Book: The Rule of Four

 Book: The Rule of Four

Author: Ian Caldwell

Pages: 373

This is my 230th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

It's Easter at Princeton.  Seniors are scramblinb to finish their theses.  And two students, Tom Sullivan, and Paul Harris, are a hair's breadth from solving the mysteries of the Hynerotomachia Poliphili - a renowned test attributed to an Italian nobleman, a work that has baffled scholars since its publication in 1499.  For Tom, their research has been a link to his family's past - and an obstacle to the woman he loves.  For Paul, it has become an obsession, the very reason for living.  But as their deadline looms, research has stalled - until a long-lost diary surfaces with a vital clue.  And when a ellow researcher is murdered just hours later, Tom and Paul realize that they are not the first to glimpse the Hypnerotomachia's secrets.  Suddently the stakes are raised, and as the two friends sift through the codes and riddles at the heart of the text, they are beginning to see the manuscript in a new light - not simply as a story of faith, eroticism and pedantry, but as a bizarre, coded mathematical maze.  And as they come closer and closer to deciphering the final puzzle of a book that has shattered careers, friendships and families, they know that their own lives are in mortal danger.  Because at least one person has been killed for knowing too much.  And they know even more.

Stars: 3.5 

Book: The Life Imposible

 Book: The Life Impossible

Author: Matt Haig

Pages: 336

This is my 229th read this year

What Amazon Says:

When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her.  She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebookk and no plan.  Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend's life, and how it ended.  What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed.  But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.

Stars: 4

Book: Famous Last Words

 Book: Famous Last Words

Author: Gilian McAllister

Pages: 336

This is my 228th read for this year

What Amazon Says:

It is June 21st, the longest day of the year, and new mother Camilla's life is about to change forever.  After months of maternity leave, she will drop her infant daughter off at daycare for the first time and return to her job as a literary agent.  Finally.  But, when she waktes, her husband Luke isn't there, and in his place is a cryptic note.  Then it starts.  Breaking news:  There's a hostage situation developing in London.  The police arrive, and tell her Luke is involved.  But he isn't a hostage.  Her husband - doting father, eternal optimist - is the gunman. What she does next is crucial.  Becasue only she knows what clue lies in the note he left behind.

Stars: 4

Book: Cycle of The Werewolf

 Book: Cycle of the Werewolf

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 150

This is my 227th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Terror began in January - by the light of the full moon.  The first scream came from the snowbound railwayman who felt the werewolf's fangs ripping at his throat.  The next month there was a scream of ecstatic agony from the woman attacked in her cozy bedroom.  Now scenes of unbelievable horrow unfolded each time the full moon shines on the isolated Main town of Tarker's Mills.  No one knows who will be attacked next.  But one this is sure.  When the full moon rises, a paralyzing fear sweeps through Tarker's Mills.  For snarls that sound like human words can be heard whining through the wind.  And all around are the footprints of a monster whose hunger cannot be sated.

Stars: 4 

Book: Deadpool Death of Wade Wilson

 Book: Deadpool Death of Wade Wilson

Author: Cody Ziglar

Pages: 112

This is my 226th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Wade Wilson triumphed against Death Grip!  Killing Deadpool now would be an INSANE thing to do, right?  Well, that's exacctly why we're doing it!

Stars: 4

Book: Deadpool Blood Bond

 Book: Deadpool Blood Bond

Author: Cody Ziglar

Pages: 128

This is my 225th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

There's a wild ride in store for Deadpool when a terrifying new villain enters the scene - one who won't stop until he catches Wade Wilson in his Death Grip!  But all work and no play makes Deadpool a very dead boy!

