gold novel.  Morris hides everything away - the money and the manuscripts no one but Gold ever saw - before being locked up for another horrific crime.  But upon Morris's release thirty-five years later, he's about to discover that teenager Pete Saubers has already found the stolen treasure - and no one but former police detective Bill Hodges, along with his trusted associates Holly Gibney and Jerome Robinson, stands in the way of his vengeance.

This was a great book.  I listened to it and was entralled with the story from beginning to end.  It is very well written with good character development and good story flow.  It is the second in the Mr. Mercedes series, and I always like a book with Bill Hodges and Holly Gibney in it.  It is a good book to listen to as well - great narrator.  I am looking forward to the third book.

Stars: 5

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Book: The Hedge Knight Graphic Novel I and II

 Book: The Hedge Knight Graphic Novel I and II

Author: George RR Martin

Pages: 400 between the two


This is the 19th and 20th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
Set 100 years before the events in George RR MArtin's epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, The Hedge Knight chronicles a young squire as he travels the cruel and complex path to knighthood in the Seven Kingdoms.  Shouldering his fallen master's sword and hielf, Duncan (or Dunk) is determined to reinvent hismelf as a knight in a nearby tournament.  But first Dunk needs a sponsor, and that requirement sends him down a road studded with friends, foes, adventure, and hidden agendas.  One such friend is Egg, who becomes Dunk's squire, yet even he may hold secret motivations of his own.  In the second graphic novel, Dunk and Egg continue their journey in search of the fair puppeteer Tanselle.  Along the way, the elderly knight Ser Eustace takes both men under his charge, alongside another knight - and this one promises trouble.  Peace is ever elusive for Dunk and Egg, as they are soon embroiled in the schemes of local nobility, while a darker, greater thread threatens to unravel long-held truths of the Battle of Redgrass Field.

These were pretty good.  I love seeing other glimpses into Martin's world of my favorite series, and I am determined to read all of them.  They are quick reads and I finished both of them in an afternoon.  I enjoyed the story and the art.  Glad I read them.

Stars: 4 (for both)


Book: Inherit the Wind

 Book: Inherit the Win

Author: Jerome Lawerence

Pages: 126


This is my 18th read for the year

What Amazon says:
The accued was a slight, frightened man who had deliberately broken the law.  His trial was a Roman circus.  The chief gladiators were two great legal giants of he century.  Like two bull elephants locked in mortal combat, they bellowed and roared imprecations and abuse.  The spectators sat uneasily in the sweltering heat with murder in their hearts, barely able to restrain themselves.  At stake was the freedom of every American.  One of the most moving and meaningful plays of our generation.

This was an interesting book.  It is written in play form so it is a quick read - I read it in an afternoon.  The story was interesting and the trial was quick.  It is a case between evolution and creation with a teacher's job on the line.  I am interested in seeing the movie.

Stars: 4


Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Book: Deperation

 Book: Deperation

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 624


This is my 17th read for the year

What Amazon says:
For all intents and purposes police officer Collie Entragian, chief law enforcement for the small mining town for Desperation, Nevada, appears to be completely insane.  He's taken to stopping vehicles along the desolate Interstate 50 and abducting unwary travelers with various unusual ploys. There's something very wrong here in Desperation - and Officer Entragian is only at the surface of it.  The secrets embedded in Depseration's landscape, and the horrifying evil that infects the town like some viral hot zone, are both aweome and terrifying.  But one of Entragian's victims, young David Carver, seems to know - and it scares him nearly to death to realize this truth - that the forces being summoned to combat this frightful, maniacal aberration are of equal and opposite intensity.

This was an okay book.  I didn't love it but I didn't hate it.  Writing was fine and the story was interesting.  I think it was just too long.  It was just too wordy and I found myself wishing King would just get on with it a little more often than I wanted to.  Creepy?  Yes.  Just not one of his best in my opinion.

