1LyndaInOregon
After beginning this 2024 thread in the 2023 group... I'm off to a typical rocky start. I can only plea vacation brain.
No special goals for this year yet -- let's just see what free-range reading turns up!
2LyndaInOregon
#1 - The Avram Davidson Treasury
5 stars
This was a wonderful way to escort 2023 out and welcome 2024 in. It's a huge volume with introductions, afterwords, and commentary from virtually every sf/fantasy luminary of the latter half of the 20th century thrown in as a bonus. Full review is here, for those who are interested.
5 stars
This was a wonderful way to escort 2023 out and welcome 2024 in. It's a huge volume with introductions, afterwords, and commentary from virtually every sf/fantasy luminary of the latter half of the 20th century thrown in as a bonus. Full review is here, for those who are interested.
3LyndaInOregon
#2 - The Book of Longings, Sue Monk Kidd
3.5 stars
Sue Monk Kidd is not the first novelist to take a run at Jesus-as-mortal-man (Frank Yerby’s Judas, My Brother from 1968 comes to mind) – nor is she the first to theorize a married Jesus (Mary Magdalene frequently crops up on the candidate shortlist for that honor). But she may be the first to utilize the apocryphal spouse as the main character.
And what a character she is – Ana, the daughter of a prominent Jewish household in Galilee, is determined that her voice will be heard and that the stories of the women in her world will be told. This independence of spirit inevitably leads to strife within the family, and sets her on the path that will lead her to marriage with a gentle laborer from Nazareth.
Kidd attempts to paint Jesus as utterly human, and does a generally good job of it. There is very little Messianic spirit here, and no claim to divinity – just a bone-deep, ever-growing conviction that God has a specific journey in mind for him, and when it requires that he leave his family to prepare for and eventually preach, Ana is again left largely to her own devices among the company of women.
How she survives, how she builds the life she must have within the culture and society of the era, forms the backbone of the book. There are moments in the novel when the Jesus-factor simply feels tacked on as a heck of a good promotional hook, and the most it really does is to give portions of the story an inevitable forward momentum.
Kidd does a superb job here of re-creating the sights and sounds and smells of life in a land under Roman rule at the beginning of the Common Era, but frankly, she has written better books.
3.5 stars
Sue Monk Kidd is not the first novelist to take a run at Jesus-as-mortal-man (Frank Yerby’s Judas, My Brother from 1968 comes to mind) – nor is she the first to theorize a married Jesus (Mary Magdalene frequently crops up on the candidate shortlist for that honor). But she may be the first to utilize the apocryphal spouse as the main character.
And what a character she is – Ana, the daughter of a prominent Jewish household in Galilee, is determined that her voice will be heard and that the stories of the women in her world will be told. This independence of spirit inevitably leads to strife within the family, and sets her on the path that will lead her to marriage with a gentle laborer from Nazareth.
Kidd attempts to paint Jesus as utterly human, and does a generally good job of it. There is very little Messianic spirit here, and no claim to divinity – just a bone-deep, ever-growing conviction that God has a specific journey in mind for him, and when it requires that he leave his family to prepare for and eventually preach, Ana is again left largely to her own devices among the company of women.
How she survives, how she builds the life she must have within the culture and society of the era, forms the backbone of the book. There are moments in the novel when the Jesus-factor simply feels tacked on as a heck of a good promotional hook, and the most it really does is to give portions of the story an inevitable forward momentum.
Kidd does a superb job here of re-creating the sights and sounds and smells of life in a land under Roman rule at the beginning of the Common Era, but frankly, she has written better books.
4LyndaInOregon
#3 - Free Fall: A Psychological Thriller, Nina Atwood
2.5 stars
There's nothing particularly original about this insipid "thriller" -- not even the title, which crops up in about 75 Touchstone possibilities.
A young woman wakes up alone on a mountainside, injured and amnesiac. She eventually is rescued and starts to rebuild her life and regain her memories, but not is all sweetness and light in magical Carmel Valley.
Any reader with an IQ higher than their body temperature will be three steps ahead of the main character throughout this tale.
Oh, well, they can't all be five-star reads!
Oddly enough, the very next book I picked up from the TBR stack -- Any Bitter Thing, by Monica Wood -- has an almost identical plotline, though it appears to be much better written. I'm putting it back in the stack for a while, having had my fill of plucky heroines and sneaky-possibly-larcenous husbands for the moment.
2.5 stars
There's nothing particularly original about this insipid "thriller" -- not even the title, which crops up in about 75 Touchstone possibilities.
A young woman wakes up alone on a mountainside, injured and amnesiac. She eventually is rescued and starts to rebuild her life and regain her memories, but not is all sweetness and light in magical Carmel Valley.
Any reader with an IQ higher than their body temperature will be three steps ahead of the main character throughout this tale.
Oh, well, they can't all be five-star reads!
Oddly enough, the very next book I picked up from the TBR stack -- Any Bitter Thing, by Monica Wood -- has an almost identical plotline, though it appears to be much better written. I'm putting it back in the stack for a while, having had my fill of plucky heroines and sneaky-possibly-larcenous husbands for the moment.
6FAMeulstee
Happy reading in 2024, Lynda, glad to see you here!
7LyndaInOregon
#4 - The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson
5
I decided I wanted to re-read this before tackling Elizabeth Hand's new follow-on novel, A Haunting on the Hill. Jackson's original is just as spare and eerily disturbing as ever.