Stars: 4

Book: A Grim Reaper's Guide to Cheating Death

 Book: A Grim Reaper's Guide to Cheating Death

Author: Maxie Dara

Pages: 288

This is my 224th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Nora Bird works for SCYTHE, which might seem odd for someone as terrified of death as she is.  But even since her parents died in an accident when she was six, she's been obsessed with avoiding risk, and what better place to learn how to cheat death than the company that employs the nation's grim reapers?  The work enables Nora to learn all about the myraid ways you can kick the bucket, which is comforting - until one day, a file crosses her desk with a name sh recognizes.  Her twin brother's.  The twins haven't spoken in six months, but Charlie is all Nora has left.  Completely against her cautious nature, Nora steals the file and flees, racing to her brother's house.  She begs him to trust her that his death is imminent, and they hit the road (with his parrot, JEssica, who has plenty to say) in an attempt to evade both death and SCYTHE, whose sole mission of collecting souls has been disrupted by Charlie's continued existence.  Alas, every time Nora saves him, a new cause of death appears in his file.  Someone is determined to take Charlie out, and Nora will have to use everything she's ever learned about death to discover the culprit.

Stars: 3.5

Book: Bad Monkey

 Book: Bad Monkey

Author: Carl Hiaasen

Pages: 336

This is my 223rd read for the week

What Amazon Says:

Andrew Yancy - late of the Miami Police and soon-to-be-late of the Monroe County sheriff's office - has a human arm in his freezer.  There's a logical explanation for that, but not for how and why it parted from its shadowy owner.  Yancy thinks the boating-accident/shark-luncheon explanation is full of holes, and if he can prove murder, the sheriff  might rescue him from his grisly Health Inspector gig.  But first - Yancy must negotiate an obstacle course of wildly unpredictable events with a crew of even more wildly unpredictable characters, including his just-ex lover, a hot-bloded fugitive from Kansas; the twitchy widow of the frozen arm; two avariciously optimistic real-estate speculators; the Bahamian voodoo witch known as the Dragon Queen whose suitors are blinded until death by her peculiar charms;  Yancy's new true love, a kinky coroner; and the eponymous bad monkey, with hilarious aplomb.

Stars: 4

Book: Curtain

 Book: Curtain

Author: Agatha Christie

Pages: 240

This is my 222nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

The crime-fighting careers of Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings have come full circle - they are back once again in the rambling country house in which they solved their first muder togehter.  Both Hercule Poirot and Great Styles have seen better days - but, despite being crippled with arthritis, there is nothing wrong with the great detective and his "little gray cells"  However, when Poirot brands one of the seemingly harmless guest a 5 time murderer, some people have their doubts.  But Porot alone knows he must prevent a 6th murder before the curtain falls.

Stars: 4 

Book: You Died

 Book: You Died

Author: Several

Pages: 253

This is my 221st read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Death - the one aspect of life we all have in common - is waiting for everyone, yet our practices, beliefs, myths, and stories about it are as diverse as we are.  YOU DIED celebrates these vibrant cultural expressions of the great equalizer in a thrilling, life-affirming whilwind of a book, an inspriational volume to be treaured through times of both loss and abundance. 

Stars: 3.5

Book: Squeeze me

 Book: Squeeze Me

Author: Carl Hiaasen

Pages: 352

This is my 220th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

It's the height of the Palm Beach charity ball season: for every disease or cause, there's a reason for the local luminaries to eat (minimally), drink maximally, and be seen.  But when a prominent high-society dowager suddenly vanishes during a swank gala, and is later found dead in a concrete grave, panic nd chaos erupt.  Kiki Pew was notable not just for her wealth and her jewels - she was an ardent fan of the Winter White House resident just down the road, and a founding member of the POTUSSIES, a group of women dedicated to supporting their President.  Never one to miss an opportunity to play to his base, the President immediately declares that Kiki was the victim of rampaging immigrant hordes.  This it turns out, is far from the truth.  The truth might just lie in the middle of the highway, where a bazarre discovery brings the First Lady's motorcade to a grinding halt (followed by some grinding between the First Lady and a love-struck Secret Sevice agent).  Enter Angie Armstrong, wildlife wrangler extraordinaire, who arrives at her own conclusions after she is summoned to the posh island to deal with a mysterious and impolite influx of huge, hungry pythons.  