Stars: 3 


Monday, January 20, 2025

Book: The Story of a Heart

 Book: The Story of a Heart

Author: Rachel Clarke

Pages: 256


This is my 16th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
The first of our organs to form and the last to die, the heart is both a simple pump and the symbol of what makes us human; as long as it continues to beat, there is hope. Dr. Rachel Clarke interweaves the history of medical innovations behind transplant surgery with the story of two children - one of whom desperately needs a new heart.  One summer day, 9 year old Kiera Ball was in a terrible car accident and suffered catastrophic brain injuries.  As the rest of her body began to shut down, her heart continued to beat.  In an act of extraordinary generosity, Kiera's parents and siblings immediately agreed that she would have wanted to be an organ donor.  Meanwhile 9 year old Max Johnson had been in a hospital for nearly a year, fighting the virus that was causing his heart to fail.  When Max's parents received the call they had been hoping for, they knew it came at a terrible cost to another family.  The act of Keira's heart resuming its rhythm inside Max's body was a medical miracle.  While waiting for transplant, Max had become the hopeful face of a campaign to change the UK's laws around organ donation.  This is the story of how one family's grief transformed into a lifesaving gift.  Clarke relates the urgent journey of Keira's heart and explores the history of the remarkable surgery that made it possible stretching back over a cenury.

This was a great book.  The author does a fantastic job of weaving the personal stories of Max and Kiera and what their families went through with the history of organ transplantation (and other life saving procedures).  It is wonderfully written and lays out how deeply hard it is for families in these situations as well as the people who care for them.  I am really glad I read this one.

Stars: 5


Sunday, January 19, 2025

Book: Bury Your Gays

 Book: Bury Your Gays

Author: Chuck Tingle

Pages: 304


This is my 15th read for the year

What Amazon says:
Misha knows that chasing success in Hollywood can be hell.  But finally, after years of tryingto make it, his big moment is here: an Oscar nomination.  And the executives at the studio for his long-running streaming series know just the thing to kick his areer to the next level: kill off the gay characters, "for the algorithm", in the upcoming season finale.  Misha refuses, but he soon realizes that he's just put a target on his back.  And what's worse, monsters from his horror movie days are stalking him and his friends through the hills above Los Angeles.  Haunted by his past, Misha must risk his entire future - before the horros from the silver screen find a way to bury him for good.

This was an interesting book.  I liked the plot and thought the story flowed well for the most part.  I did lose a little interest nearing the end - felt it was stretching the story to add more pages when he could have been wrapped up sooner.  However - I liked the characters and was interested in seeing where the story was going.  In the end, it did come together, and I am glad I read it.

Stars: 4


Friday, January 17, 2025

Book: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

 Book: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

Author: Claire North

Pages: 405


This is my 14th read for the year

What Amazon Says:
No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, every time Harry dies, he always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life lived a dozen times before.  Nothing ever changes - until now.  As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his beside.  "I nearly missed you, Doctor August" she says.  "I need to send a message".  This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.

This was a pretty interesting book.  Even though it is a bit on the longer side, it is a quick read.  It gets a little quirkier as it goes along.  I liked the "grounds hog day" take on this story because he lives whole lifetimes.  Not just a day over and over.  The chase to get the guy who was trying to take out all the other travlers got a little odd but it ended well.  Glad I read it. 

Stars: 4




Thursday, January 16, 2025

Book: The Last Mrs. Parish

 Book: The Last Mrs. Parish

Author: Liv Constantine

Pages: 400


This is my 13th read for the year

What Amazon says:
Amber Patterson is fed up.  She's tired of being a nobody: a plain, invisible woman who blends into the background.  She deserves more - a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted.  To everyoe in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, CT, Daphne - a socialist and philanthropist - and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale.  Amber's envy could eat her alive - if she didn't have a plan.  Amber uses Daphne's compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family's life - the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her.  Before long, Amber is Daphne's closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson.  But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards, and if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces.  

This book was terrible.  It is bad writing, bad plot, and just bad all the way around.  I hated all of the characters.  I should have done a DNF - but I kept listening thinking maybe it will come around.  Never did.  By the end of the book I cared about none of it.

Stars: 1


Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Book: Clytemnestra

 Book: Clytemnestra

Author: Costanza Casati

Pages: 512


This is my 12th read for the year

What Amazon says:
You were born to a king, but you marry a tyrant.  You stand by helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods.  You watch him wage war on a foreign shore, and you comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own.  Because this was not the first offense against you.  This was not the life you ever deserved.  And this will not be your undoing.  Slowly, you plot.  But when your husband returns in triump, you become a woman with a choice.  Acceptance or vengeance, infamy follows both.  So, you bide your time and force the gods' hands in the game of retribution.  For you understood something long ago that the others never did.  If power isn't given to you, you have to take it for yourself.

This book was excellent.  I was captivated from the beginning to the end.  It is very well written and the characters are well developed.  I love how the author took a character from Greek Mythology and made her the main character.  All the women in this book are powerful who still have to deal with powerful men who try to make them less.  I love that Clytemenstra bides her time - using her power as a queen to build trust in her advisors and the people she rules.  Just a great story and I have a feeling this will be one of my favorite books this year.