Not really up for reviewing it at this point. I'm fighting a cold and have all the mental acuity of an orange at this point.
5
I decided I wanted to re-read this before tackling Elizabeth Hand's new follow-on novel, A Haunting on the Hill. Jackson's original is just as spare and eerily disturbing as ever.
Not really up for reviewing it at this point. I'm fighting a cold and have all the mental acuity of an orange at this point.
8Whisper1
Let me repeat how very glad I am you joined the 75 challenge group!!!! I've already added your first two reads to my TBR pile.
Happy 2024. I look forward to visiting your thread often. Sorry you are fighting a cold, but I love your description of "mental acuity of an orange." I laughed right out loud.
I hope you feel better soon and can get back to the stellar brain that resides in your skull!
Happy 2024. I look forward to visiting your thread often. Sorry you are fighting a cold, but I love your description of "mental acuity of an orange." I laughed right out loud.
I hope you feel better soon and can get back to the stellar brain that resides in your skull!
9LyndaInOregon
#5 - The Last Anniversary, Liane Moriarty
4 stars
Moriarity has stuffed this novel of family cross-dramas with almost too many characters, and it can take a while to get them all straight. Basically, it's the story of a 70-year-old mystery that has become a family business, and how a newcomer to the tightly-knit group changes the dynamics. It's an engaging read, if somewhat over-reliant on unlikely coincidence a few oh-come-on-now moments, almost redeemed by an utterly delightful final chapter. (No spoilers, and don't try peeking because it won't make any sense at all unless you've read the whole story.)
4 stars
Moriarity has stuffed this novel of family cross-dramas with almost too many characters, and it can take a while to get them all straight. Basically, it's the story of a 70-year-old mystery that has become a family business, and how a newcomer to the tightly-knit group changes the dynamics. It's an engaging read, if somewhat over-reliant on unlikely coincidence a few oh-come-on-now moments, almost redeemed by an utterly delightful final chapter. (No spoilers, and don't try peeking because it won't make any sense at all unless you've read the whole story.)
10LyndaInOregon
#6 - A Haunting on the Hill, Elizabeth Hand
3.5 stars
A bit of a disappointment, really. It takes a long time for this story to get on its feet, and it's only the climax of the book that delivers any real sense of the power and evil of Shirley Jackson's malignant Hill House.
Hand has placed a quartet of theater people in the crumbling mansion, intent on rehearsing and fine-tuning a play about witchcraft and revenge. Each is a bit obsessed in their own way, driven largely by the playwright who sees a small writer’s grant as her last chance to concentrate on bringing her play to life and really cross into success. The isolation and moodiness of Hill House seems ideal to create a suitably powerful workshop, but of course the weaknesses of each character find their niche in the dark history of the decaying structure.
Some of the manifestations early in the book are pretty basic horror tropes, and Hand ultimately falls back on a fair amount of blood and gore, which of course Jackson never had to resort to.
It’s not a bad read, but if you really want to explore the depths of evil, go back to the original.
3.5 stars
A bit of a disappointment, really. It takes a long time for this story to get on its feet, and it's only the climax of the book that delivers any real sense of the power and evil of Shirley Jackson's malignant Hill House.
Hand has placed a quartet of theater people in the crumbling mansion, intent on rehearsing and fine-tuning a play about witchcraft and revenge. Each is a bit obsessed in their own way, driven largely by the playwright who sees a small writer’s grant as her last chance to concentrate on bringing her play to life and really cross into success. The isolation and moodiness of Hill House seems ideal to create a suitably powerful workshop, but of course the weaknesses of each character find their niche in the dark history of the decaying structure.
Some of the manifestations early in the book are pretty basic horror tropes, and Hand ultimately falls back on a fair amount of blood and gore, which of course Jackson never had to resort to.
It’s not a bad read, but if you really want to explore the depths of evil, go back to the original.
11Berly
Hi there!! Congrats on 6 already and on your nice write-ups. Also, wanted to mention we are having a Portland meetup -- check it out if you are interested!
https://www.librarything.com/topic/356633#
12LyndaInOregon
>11 Berly: Thanks for the invite! I just popped over there & left a post.
13LyndaInOregon
#7 - Knitting Yarns and Spinning Tales, Kari Cornell, ed
3 stars
Collection of short essays on knitting, ranging from humorous to thoughtful.
3 stars
Collection of short essays on knitting, ranging from humorous to thoughtful.
14LyndaInOregon
#8 - Equal Rites, Terry Pratchett
Discworld Group Read
3.5 stars
This was a fun introduction to the "Witches" sub-series, not as wildly out-of-control as some of Pratchett's work but still funny and insightful.
Discworld Group Read
3.5 stars
This was a fun introduction to the "Witches" sub-series, not as wildly out-of-control as some of Pratchett's work but still funny and insightful.
15LyndaInOregon
#9 - Liner Notes, Emily Franklin
3 stars
Kind of a memoir-as-novel, built around a cross-country road trip in which a mother and adult daughter redefine their relationship via a collection of mix tapes defining different periods in the daughter’s life. It’s an interesting device, but an ultimately limiting one, as the symbolism of the various tapes will be unclear to anyone not familiar with the artists and titles. There’s a rich portrait of the evolution of a family here, but Franklin loses points for a predictable, even sappy, ending.
3 stars
Kind of a memoir-as-novel, built around a cross-country road trip in which a mother and adult daughter redefine their relationship via a collection of mix tapes defining different periods in the daughter’s life. It’s an interesting device, but an ultimately limiting one, as the symbolism of the various tapes will be unclear to anyone not familiar with the artists and titles. There’s a rich portrait of the evolution of a family here, but Franklin loses points for a predictable, even sappy, ending.