Stars: 4

Book: The Lost Story

 Book: The Lost Story

Author: Meg Shaffer

Pages: 352

This is my 219th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they'd gone or how they'd survived.  15 years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months.  Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons' investigator.  With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Eilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.  Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beautyf and terrible danger.  He believes it is there that they will find Emilie's sister.  However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons.  But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie's sister begins.  The former lost boys much confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.  Alonside the headstonr Emilies, Rafe and JEremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for 6 months - for only then can they get back everything and everyohne they've lost.

Stars: 3

Book: Abscond

 Book: Abscond

Author: Abraham Verghese

Pages: 38

This is my 218th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

It's a New Jersey summer in 1967, and 13 year old Ravi Ramanathan has the makings of a tennis prodigy.  His surgeon father encourages his ambition, while his mother dreams of their only child following his father's path.  Surrounded by his parents' love, RAvi chafes a bit at their daily routines and little traditions.  Then one unexpected day, everything changes.  Realizing how much he took for granted, RAvi must grow up overnight and find a new rold in the life of his family.

Stars: 4.5

Book: Hamnet

 Book: Hamnet

Author: Maggie O'Farrell

Pages: 320

This is my 217th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

England, 1580: The Black Death creeps across the land, and ever-present threat, infection the healthy, the sick, the old and the young alike.  The end of days is near, but life always goes on.  A young Latin ttor - penniless and bullied by a violent father - falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young woman.  Agnes is a wild creature who walks her family's land with a falcon on her glove and is known throughout the countryside for her unusual gifts as a healer, understanding plants and poitons better than she does people.  Once she settles with her husband on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon, she becomes a fiercely protective mother and a steadfast, centrifugal force in the life of her young husband, whose career on the London stage is just taking off when his beloved young son succumbs to a sudden fever.

Stars: 4

Book: Ink and Shadows

 Book: Ink and Shadows

Author: Ellery Adams

Pages: 304

This is my 216th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Known for her window displays, Nora Pennington decides to showcase fictional heroines like Roald Dahl's Matilda and Madeline Miller's Circe for Halloween.  But a family-values group disapproves of the magical themes and wastes no time launching a modern-day witch hunt.  Suddenly, former friends and customers are targeting not only Nora and Miracle Books, but a new shopkeeper, Celeste, who's been selling CBD oil products.  Noral and her friends in the Secret, Book, and Scone Society are doing their best to put an end to the strife - but then someone puts and end to a life.  Declared an accident, the ruling can't explain the old book page covered with strange symbols and disturbing drawings left under Nora's doormat.  It's up to Nora and the Secret, Book, and Scone society to sort out the clues before more bodies turn up and the secrets from Celeste's past come back to haunt them all.

Stars: 3.5 

Book: King Sorrow

 Book: King Sorrow

Author: Joe Hill

Pages: 896

This is my 215th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Arthur Oakes is a reader, a dreamer, and a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters, exceptional library, and beautiful buildings.  But his idyll - and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot - is shattered when a local drug dealer and her partner corner him into one of the worst crimes he can imagine:  stealing rare books from the college library.  Trapped and desperate, ARthur turns to his closest friends for comfort and help.  Together they dream up a wild, fantastical scheme to free Arthur from the cruel trap in which he finds himself.  Wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren suggests using the unnving Crane journal (bound in the skin of its author) to summon a dragon to do their bidding.  The others - brave, beautiful Alison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBridge; and brainy, bold Gwen - don't hesitate to join Colin in an effort to smash reality and bring a creature of the impossible into our world.  But there's nothing simple about dealing with dragons, and their pace to save Arthur becomes a terrifying bargain in which the 6 must choose a new sarifice for King Sorrow every year - or become his next meal.