Stars: 5


Book: Good Girl Bad Blood

 Book: Good Girl Bad Blood

Author: Holly Jackson

Pages: 416


This is my 11th read for the year

What Amazon says:
Pip is not a detective anymore.  With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcase about the murder case they solved together last year.  The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.  But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing.  Jamie Reynolds has disappeared, on the very same night the town hosted a memorial for the 6th year anniversary of the deaths of Andie Bell and Sal Singh.  The police won't do anything about it.  And if they won't look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town's dark secrets along the way....and this time everyone is listening.  But will she find him before it's too late?

This was an okay book.  I watched "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder" on TV and it was cute, so I decided to try the second book in the series.  It passed the time but that is about it.  I did listen to it, and I have gotten this particular narrator on so many books, and I really don't like her style.  She is a whisper reader.  That might have had a little to do with how I felt about the book, but not much.  It was a bit far fetched.  Pip was an okay character for awhile, but she just fell apart at the end.  I don't think I  will read any more.

Stars: 3


Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Book: Deadpool Graphic Novel - Book 2

 Book: Deadpool Graphic Novel - Book 2

Author: Daniel Way

Pages: 472


This is my 10th read for the year

What Amazon says:
Deadpool wants to be 2 things in life: a pirate and an X-Man.  So after a stint on the high seas, he decides to make the X-Men love him by assassinating the father of one of their students?  Then 'Pool pays a visit to a certain wisecracking wall-crawler's friendly neighborhood - or is it?  Deadpool doesn't play second banana to anyboyd, especially not Spider-Man!  But Wade had better deal if he wants to survive the threat of Hit-Monkey.  When Dr. Bong clones the Secret Avengers, Deadpool must fight alonside the real deals - and try not to shoot the wrong guys!  Plus: When Wade targets a Vegas club owner, he draws the ire of The House: a super-suited security guard with a secret history with the Merc with a Mouth!  And finally, a bunch of good Draculas hire Deadpool to fight a bunch of bad Draculas.

This was another great graphic novel.  I read the first volume that was lying around our house because Deadpool is my favorite anti-hero.  I like Daniel Way's take on the character so I went on the hunt for the second volume and it was hard to find.  I love the story line and of course Deadpool is hilarious.  Art is fantastic.  I do read a fair number of graphic novels during the year, but I not many Marvel.  But Deadpool is the exception.

Stars: 4


Monday, January 13, 2025

Book: Here One Moment

 Book: Here One Moment

Author: Liane Moriarty

Pages: 512


This is my 9th read for the year

What Amazon says:
The plane is jam-packed.  Every seat is taken.  So of course the flight is delayed.  Flight attendant Allegra Patel likes her job - she's generally happy with her life, even if she can't figure out why she hooks up with a man she barely speaks to - but today is her twenty-eighth birthday.  She can think of plenty of things she'd rather be doing than placating a bunch of grumpy passengers.  There's the well-dressed man in seat 4C who is compulsively checking his watch, desperate not to miss his 11 year old daughter's musical.  Further back, a mother of two is frantically trying to keep her toddler entertained and her infant son quiet.  How did she ever think being a stay-at-home mom would be easier than being a lawyer?  Ethan is lost in thought; he's flying back from his first funeral.  A young couple has just gotten married; she's still wearing her wedding dress.  An emergency room nurse is looking forward to traveling the world once she retires in a few years, it's going to be so much fun!  If they ever get off the tarmac...Suddenly a woman non of them know stands up.  She makes predictions about how and when everyone on board will die.  Some dismiss her.  Others will do everything they can to make sure her prophecies do not come to pass.  All of them will be forever changed.  How would you live your life if you thought you knew how it would end?  Would you love who you love or try ot love someone else?  Would you stay married?  Would you stop drinking?  Would you call up your ex-best friend you haven't spoken to in years?  Would you quit your job?

This was a pretty good book.  I listened to it, and I have to say I am glad I did.  I think hearing the different characters voices (and the cool Australian accent) made all the difference.  I streamed through it during a painting project.  There is good character developement and you spend a long time wondering if the predictions are going to come true as you learn more and more about the main characters and the woman who made the predictions.  Loved the epilogue.  I did find it could have been a little bit shorter - there was a lot of detail about the lives of all the characters that added some to the story, but just seemd to be filling pages more than really moving the story along.  Overall - a good read.