16LyndaInOregon
#10 - Man's 4th Best Hospital, Samuel Shem
3.5 stars
Uneven in presentation, this blistering novel looks at the computerization and monetization of modern medicine, only to do an abrupt about-face with a resolution that is pure pie-in-the-sky fantasy. Full review is here, if you're interested.
3.5 stars
Uneven in presentation, this blistering novel looks at the computerization and monetization of modern medicine, only to do an abrupt about-face with a resolution that is pure pie-in-the-sky fantasy. Full review is here, if you're interested.
17The_Hibernator
Hi Lynda! I was sad not to make it to Oregon for my trip over Christmas week. Hopefully soon!
18LyndaInOregon
>17 The_Hibernator: Christmas week was great weather -- this week ... not so much! Freezing rain on top of 8" of snow. No mail for 3 days. Finally got my driveway cleared of snow today but not interested in driving in this. I wanna go back to Hawaii!
19LyndaInOregon
#11 - The Writing Retreat, Julia Bartz
2.5 stars
Didn't live up to the hype.
A group of young women writers are invited to attend an exclusive writing retreat at the remote estate of a best-selling author, and things slowly begin to go south.
Billed as supernatural (think "The Haunting of Hill House"), it's more a psychological drama, and most of the characters are so unlikeable that it's hard to care about them. Things move from unlikely to oh-come-on - seriously? (I'm still wondering how the Chief Villain managed to plan for the mid-February blizzard that finalizes their isolation.)
2.5 stars
Didn't live up to the hype.
A group of young women writers are invited to attend an exclusive writing retreat at the remote estate of a best-selling author, and things slowly begin to go south.
Billed as supernatural (think "The Haunting of Hill House"), it's more a psychological drama, and most of the characters are so unlikeable that it's hard to care about them. Things move from unlikely to oh-come-on - seriously? (I'm still wondering how the Chief Villain managed to plan for the mid-February blizzard that finalizes their isolation.)
21LyndaInOregon
>20 Berly: Thanks for stopping by!
22LyndaInOregon
#12- The House on Olive Street, Robyn Carr
4 stars
I really enjoyed this one. If you look at the reviews (including mine, here), you'll see it referred to as "grown-up chick lit" and "a cinnamon roll of a book ... with all the goodness and none of the calories".
It's a well-done version of an old-reliable plotline, with a group of women friends coming together after a tragedy, each with her own secrets and challenges, but the characters are crisp and well-written, and most of the situations are at least borderline believable.
Carr is a prolific writer, and I'll probably be looking to pick up at least one more of her titles.
4 stars
I really enjoyed this one. If you look at the reviews (including mine, here), you'll see it referred to as "grown-up chick lit" and "a cinnamon roll of a book ... with all the goodness and none of the calories".
It's a well-done version of an old-reliable plotline, with a group of women friends coming together after a tragedy, each with her own secrets and challenges, but the characters are crisp and well-written, and most of the situations are at least borderline believable.
Carr is a prolific writer, and I'll probably be looking to pick up at least one more of her titles.
23Whisper1
Hello Lynda
After reading so many books that seemed to be duds, you found one you really enjoyed. Yeah... I appreciate your honest reviews. I recently read a book regarding the Murdaugh family and the power they yielded. The young writer was full of herself, and used the F word way too many times for my liking. I have an honest review. Once before, when I poasted an honest review to a man that wasted my time, the author contacted me and told me he was going to sue me. I wanted to write "ah, ha, I was right, you are a self-obsesed, idiot.
I'll add The House on Olive Street to the TBR list. Congratulations for reading 12 books thus far!
After reading so many books that seemed to be duds, you found one you really enjoyed. Yeah... I appreciate your honest reviews. I recently read a book regarding the Murdaugh family and the power they yielded. The young writer was full of herself, and used the F word way too many times for my liking. I have an honest review. Once before, when I poasted an honest review to a man that wasted my time, the author contacted me and told me he was going to sue me. I wanted to write "ah, ha, I was right, you are a self-obsesed, idiot.
I'll add The House on Olive Street to the TBR list. Congratulations for reading 12 books thus far!
24RebaRelishesReading
Lovely to meet you today, Lynda, and I'm looking forward to following your reading this year :)
26SuziQoregon
Nice to meet you today! Hope you had good shopping at Powell’s.
28LyndaInOregon
What a fun day! (Long, but fun.) I got home about 6 p.m. to find I had a new book in the mail (Dietland, by Sarai Walker), as well as the 5 titles I grabbed at Powell's. That blank space on my 8-foot-long TBR shelf is almost filled now!
The haul from Powell's included two Avram Davidson paperbacks, rare (though not particularly valuable; just hard to find), Peregrine Primus and Peregrine Secundus; Bitter Orange, by Claire Fuller; a Tana French novel I had somehow missed (The Trespasser); and a comedy-of-manners collection from the late 1920s (Lucia in London and Mapp and Lucia), which are so far out of my usual reading orbit that the new JWST Space Telescope would have trouble finding them. I suspect it will either be delightful or will end up being DNF'd. We shall see.
Did anyone else find treasures?