Stars: 4.5

Book: The Violin Conspiracy

 Book: The Violin Conspiracy

Author: Brendan Slocumb

Pages: 352

This is my 214th read for the year

What Amazon Says

Growing up Black in rural North Carolina, Ray McMillian's life is already mapped out.  But Ray has a gift and a dream - he's determined to become a world-class professional violinist, and nothing will stand in his way.  Not his mother, who wants him to stop making such a racket; not the fact that he can't afford a violin suitable to his talents; not even the racism inherent in the world of classical music.  When he discovers that his beat-up, family fiddle is actually a pricelss Stradivarius, all his dreams suddenly seem within reach, and together, Ray and his violin take the world by storm.  But on the ee of the renowned and cutthroat Tchaikovsky Competition - the Olympics of classical music - the violin is stolen, a ransom note for 5 million dollars left in its place.  Without it, Ray feels like he's lost a piece of himself.  As the comptetition approaches, Ray must not only reclaim his precious violin, but prove to himself - and the world - that no matter the outcome, there has always been a truly great musician within him.

Not well written.  Was a bit all over the place.  I liked the idea of it.  Author is a musician, but just not a great writer.  Unrealistic in some aspects of the book

Stars: 2.5

Book: The Letter Slot

 Book: The Letter Slot

Author: Owen King

Pages: 40

This is my 213th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

A helping hand, a fateful cost.  In this ominous short story, the cost of living keeps rising - an it collects payment from the soul.  Sensing his mother's failing health, a struggling teenager pours out his worries in a letter and drops it through the mail slot of an abandoned show house.  He's surprised when a response arrives, promising good fortune for the price of just one name: someone he hates.  He'd give anything for his mother.  But the true cost may be more than he's willing to pay.

Stars: 4

Book: The Loop

 Book: The Loop

Author: Jeremy Johnson

Pages: 320

This is my 212th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Turner Falls is a small tourist town nestled in the hills of central Oregon.  When a terrifying outbreak rapidly develops, this idyllic town becomes the epicenter of an epidemic of violence.

Stars: 2

Book: Sherlock Holmes and The Christmas Demon

 Book: Sherlock Holmes and The Christmas Demon

Author: James Lovegrove

Pages: 384

This is my 211th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

It is 1890, and in the days before Christmas Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson are visited at Baker Street by a new client.  Eve Allerthorpe - eldest daugheter of a grand but somewhat eccentric Yorkshire-based dynasty - is greatly distressed, as she believes she is being haunted by a demonic Christmas spirit.  Her late mother told her terrifying tales of the sinister Black Thurrick, and Eve is sure that she has seen the creature from her bedroom window.  What is more, she has begun to receive mysterious parcels of birch, twigs, the Black Thurrick's calling card....  Eve stands to inherit a fortune if she is sound in mind, but it seems that something - or soeone - is threatening her sanity.  Holmes and Watson travel to the Allerthorpe family seat at Fellscar Keep to investigate, but soon discover that there is more to the case than at first appeared.  There is another spirit haunting the family, and when a member of the household is found dead, the companions realise that no one is beyond suspicion.

Stars: 4

Book: Jack Knife

 Book: Jack Knife

Author: Joe Hill

Pages: 45

This is my 210th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Ruined by scandal, Dennis Lange is hoping for a comeback.  Selling the story of a cursed tree could make his future - if it doesn't kill him.  Dennis awakens something evil when he removes a decades-old jackknife from the trunk of a gnarled old sycamore.  Once pinned in place - now thoughtlessly freed - the tree returns to its roots.  An act of vigilante justic took place under its boughs long ago.  But its taste for blood has only grown stronger.

Stars: 4

Book: The Rom Commers

 Book: The Rom Commers

Author: Katherine Center

Pages: 325

This is my 209th read for the year

What Amazon says:

Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She's spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies - good ones!  That win contests!  But she's also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care.  Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates - The Charlie Yates!  Her personal writing god! - it's a break too big to pass up.  Emma's younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to LA for 6 weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime.  But what is it they say?  Don't meet your heroes?  Charlie Yates doesn't want to write with anyone - much less "a failed, nobody screenwriter".  Worse, the romantic comedy he's written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse.  Plus!  He doens't even care about the script - it's just a means to get a different one green-lit.  Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.  But Emma's not going down without a fight.  She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself.  She will convince him that love stories matter - even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it.  But what if that kiss is accidentally amazing?  What if real life turns out to be so much - more real than fiction?What if the love story they're writing breaks all Emma's rules - and comes true?