Stars: 4


Sunday, January 12, 2025

Book: Orbital

 Book: Orbital

Author: Samantha Harvey

Pages: 200


This is my 8th read for the year

What Amazon says:
Orbital snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men traveling through space.  Selected for one of the last space station missions of its kind before the program is dismantled, these astronauts and cosmonatus - from America, Russia, Italy, Britain, and Japan -have lef ttheir lives behind to travel at the speed of over seventeen thousand miles an hour as the earth reels below.  We glimpse moments of their earthly lives through brief communications with family, their photos and talismans; we watch them whip up dehydrated meals, float in gravity-free sleep, and exercise in regimented routines to prevent atrophying muscles; we witness them form bonds that will stand between them and utter solitude.  Most of all, we are with them as they behold and record their silent blue planet.  Their experiences of sixteen sunrises and sunsets and the bright, blinking constellations of the galaxy are at once breathtakingly awesome and surprsingly intimate. 

This was a pretty interesting book.  First - the cover is beautiful.  It is a very small book and a very quick read.  I read it in a day.  There is no plot and took me a bit to realize this was going to be the whole book.  It is more of a stream of consciousness about view of the earth from space and what the astronauts saw happening as they circled it again and again.  For a book like that - it could have been even shorted - maybe around 100-150 pages.  After awhile it seemed repetative.  That being said - there were some beautiful sentences and take aways from the book that I am glad I read it.

Stars: 3.5


Friday, January 10, 2025

Book: The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society

 Book: The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society

Author: Mary Anne Shaffer

Pages: 290


This is my 7th read for the year

What Amazon says:
January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject.  Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she's never met, a native of the island of Guernesy, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb.  As Juliet and her new correspondend exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends - and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is.  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - born as a spru-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island - boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, lterature lovers all.  Juliet beings a remarkable correspondence with the society's members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives.  Captivated by their stories, she sets saild for Guernesy, and what she finds will change her forever.

This was a pretty good book.  I might be a little gernous giving it 4 stars - it is more like a 3.5.  I did like the characters and the sweet town of Guernsey.  I could pictures the cute houses and the gathering of the Literary Society.  I did not like that the entire book was written in the style of letters back and forth between characters.  I felt that I couldn't really get into the story that way - it was choppy at best.  I also did not love the main character - Juliet.  She was fine, but some of the thing she did seemed way out there.  Adopting a little girl who she didn't know within a few weeks of being on the island?  And falling for a guy where the letters were just not giving any indication of their strong feelings at all.

anway - it was fine.  Cute story.  

Stars: 4


Book: Troublemaker

 Book: Troublemaker

Author: Leah Remini

Pages: 272


This is my 6th read for the year

What Amazon says:
Leah Remini has never been the type of hold her tongue.  That willingness to speak her mind, stand her ground, and rattle the occasional cage has enabled this tough-talking girl from Brooklyn to forge an enduring and successful career in Hollywood.  But being a troublemaker has come at a cost.  That was never more evidet than in 2013, when Remini loudly and publicly broke with the Church of Scientology.  Now, in this memoir, the former King of Queens star opens up about that experience for the first time, revealing the in-depth details of her painful split with the church and its controversial practices.  Indocrinated into the church as a child while living with her mother and sister in New York, Remini eventually moved to Los Angeles, where her dreams of becoming an actress and advancing Scientology's causes grew increasingly intertwined.  As an adult, she found th success she'd worked so hard for, and with it a prominent place in the hierarchy of celebrity Scientologists alongside people such as Tom Cruise, Scientology's most high-profile adherent.  Remini spent time directly with Cruise and was included among the guests at his 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes.  But when she bean to raise questions about some of the church's actions, she found herself a target.  In the end, she was declared by the church to be a threat to their organization and therefore a "Suppressive Person" and as a result all of her fellow parishioners - including members of her own family - were told to disconnect from her.  Forever.

This was a pretty good book.  I watched King of Queens, and while I found her character...."alot" - I still enjoyed the show over the years.  This book is almost 9 years old, and she has been out of scientology for over a decade, but I had no idea she was a scientologist or what all she and her family went through over the years.  Learning a bit about the inner workings of this so called church was interesting.  I would say the hardest part was that Leah seems to be know to be quiet difficult and she does a lot of complaining in this book that seemed a bit over the top.  I am sure I am being too harsh a judge.  She was in this church for 30 years and gave them a lot of time and money, so she has a right to be angry.  It just seemed to be a bit much.  OVerall, though - glad I read it.