The haul from Powell's included two Avram Davidson paperbacks, rare (though not particularly valuable; just hard to find), Peregrine Primus and Peregrine Secundus; Bitter Orange, by Claire Fuller; a Tana French novel I had somehow missed (The Trespasser); and a comedy-of-manners collection from the late 1920s (Lucia in London and Mapp and Lucia), which are so far out of my usual reading orbit that the new JWST Space Telescope would have trouble finding them. I suspect it will either be delightful or will end up being DNF'd. We shall see.
Did anyone else find treasures?
29Berly
Lynda--So nicer to meet you yesterday!! Glad you found some good finds at Powell's--I look forward to following your thread this year!
30justchris
>28 LyndaInOregon: Your new books sound interesting and very outside my wheelhouse. I hope you enjoy them. Was definitely a pleasure to meet you yesterday.
31LyndaInOregon
#13 - The Best of Everything, Rona Jaffe
3 stars
This coming-of-age novel set in 1950s New York, is at the moment hovering in that uncertain time slot between being quaintly outdated and achieving the status of a classic.
As a portrait of a particular time, place, and social class, it rings with both accuracy and angst. As a lasting piece of literature, it leans toward the melodramatic and clichéd. One thing it does do, for those of us who entered the workforce a decade later, is to recall with painful accuracy the gender inequality and sexual harassment that were all too often accepted as standard operating procedure.
My full review is over here, if you're interested.
3 stars
This coming-of-age novel set in 1950s New York, is at the moment hovering in that uncertain time slot between being quaintly outdated and achieving the status of a classic.
As a portrait of a particular time, place, and social class, it rings with both accuracy and angst. As a lasting piece of literature, it leans toward the melodramatic and clichéd. One thing it does do, for those of us who entered the workforce a decade later, is to recall with painful accuracy the gender inequality and sexual harassment that were all too often accepted as standard operating procedure.
My full review is over here, if you're interested.
32LyndaInOregon
#14 - The Dreadful Lemon Sky, John D. MacDonald
3.5 stars
The toughest thing about revisiting John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee series is getting past its casual misogyny. Most of the female characters have either "Victim”" or “Bimbo” tattooed on their forehead; many carry both messages. Even when McGee admits to admiration of a woman’s character, it doesn’t stand in the way of a bit of recreational or therapeutic sex. And all too often, she ends up dead in the next chapter.
McGee remains a strong character to build a series around. He’s competent, smart, good-looking, persistent, and has his own very particular moral code which is essentially Good Guy Realist. Meyer is around to do the heavy lifting when a philosophical question needs to be brought into play, and MacDonald gets to use McGee as a mouthpiece for his own dismay at the untethered and (in his view) malignant growth of Florida’s wetlands and beach communities. A Travis McGee novel guarantees that the Bad Guys, on the whole, get their comeuppance and that their hero will survive, somewhat more battered and perhaps just a bit more cynical, to fight the good fight and live the good life another day.
3.5 stars
The toughest thing about revisiting John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee series is getting past its casual misogyny. Most of the female characters have either "Victim”" or “Bimbo” tattooed on their forehead; many carry both messages. Even when McGee admits to admiration of a woman’s character, it doesn’t stand in the way of a bit of recreational or therapeutic sex. And all too often, she ends up dead in the next chapter.
McGee remains a strong character to build a series around. He’s competent, smart, good-looking, persistent, and has his own very particular moral code which is essentially Good Guy Realist. Meyer is around to do the heavy lifting when a philosophical question needs to be brought into play, and MacDonald gets to use McGee as a mouthpiece for his own dismay at the untethered and (in his view) malignant growth of Florida’s wetlands and beach communities. A Travis McGee novel guarantees that the Bad Guys, on the whole, get their comeuppance and that their hero will survive, somewhat more battered and perhaps just a bit more cynical, to fight the good fight and live the good life another day.
33LyndaInOregon
January Summary
Fourteen titles this month. January tends to be my highest-numbers month, usually because the weather keeps me housebound and my energy level doesn't cover much more than hefting a book.
Outstanding reads this month are both oldies-but-goodies -- The Haunting of Hill House, which I re-read as a warmup for the (sadly disappointing) A Haunting on the Hill, and The Avram Davidson Treasury, which was a 600+ page delight that I dipped into for about six months before wrapping it up right after the first of the year.
The House on Olive Street, The Last Anniversary, and The Book of Longings get honorable mention, and then things drift off into the okay-but-not-exceptional category.
Fourteen titles this month. January tends to be my highest-numbers month, usually because the weather keeps me housebound and my energy level doesn't cover much more than hefting a book.
Outstanding reads this month are both oldies-but-goodies -- The Haunting of Hill House, which I re-read as a warmup for the (sadly disappointing) A Haunting on the Hill, and The Avram Davidson Treasury, which was a 600+ page delight that I dipped into for about six months before wrapping it up right after the first of the year.
The House on Olive Street, The Last Anniversary, and The Book of Longings get honorable mention, and then things drift off into the okay-but-not-exceptional category.
34drneutron
Wow, that's some good reading this month. Sorry about A Haunting on the Hill, but at least you saved me from a disappointing read. 😀
35PaulCranswick
>33 LyndaInOregon: January also tends to be one of my stronger months too, Linda. I hope this year that doesn't play out as I barely squeezed 8 titles into it.
36LyndaInOregon
#15 - The Dutch House, Ann Patchett
5 stars
Obviously, I really loved this book. It's a beautifully crafted novel centered around the lives of a brother and sister, all tangled with themes of possession, love, abandonment, and pride embodied in one magnificently monstrous house.
