Book Challenge 2022: A Book About The Afterlife: Spook

 Book: Spook

Author: Mary Roach

Pages: 311

This is my 2nd read for the year

The author takes a year long look at what happens when we die.  She explores what people believe happens to them - if some sort of our selves continue on after this life is over.  She speaks to scientist, mediums, schemers and engineers all trying to prove - or disprove - that there is "life" after death.

I love Roach's books.  My favorite genre is non-fiction, and her novels never disappoint.  She is funny and thorough in her research.  The writing is wonderful as always.  This is my 3rd book of hers that I have read (I highly recommend her others "Stiff", and "Fuzz").  We all long to know what is going to happen after we die.  She approaches each person she talks to with an open mind.  While you might not come away from this book with feelings one way or another, it was an entertaining read.  I had no idea there were so many people out there doing research to try and get to the bottom of that long unanswered question.

Good read.  I am looking forward to reading her next book.

Stars: 4

Book Challenge 2022: A Book About A Secret: Frankenstein

 Book: Frankenstein

Author: Mary Shelley

Pages: 207

This is my 1st book of the year

This is the story of Victor Frankenstein - a scientist who created an unnamed creature as an experiment.  Victor is horrified by what he creates and shuns it to an unkind world.  Thus what begins is constant rejection based on how the creature looks to humans and people are killed in the creature's revenge.  Victor catches up with his creation to try and find out what it wants and when he refuses the creature's request, the creature vows to take away everything Victor loves.

This book is one that I have wanted to read, but have never gotten to before.  I received a leather bound addition as a present and decided it was time to tackle it.  The writing is wonderful.  I have never seen the movie, but in doing some research have found that the creature in Mary Shelley's novel is very different than the non-verbal, grunting creature in the film.  This creature is eloquent in speech and his desires for companionship.  For an author who wrote this in 1817 at the age of 18, it is truly impressive.  She wrote it as a competition with w friend and it sets in motion one of the first science fiction novels.

Glad I read it - it wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be.  A good book to add to the shelf.

Stars: 4

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.

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

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

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