Stars: 3


Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Book: The Briar Club

 Book: The Briar Club

Author: Kate Quinn

Pages: 432


This is my 5th read for the year

What Amazon says:
Washington, DC, 1950.  Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a donw-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation's capital where secrets hide behind white picket fences.  But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic room, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss, whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; policeman's daughter Nora, who finds herself entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Beatrice, whose career has come to an end along with the women's baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy's Red Scare.  Grace's weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun teac become a healing  balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own.  When a shocking act of violence tears the house apart, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: who is the true enemy in their midst?

This was a great book.  I read it in a few short days  - finding all kinds of time to keep reading instead of doing anything else.  The characters are well developed and I loved that each character got their own chapter so we learned their backstory and how they came to be at the boarding house.  Grace was my favorite character - how she took a so-so situation and turned it into a home bringing every character (even Arlene in the end) into the fold of what it is to be in a found family.  The story flowed nicely, and the ending wasn't all that surprising, but that didn't take away from anything.  And I liked the long author's note at the end where she explains where she got the inspriation throughout history for her characters.  Another great Kate Quinn read.

Stars: 5


Book: The Secret History

 Book: The Secret History

Author: Donna Tartt

Pages: 576


This is my 4th read for the year

What Amazon says:
Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries.  But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality.

This book was just eh.  I cannot quite figure out what all the hype was about - it was boring and dry and I couldn't wait for it to end.

Stars: 2

Monday, January 6, 2025

Book: The Frozen River

 Book: The Frozen River

Author: Ariel Lawhorn

Pages: 448


This is my 3rd read for the year

Amazon says:
Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death.  As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell.  Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community.  Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an elleged rape committed by two of the town's most respected gentlemen - one of whom has now been found dead in the ice.  But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.  Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth.  Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.  

This was a great book.  The story was a page turner from the beginning and continued so to the end.  Litte chapter cliff hangers here and there had me putting off doing other things to keep reading.  The writing is well done and the women characters are very likable as are Martha's husband and sons.  The evil man in this book is extremely evil.  It almost makes you cringe.  There is a bit of over explaining of different things, but on the whole - a nicely put together story.  Funny enough -my favorite part of the book was the author's talk at the end of the book where she talks about how she came about writing this book about a real person (Martha Ballard) and making it the most fictionalized version of a real person she has ever done.  It was fascinating and now I must read the biographical book on Martha Ballard to learn about this woman who did deliver over 1000 babies and who was a part of this towns murder and rape trial.

Stars: 4.5


Sunday, January 5, 2025

Book: Killers of the Flower Moon

 Book: Killers of the Flower Moon

Author: David Grann

Pages: 416


This is my 2nd book of the year

What Amazon says:
In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma.  After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.  Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off.  The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkahrt, became a prime target.  One of her relatives was shot.  Another was poisoned.  And it was just the beginning, as more and more Osage were dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themseles murdered.  As the death toll rose, the newly created FBI took up the case, and the young director, J. EDgar Hoover, turned to the former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try and unravel the mystery.  White put together an undercover team, including a Native American agent who infiltrated the region, and together with the Osage began to expose one of the most chilling conspriacies in American history.

This was a pretty good book.  It is a story I knew nothing about (I have not seen the movie) and the information was facinating and disturbing.  I knew nothing of the murders of the Osage but have heard of the tribe.  It is pretty well written, and informational and educational.  I will say it was a little dry in spots and I found myself having to walk away and come back because the underlining story should be read.  It should be known.  So I am glad I read it.

Stars: 4


Thursday, January 2, 2025

Book: James

 Book: James

Author: Percival Everett

Pages: 303


This is my 1st book for the new year

Last year I started to copy the summaries from Amazon because I read so much and it just is a step I don't always want to take to do myself.  I am going to continue that this year.

What Amazon says:
When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan.  Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own deather to escape his violent father, recently returned to town.  As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.  

I thought this was a great book.  I read it over the course of 2 days because I found it an interesting and easy read.  I liked that James was basically two people - a person who whites thought was an uneducated slave and the one where he speaks intelligently and knowledgable.  It allowed me to give good thought to how it might have been for a lot of slaves of this time period.  I thought the writing was good and James a very likable character.  Two parts brought my review down a star and that was 1) where James is in an accident where a furnace explodes while he is in the room and he is barely injured while others were killed.  2) The ending wrapped up way too quickly.  I would have liked more.  Overall - so glad I read it to start 2025.

Stars: 4