Ridiculous story and completely unbelievable.  Seriously - a really famous writer just invites this girl in?  And has a "real life"?  Come on.  Think James Cameron.  IF you read this book - would you think that someone like James Cameron has a life like Charlie Yates?  No.  No he does not.  And I have a family friend who has Meniere's disease and she lives a very full life.  She is independent, travels (even abroad), and does not need to be watched 24/7.  That was the most ridiculous part.

Stars: 2 

Book: For A Limited Time Only

 Book: For A Limited Time Only

Author: Peng Shepherd

Pages: 39

This is my 208th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

A time-traveling salesman searches for the moments that truly matter in this poignant short story.  Russ commutes to work - not acros town but through time.  An ambitious employee stuck in ORacle Marketing Solutions' mundane "near past" division, he longs for the excitement of ancient eras and distant futures.  But Oracle's secretive management has refused every one of his transfer requests, and Russ cannot understand why - until h makes a devastating discovery about his own timeline.

Stars: 4

Book: Christmas Shopaholic

 Book: Christmas Shopaholic

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Pages: 448

This is my 207th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

'Tis the season for change and Becky Brandon is embracing it, returning from the States to live in the charming village of Letherby and working with her best friend, Suze, in the gift shop of Suze's stately home.  Life is good, especially now that Becky takes time every day for mindfulness - even if that only means listening to a meditation tape while hunting down online bargains.  But Becky still adores the traditions of Christmas: Her parents hosting, carols playing on repeat, her mother pretending she made the Christmas pudding, and the neighbors coming round for sherry in thr terrible holiday sweaters.  Things are looking cherrier than ever, until Becky's parents announce they're movingto ultra-trendy Shoreditch - unable to resist the draw of craft beer and smashed avacados - and ask Becky if she'll host this year.  What could possibly go wrong? Becky's sister demands a vegan turkey, her husban insists that he just wants aftershave (again), and little Minnie need a very specific hamper.  Surely Becky can manage all this as well as the surprise appearance of an old boyfriend-turned-rock star and his pushy new girlfriend, whose motives are far from clear.  But as the countdown to Christmas begins and her bighearted plans take an unexpected turn toward disaster, Becky wonders if chaos will ensue, or if she'll manage to bring comfort and joy to Christmas after all.

Stars: 3

Book: The Book of Candlelight

 Book: The Book of Candlelight

Author: Ellery Adams

Pages: 322

This is my 206th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Nora Pennington figures all the wet weather this spring is at least good for business.  The local inns are packed with stranded travelers, and among them Nora finds new customers for her store, Miracle Books.  Since a little rain never hurt anyone, Nora rides her bike over to the flea market one sodden day and buys a bowl of Danny, a Cherokee potter.  But the next day, after Miracle River overflows its banks, and Danny's body is found floating within the churning waters, Nora decides it's time for the Secret, Book, and Scone Society to spring into action.  A cruicial clue may lie within the stone walls of the Inn of Mist and Roses; a diary, over a century old and spattered with candle wax, that leads Nora and her friends through a maze of intrigue - and onto the trail of a murder. 

Stars: 4

Book: All Manner of Thing Shall Be

 Book: All Manner of Thing Shall Be

Author: Olivie Blake

Pages: 46

This is my 205th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

A group of vampirical frenemies come face to face with their immortality in this off-the-beaten-tiemline short story.  What do you get when you throw together a PTA president, a dissipated rake, a poor little match-girl, a colonial nun, and an elderly revolutionary?  No, it's not the start of a joke; it's the cast of undead characters sharing a Victorian mansion in Santa Monica, California.  The motley housemates can usually keep the bickering to a minimum - but when their classing personalities get stuck in a rut, they suffer what could be a terminal case of deja vu.