Patchett has always been somewhat uneven for me. I thought Bel Canto was tedious and claustrophobic, and was so annoyed by the bottomless pit of neediness explored in Truth & Beauty that I mostly just wanted to smack Lucy Grealy upside the head.
But this one, for some reason, just grabbed me and hung on. I don't think Pratchett ever put a foot wrong, from the characterization to the underlying themes to the denouement. I didn't like all the characters, mind you -- I thought the narrator's mother made a horrendous decision when she abandoned her children, but of course that singular event drove the entire story, so artistically it was the right thing to do.
Anyway, good read and a promising start for February.
5 stars
Obviously, I really loved this book. It's a beautifully crafted novel centered around the lives of a brother and sister, all tangled with themes of possession, love, abandonment, and pride embodied in one magnificently monstrous house.
Patchett has always been somewhat uneven for me. I thought Bel Canto was tedious and claustrophobic, and was so annoyed by the bottomless pit of neediness explored in Truth & Beauty that I mostly just wanted to smack Lucy Grealy upside the head.
But this one, for some reason, just grabbed me and hung on. I don't think Pratchett ever put a foot wrong, from the characterization to the underlying themes to the denouement. I didn't like all the characters, mind you -- I thought the narrator's mother made a horrendous decision when she abandoned her children, but of course that singular event drove the entire story, so artistically it was the right thing to do.
Anyway, good read and a promising start for February.
37LyndaInOregon
#16 - The Six, Loren Grush
4 stars
A solid group biography of the first women to join America's space program as astronauts, but most of the characters never emerge as individuals. Reading the section about the Challenger explosion was tough; reading about the information uncovered in the subsequent investigation was infuriating. Grush might have come up with a more compelling book if she'd written exclusively about that event.
Full review is over here.
4 stars
A solid group biography of the first women to join America's space program as astronauts, but most of the characters never emerge as individuals. Reading the section about the Challenger explosion was tough; reading about the information uncovered in the subsequent investigation was infuriating. Grush might have come up with a more compelling book if she'd written exclusively about that event.
Full review is over here.
38Berly
>36 LyndaInOregon: Still haven't read that one yet, but adding it to my WL. Great review!
39LyndaInOregon
#17 - Where I Come From, Rick Bragg
3.5 stars
The only problem with the essays collected in Rick Bragg’s Where I Come From is that they’re too short by far. As with most such collections, the contents are best enjoyed one at a time, but reading them that way is like inhaling the aroma of fresh biscuits that are whisked away just before you have a chance to bite into one.
3.5 stars
The only problem with the essays collected in Rick Bragg’s Where I Come From is that they’re too short by far. As with most such collections, the contents are best enjoyed one at a time, but reading them that way is like inhaling the aroma of fresh biscuits that are whisked away just before you have a chance to bite into one.
40LyndaInOregon
#18 - Trash: A Poor White Journey, Cedar Monroe
3 stars
LTER Book
Cedar Monroe’s indictment of the systemic mistreatment of the poor white population of America comes off as part biography, part polemic, part pie-in-the-sky and winds up serving none of the topics well.
I really struggled with this one; not only with the reading, but with creating a review with some semblance of coherence. Monroe tosses everything into the pot, stirs well, and expects the reader to pick the good stuff out of what floats to the top.
3 stars
LTER Book
Cedar Monroe’s indictment of the systemic mistreatment of the poor white population of America comes off as part biography, part polemic, part pie-in-the-sky and winds up serving none of the topics well.
I really struggled with this one; not only with the reading, but with creating a review with some semblance of coherence. Monroe tosses everything into the pot, stirs well, and expects the reader to pick the good stuff out of what floats to the top.
41LyndaInOregon
#19 - The Angel Maker, Alex North
2 stars
There are few thrills in this "thriller" and little suspense in this "suspense" novel. As for horror ... North is apparently so afraid of offending his readers that he uses only the vaguest terms to describe the "grisly" and "horrific" crimes. People died. There was blood. (One does not wish for sado-porn, but it's really difficult to work up much emotional reaction to "grisly".)
Basically, the story follows a young man who narrowly escaped an attack by a serial killer when he was in his teens. Decades later, it seems he is being targeted again, and his sister is attempting to locate him and get him out of harm's way. Meanwhile, a team of investigators attempts to solve the murder of an elderly philosophy professor. How these two events intertwine forms the meat of the plot.
North tells (but doesn't show) us that the male-female detective team has a working relationship built on complementary strengths and a cynical back-and-forth kind of one-upmanship, but it never gets off the ground. None of the Big Reveals in the book should come as a surprise to any reader who's been paying attention. The cover promise that the killer "can see the future" simply doesn't pay off in any meaningful way.
Readers seeking true horror and suspense with a quirky relationship between investigators would be much better off turning to any of the Lincoln Rhyme novels.
2 stars
There are few thrills in this "thriller" and little suspense in this "suspense" novel. As for horror ... North is apparently so afraid of offending his readers that he uses only the vaguest terms to describe the "grisly" and "horrific" crimes. People died. There was blood. (One does not wish for sado-porn, but it's really difficult to work up much emotional reaction to "grisly".)
Basically, the story follows a young man who narrowly escaped an attack by a serial killer when he was in his teens. Decades later, it seems he is being targeted again, and his sister is attempting to locate him and get him out of harm's way. Meanwhile, a team of investigators attempts to solve the murder of an elderly philosophy professor. How these two events intertwine forms the meat of the plot.
North tells (but doesn't show) us that the male-female detective team has a working relationship built on complementary strengths and a cynical back-and-forth kind of one-upmanship, but it never gets off the ground. None of the Big Reveals in the book should come as a surprise to any reader who's been paying attention. The cover promise that the killer "can see the future" simply doesn't pay off in any meaningful way.
Readers seeking true horror and suspense with a quirky relationship between investigators would be much better off turning to any of the Lincoln Rhyme novels.
42LyndaInOregon
Blah. I am having a terrible time finding something compelling to read, despite about 150 titles in my TBR stack and a couple hundred permanent library volumes which I could (and may have to) re-read.
Latest book to be DNF'd is The Polish Girl, which has gotten rave reviews. It may get better, but I'm not willing to gamble any more reading time on that happening. After two days of reading, the story can be summarized thus: We were living here with these people and then it got too dangerous so we moved to another place and lived with other people and then it got too dangerous so.... Rinse and repeat.
Picked up a Colleen Hoover (Heart Bones) because she seems to be wildly popular -- that should have warned me -- and abandoned it after about 25 pages, though I may give it one more try.
I have a couple of Tana French novels near the top of the TBR stack, and she has never disappointed me. Also eyeing one called Here and Now and Then, by Mike Chen, which looks suspiciously like a first-cousin to Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, involving an Asian protagonist trying to connect emotionally with his daughter as he time-travels (not jumps realities) trying to complete his spy (?) mission and get back home.
Suggestions to get me out of this slump?
Latest book to be DNF'd is The Polish Girl, which has gotten rave reviews. It may get better, but I'm not willing to gamble any more reading time on that happening. After two days of reading, the story can be summarized thus: We were living here with these people and then it got too dangerous so we moved to another place and lived with other people and then it got too dangerous so.... Rinse and repeat.
Picked up a Colleen Hoover (Heart Bones) because she seems to be wildly popular -- that should have warned me -- and abandoned it after about 25 pages, though I may give it one more try.
I have a couple of Tana French novels near the top of the TBR stack, and she has never disappointed me. Also eyeing one called Here and Now and Then, by Mike Chen, which looks suspiciously like a first-cousin to Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, involving an Asian protagonist trying to connect emotionally with his daughter as he time-travels (not jumps realities) trying to complete his spy (?) mission and get back home.
Suggestions to get me out of this slump?
43RebaRelishesReading
>42 LyndaInOregon: Very high on my list of favorites lately was Lessons in Chemistry -- have you read that one?
44LyndaInOregon
>43 RebaRelishesReading: I've seen Lessons in Chemistry and made the (apparently incorrect) assumption from the cover art (I know, I know) that it was chicklit romance. Reviews and personal recommendations seem to be skewing in a quite different direction, so perhaps I need to take another look at it!
Meanwhile, I did start Here and Now and Then last night and am enjoying it immensely. Fresh idea, engaging characters, science fiction/fantasy themes give it a strong underpinning but don't dominate the story.
Meanwhile, I did start Here and Now and Then last night and am enjoying it immensely. Fresh idea, engaging characters, science fiction/fantasy themes give it a strong underpinning but don't dominate the story.
45RebaRelishesReading
>44 LyndaInOregon: The cover does it a big disservice imo. I also thought it would be a chick romance but rather it deals with the way women have been treated in the workplace mostly mid/late 20th century -- some serious things I can really relate to -- but does it with humor and a light touch. It's high up on my list of favorites for the year.
46LyndaInOregon
#20 - Here and Now and Then, Mike Chen
4 stars
Well-developed characters and a crisply-moving plot make this time-travel tale an engaging, rewarding read. If you grant Chen the future-reality of time-travel, the underlying mechanisms of controlling access and managing those who would change history for their own benefit are well-thought-out and logical.
This was a really enjoyable read after several blah selections and a couple of DNFs.
Full review is over here.
4 stars
Well-developed characters and a crisply-moving plot make this time-travel tale an engaging, rewarding read. If you grant Chen the future-reality of time-travel, the underlying mechanisms of controlling access and managing those who would change history for their own benefit are well-thought-out and logical.
This was a really enjoyable read after several blah selections and a couple of DNFs.
Full review is over here.
47LyndaInOregon
#21 - Dietland, Sarai Walker
4 stars
Enjoyed this sassy and subversive novel about weight, women, and the weight-loss culture. There's also some revenge-fantasy elements here and more than a few jabs at "the most successful failed industry in the world" (i.e., the weight-loss industry, which makes money hand over fist, despite its consistent failure to deliver on the promises it makes to its supporters).
4 stars
Enjoyed this sassy and subversive novel about weight, women, and the weight-loss culture. There's also some revenge-fantasy elements here and more than a few jabs at "the most successful failed industry in the world" (i.e., the weight-loss industry, which makes money hand over fist, despite its consistent failure to deliver on the promises it makes to its supporters).
49Whisper1
>36 LyndaInOregon: Ann Patchett is one of my favorite authors. I totally agree with you regarding Bel Canto I finished it, but it was a slug to read. Even though this was my first book by this author, I continued to read her books, and I'm glad I did. I started Tom Lake and it also didn't pull me in. Still, there are many that are worth hanging in there with her.
I'm glad you had a good time at the meet up. I've attended two and always came away with a great feeling about meeting the people who were so very lovely.
I will obtain a copy of Dietland . I struggle with weight issues. I loose weight when I have a long period of pain, other than that I have to really watch what I eat. I once had a "friend" who consistently told me I was over weight. I learned after too long of a period of time in tolerating her behaviour, that this person was not a friend.