Stars: 1

Book: A Visit To The Husband Archive

 Book: A Visit to The Husband Archive

Author: Kaliane Bradley

Pages: 33

This is my 204th read for the year

What amazon says:

A woman discovers her hidden potential in this dystopian short story about memory, identity, and imagination.  Nobody likes being on agricultural rotation, and with this heat wave, it's almost more than Ester can take.  She's itching for something she can't put words to - something she has no memory of wanting.  But then, she can't remember much beyond the past couple of years.  She's sent to the husband archive for a cure, but the man she checks out comes with baggage: stacks and stacks of paper he calls "books" What thye teach each other may prove hard to forget.

Stars: 2.5

Book: The Little Match Girl

 Book: The Little Match Girl

Author: Hans Christian Andersen

Pages: 32

This is my 203rd read for the year

Stars: 4.5

Book: Cronus

 Book: Cronus

Author: P. Djeli Clark

Pages: 48

This is my 202nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

A young Black woman challenges the indignity f a segregated dystopian futre and exposes a time-bending secret in this dark, defiant short story.  The year is 2030.  Annabeth works a stable job at CRONUS, a time travel company that caters to wealthy clients.  Life is harsh, but she's willing to keep her head down - until a vision of a past that never happened leads her to question everything she knows.  They call it madness, but she'll learn to call it memory.

Stars: 4

Book: Making Space - The Time Traveler's Passport

 Book: Making Space - The Time Traveler's Passport

Author: RF Kuang

Pages: 32

This is my 201st read for the year

What Amazon Says:

A childless couple take in a mysterious boy in this ominous short story about parenthood, sacrifice, and our responsibility to the future.  Jess desperately wants to be a mother, so when she discovers a young boy lost in the woods near her home, her heart goes out to him.  The boy, who Jess and her husband call "Buddy", can't tell them his name or anything about his family, but he's clearly been through a lot.  When her husband cautions her not to get too involved, Jess brushes him off.  She would do anything for this child - and soon, she'll have to prove it.

Stars: 3.5

Book: Hearts In Atlantis

 Books: Hearts in Atlantis

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 688

This is my 200th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Innocence, experience, truth, deceit, loss, and recovery are at the core of these 5 interconnected, sequential tales - each deeply rooted in the 1960s, and each scarred by the Vietnam War, which continues to cast its shadow over American lives, politics, and culture.  In Part one, "Low Men in Yellow Coats", 11 year old Bobby Garfield discovers a world of predatory malice in his own neighborhood.  He also discovers that adults are sometimes not rescurers but at the heart of the terror.  In the title story, a bunch of college kids get hooked on a card game, discover the possibility of protest, and confront their own collective heart of darkness, where laughter may be no more than the thinly disguised cry of the beast.  In "Blind Willie and "Why We're in Vietnam", 2 men who grew up with Bobby in suburban Connecticut try to fill the emptiness of the post-Vietnam era in an America which sometimes seems as hollow - and as haunted - as their own lives.  And in "Heavently Shades of Night Are Falling", this remarkable book's denouement, Bobby returns to his hometown where one final secret, the hope of redemption, and his heart's desire may await him.

Stars: 4

Book: Different Seasons

 Book: Different Seasons

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 608

This is my 199th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

This gripping collection begins with "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption", in which an unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge.  Next is "Apt Pupil" the inspiration for the film of the same name about top high school student Todd Bowden and his obsession with the dark and deadly past of an older man in town.  In "The Body" four rambunctiou young boys plunge through the facade of a small town and coe face-to-face with life, death, and intimations of their own mortality.  This novella became the movie Stand By Me.  Finally, a disgraced woman is determined to triumph over death in "The Breathing Method".