I'm glad you had a good time at the meet up. I've attended two and always came away with a great feeling about meeting the people who were so very lovely.
I will obtain a copy of Dietland . I struggle with weight issues. I loose weight when I have a long period of pain, other than that I have to really watch what I eat. I once had a "friend" who consistently told me I was over weight. I learned after too long of a period of time in tolerating her behaviour, that this person was not a friend.
50LyndaInOregon
>49 Whisper1: Dietland is probably not for everyone. There are very strong feminist themes, and a lot of what's driving the rage of the characters are the porn industry (some of the descriptions are extremely graphic), violence against women, and the constant sexualization of women in advertising of everything from clothing to cars to floor polish.
If you're still interested, LMK, and I'll send you my copy.
If you're still interested, LMK, and I'll send you my copy.
51LyndaInOregon
#23 - Heart Bones, Colleen Hoover
3 stars
Hoover is a wildly popular romance novelist, but I probably won't read any of her other books. It's definitely aimed at a much younger audience, and this crotchety old broad had to really work to get through it.
Lots of young romance-angst here, and a kind of sappy-ever-after ending.
3 stars
Hoover is a wildly popular romance novelist, but I probably won't read any of her other books. It's definitely aimed at a much younger audience, and this crotchety old broad had to really work to get through it.
Lots of young romance-angst here, and a kind of sappy-ever-after ending.
52LyndaInOregon
February Reads
Nine books read and three DNFs, which is a lot of DNFs for me in one month -- I only had 6 DNFs in all of 2023.
The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett was the standout of the month, with Rick Bragg's Where I Come From, Mike Chen's Here and Now and Then, and Sarai Walker's Dietland all close behind.
The Six, by Loren Grush was a tad above the middle of the pack, which included the LTER Trash: A Poor White Journey, by Cedar Monroe; Heart Bones, by Colleen Hoover; and I See My Time Is Up, by Howard Paris. The no-thrills "thriller" The Angel Maker by Alex North trailed the pack badly.
DNFs included The Polish Girl', by Malka Adler; Wild Justice, by Priscilla Royal; and the not-Leaphorn-&-Chee novel The Fly on the Wall, by Tony Hillerman.
There are some interesting titles lined up for March, including Wyrd Sisters for the Discworld group read, and the third Johnny Lycan novel as an LTER.
Nine books read and three DNFs, which is a lot of DNFs for me in one month -- I only had 6 DNFs in all of 2023.
The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett was the standout of the month, with Rick Bragg's Where I Come From, Mike Chen's Here and Now and Then, and Sarai Walker's Dietland all close behind.
The Six, by Loren Grush was a tad above the middle of the pack, which included the LTER Trash: A Poor White Journey, by Cedar Monroe; Heart Bones, by Colleen Hoover; and I See My Time Is Up, by Howard Paris. The no-thrills "thriller" The Angel Maker by Alex North trailed the pack badly.
DNFs included The Polish Girl', by Malka Adler; Wild Justice, by Priscilla Royal; and the not-Leaphorn-&-Chee novel The Fly on the Wall, by Tony Hillerman.
There are some interesting titles lined up for March, including Wyrd Sisters for the Discworld group read, and the third Johnny Lycan novel as an LTER.
53LyndaInOregon
#24 - Johnny Lycan & the Last Witchfinder, Wayne Turmel
4 stars - LTER book
The third (and possibly final) of the werewolf PI urban fantasy series finds Johnny's employer in possession of an important paranormal item (this time a book to bind demons), and some seriously bad dudes (i.e. the Head Demon and his minions) want it. Turmel says this is the last of the series, but there's a wonderful escape hatch in the content, with its hints that Johnny should go to Romania and "find his people". Hopefully, Turmel will use it, as there are lots of options for broadening the scope of the stories.
Full review is over here.
4 stars - LTER book
The third (and possibly final) of the werewolf PI urban fantasy series finds Johnny's employer in possession of an important paranormal item (this time a book to bind demons), and some seriously bad dudes (i.e. the Head Demon and his minions) want it. Turmel says this is the last of the series, but there's a wonderful escape hatch in the content, with its hints that Johnny should go to Romania and "find his people". Hopefully, Turmel will use it, as there are lots of options for broadening the scope of the stories.
Full review is over here.
54LyndaInOregon
#25 - A Boob's Life, Leslie Lehr
4 stars
This is one of those odd split-personality books that can’t decide if it wants to be a memoir, social history, or a feminist commentary, with the waters further muddied by a punch-line title and cartoonish cover art.
There are some interesting byways here, some conclusions with which the reader may disagree, and perhaps more than is really necessary about Lehr’s personal family history, but overall it’s a thoughtful look at our cultural obsession with female breasts.
4 stars
This is one of those odd split-personality books that can’t decide if it wants to be a memoir, social history, or a feminist commentary, with the waters further muddied by a punch-line title and cartoonish cover art.
There are some interesting byways here, some conclusions with which the reader may disagree, and perhaps more than is really necessary about Lehr’s personal family history, but overall it’s a thoughtful look at our cultural obsession with female breasts.
55LyndaInOregon
#26 - Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
3.5 stars
Group read.
I enjoyed this, but it lacks much of the inspired zaniness of Pratchett's best Discworld novels. (Your mileage may vary!)
3.5 stars
Group read.