Stars: 4.5

Book: The Whispered Word

 Book: The Whispered Word

Author: Ellery Adams

Pages: 304

This is my 198th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Nora Pennington, owner of Miracle Books, believes that a well-chosen novel can bring healing and hope.  But she and the other members of the Secret, book, and Scone Society know that sometimes, practical help is needed too.  Such is the case with the reed-thin girl hiding in the fiction section of Nora's store, wearing a hospital ID and a patchwork of faded bruises.  She calls herself Abilene, and though Nora and her friends offer work, shelter, and a supportive ear, their guest isn't ready to divulge her secrets.  But when a customer is found dead in an assumed suicide, Nora uncovers a ocnnection that points to Abilene as either a suspect - or another target.  Summer's end has brought other new arrivals to Miracle Springs too.  Entrepreneur Griffin Kingsley opens Virtual Genie, a cyber business that unloads people's unwanted goods for cash.  With the town in an economic slump and folks hurting for money, Virtual Genie and its owner are both instantly popular.  A patient listener, Griffin dispenses candy to children and strong coffee to adults, and seems like a bona fide gentleman.  But Nora's not inclined to judge a book by its cover.  And when a second death hits town, Nora and her intrepid friends must help the new, greenhorn sheriff discern fact from fiction - and stop a killer intent on bringing another victims story to a close.

Stars: 4

Book: The Three Lives of Cate Kay

 Book: The Three Lives of Cate Kay

Author: Kate Fagan

Pages: 304

This is my 197th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Cate Kay knows how to craft a story.  As the creator of a bestselling book triogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she's one of the most successful authors of her generation.  The thing is, Cake Kay doesn't really exist.  She's never attended author events or granted any interviews.  Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now.  As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda fantasized escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars.  But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future.  But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she'll be a whole person again.

Stars: 2.5

Book: Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man

 Book: Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man

Author: Jesse Sutanto

Pages: 336

This is my 196th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Ever since a man was found dead in Vera's teahouse, life has been good.  For Vera that is.  She's surrounded by loved ones, her shop is bustling, and best of all, her son, Tily, has a girlfriend!  All thanks to Vera, because Tilly's girlfriend is none other than Officer Selena Gray.  The very same Officer Gray that she has harassed while investigating the teahouse murder.  Still, Vera wishes more dead bodies would pop up in her shop, but one mustn't be ungrateful, even if one is slightly bored.  Then Vera comes across a distressed young woman who is obviously in need of her kindly guidance.  The young woman is looking for a missing friend.  Fortunately, while cat-sitting at Tily and Selena's Vera finds a treasure trove:  Selena's brieftcase.  Inside is a file about the death of an enigmatic influencer - who also happens to be the friend that the young woman was looking for.  Online, Xander had it all:  a parade of private jets, fabulous parties with socialites, and a burgeoning career as a social media influencer.  The only problem is, after his body is fished out of Mission Bay, the police can't seem to actually identify him.  Who is Xander Lin?  Nobody knows.  Every contact is a dead end.  Everybody claims not to know him, not even his parents.  Vera is determined to solve Xander's murder.  After all, doing so would surely be a big favor to Selena, and there is nothing she wouldn't do for her future daughter-in-law.

Stars: 3

Book: Radium Girls

 Book: Radium Girls

Author: Kate Moore

Pages: 400

This is my 195th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community.  From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War.  Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil midst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories.  The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night life industrious fireflies.  With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" are the luckiest alive - until they begin to fall mysteriously ill.  But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women's cries of corruption.  And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find theselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America's early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights that will echo for centuries to come.  

Very interesting story.  Unbelievable that the girls who worked in these dial factorise used to put the brushes in their mouths to make the painting percise.  Killed so many women.  Intersesting name drop in this book (besides the Curies'):  Dr. Ewing treated many of these women and Ewing's sacroma is what is named after him.  

Stars: 4

Book: End of Story

 Book: End of Story

Author: AJ Finn

Pages: 416

This is my 194th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

So writes Sebastian Trapp, reclusive mystery novelist, to his longtime correstpondent Nicky Hunter, an expert in detective fiction.  With mere months to live, Trapp invites Nicky to his spectacular San Francisco mansion to help draft his life story - while living alongside his beautiful second wife, Diana: his wayward nephew, Freddy; and his protective daughter, Madeleine.  Soon Nicky finds herself caught in an irresistible case of real-life "detective-fever".  Twenty years earlier - on New Year's Eve 1999- Sebastian's first wife and teenage son vanished from different locations, never to be seen again.  Did the perfect crime writer commit the perfect crime?  And why has he emerged from seclusion, 2 decades later, to allow a stranger to dig into his past?  As Nicky attempts to weave together the strands of Sebastian's life, she becomes obsessed with discovering the truth - while Madeleine begins to question what her beloved father might actually know about that long ago night.  And when a corpse appears in the family's koi pond, both women are shocked to find that the past isn't gone - it's just waiting.

Stars: 2.5

Book: Broken Country

 Book: Broken Country

Author: Clair Leslie Hall

Pages: 320

This is my 193rd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on ht epast staying buried.  But when Beth's brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn't realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives.  For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager - the man who broke her heart years ago.  Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.  As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel's life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences.  Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

Stars: 4.5

Book: Indigo Room

 Book: The Indigo Room

Author: Stephen Graham Jones

Pages: 35

This is my 192nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Don't lose your head over office politics - the horros of the modern workplace meet actual horror in a fiendishly entertaining short story.  When the lights go out and the slideshos begins, middle manager, Jennifer, has a disturbing vision: a headless colleague right across the boardroom table.  Is it a trick of the light, or a vision of the future?  She tries to brush it off and salvage the afternoon - but when her ex unexpectedly drops off her son at the office after school, suddently her whole world takes an alarming turn.

Stars. 2.5 

Book: The Strength of the Few

 Book: The Strength of the Few

Author: James Islington

Pages: 736

This is my 191st read for the year

What Amazon Says

The Hierarchy still call me Vis Telimus.  Still hail me as Catenicus.  They still, as one, believe they know who I am.  But with all that has happened - with what I fear is coming - I am not sure it matters anymore.  I am no longer one.  I won te ludicium, and lost everything - and now, impossibly, the ancient device beyond the Labyrinth has replicated me across three separate worlds.  A different version of myself in each of Obiteium, LEceum, and Res.  Three different bodies, three different lives.  I have to hide; fight; play politics.  I have to train;trust;lie.  I have to kill;heal;prove myself again and again and again.  I am loved, and hated, and entirely alone.  Above all, though, I need to find answers before it's too late.  To understand the nature of what has happened to me, and why.  I need to find a way to stop the coing Cataclysm, because all I have learned is true, I may be the only one who can.

Stars: 4.5

Book: The Correspondent

 Book: The Correspondent

Author: Virginia Evans

Pages: 304

This is my 190th read for the year

What Amazon says:

Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person.  It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdoe of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime.  Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it.  Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters - to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audti a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurty to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.  Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has - a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguised lawyer, she has leved a very full life.  But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful perios of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.

This was a great book.  It is a popular one right now, and I have to admit I was worried going in that it wasn't going to be for me.  But it drew me in from the start.  A life told in letters was a wonderful way to write a book.  I imagined my own grandmother and how she probably did similar writings during her life - almost a whole life before the internet made letter writing almost obsolete - and what I wouldn't give to have some of those correspondence to see what she wrote.  this book is well written, and flows at a great pace.  I even got a little teary with the end.  Glad I read this one.

Stars: 5

Book: I Who Have Never Known Men

 Book: I Who Have Never Known Men

Author: Jacqueline Harpman

Pages: 208

This is my 189th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Deep underground, 39 women live imprisoned in a cage.  Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.  As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl - the 40th prisoner - sits alone and outcast in the corner.  Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.

Stars: 3.5