I enjoyed this, but it lacks much of the inspired zaniness of Pratchett's best Discworld novels. (Your mileage may vary!)
56LyndaInOregon
#27 - Dance Hall of the Dead, Tony Hillerman
4.5 stars
This is the good old stuff -- Joe Leaphorn at the top of his game, patiently unraveling the mystery of a missing Navajo boy who may hold the key to two violent murders set against the backdrop of an important Zuni religious ceremony.
The later novels, with Jim Chee added as a sidekick (and eventually as the major protagonist) somehow just never clicked with me as satisfactorily as the earlier entries in the series.
4.5 stars
This is the good old stuff -- Joe Leaphorn at the top of his game, patiently unraveling the mystery of a missing Navajo boy who may hold the key to two violent murders set against the backdrop of an important Zuni religious ceremony.
The later novels, with Jim Chee added as a sidekick (and eventually as the major protagonist) somehow just never clicked with me as satisfactorily as the earlier entries in the series.
57LyndaInOregon
#28 Long Lost, Harlan Coben
3 stars
Part of Coben's Myron Bolitar series, this one involving a call from an old flame that eventually involves murder, terrorist plots, and the apparent re-appearance of a child long thought dead. I had that one figured out early on, but Coben took it a step further.
3 stars
Part of Coben's Myron Bolitar series, this one involving a call from an old flame that eventually involves murder, terrorist plots, and the apparent re-appearance of a child long thought dead. I had that one figured out early on, but Coben took it a step further.
58LyndaInOregon
#29 - Eve: A Biography, Pamela Norris
4.5 stars
Pamela Norris’ scholarly and exhaustive examination of the Biblical legend of Eve splinters off in so many directions that a comprehensive review would result in something almost as long as the 400-page original. Suffice to say that it looks at the ways in which the story of mankind’s loss of Eden lays the blame squarely on Eve, and was used for centuries as the driving force for institutionalized misogyny.
The most interesting portion, to me, was the “biographical” end section, which examines the writing and thinking of female authors on the theme, from the Renaissance to modern times. Ranging from intellectual challenges aimed at the heart of the myth to contemporary and experimental fictional treatments, the character and motivations of the feminine archetype are turned upside down and inside out, concluding with the notion that “Eve’s story … is a reminder of the difficult choices and compromises of adult life, the requirement to balance exploration and individuation with social and family demands. … Perhaps what is most important is Eve’s recognition of the need to challenge boundaries, to make the imaginative leap, however difficult, unpredictable and even dangerous, into a new phase of existence.”
Copiously footnoted and containing an extensive bibliography, this 1998 publication belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in women’s history.
4.5 stars
Pamela Norris’ scholarly and exhaustive examination of the Biblical legend of Eve splinters off in so many directions that a comprehensive review would result in something almost as long as the 400-page original. Suffice to say that it looks at the ways in which the story of mankind’s loss of Eden lays the blame squarely on Eve, and was used for centuries as the driving force for institutionalized misogyny.
The most interesting portion, to me, was the “biographical” end section, which examines the writing and thinking of female authors on the theme, from the Renaissance to modern times. Ranging from intellectual challenges aimed at the heart of the myth to contemporary and experimental fictional treatments, the character and motivations of the feminine archetype are turned upside down and inside out, concluding with the notion that “Eve’s story … is a reminder of the difficult choices and compromises of adult life, the requirement to balance exploration and individuation with social and family demands. … Perhaps what is most important is Eve’s recognition of the need to challenge boundaries, to make the imaginative leap, however difficult, unpredictable and even dangerous, into a new phase of existence.”
Copiously footnoted and containing an extensive bibliography, this 1998 publication belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in women’s history.
59LyndaInOregon
#30 - The Once and Future Witches, Alix Harrow
5 stars
I loved this book! It's huge and chewy and utterly enthralling, and absolutely chockfull of sly references that's reminiscent in a way of Terry Pratchett, but without his wild humor.
Basically, it's a fantasy set in an alternate 1890s New England, where three sisters reluctantly reunite after seven years of estrangement to resurrect the almost-lost art of witchcraft in order to regain control of their own destinies.
Full review is here.
(P.S. -- And I just realized the symbolism of the length of their estrangement. Those are the kinds of sly references I was mentioning.)
5 stars
I loved this book! It's huge and chewy and utterly enthralling, and absolutely chockfull of sly references that's reminiscent in a way of Terry Pratchett, but without his wild humor.
Basically, it's a fantasy set in an alternate 1890s New England, where three sisters reluctantly reunite after seven years of estrangement to resurrect the almost-lost art of witchcraft in order to regain control of their own destinies.
Full review is here.
(P.S. -- And I just realized the symbolism of the length of their estrangement. Those are the kinds of sly references I was mentioning.)
60LyndaInOregon
#31 - Land That Moves, Land That Stands Still, Kent Nelson
4.5 stars
Reminiscent of Kent Haruf's work, this novel follows the life of a suddenly-widowed woman on a remote South Dakota ranch. Following the death of her husband in an accident on the property, Mattie Remmel discovers a shattering secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about their relationship.
The land itself is a strong character in the book, and Nelson's descriptive passages touch all the senses.
I really enjoyed this one. (Wow -- three winners in a row. Either my reading luck has turned, or I'm getting mellow in my old age.)
4.5 stars
Reminiscent of Kent Haruf's work, this novel follows the life of a suddenly-widowed woman on a remote South Dakota ranch. Following the death of her husband in an accident on the property, Mattie Remmel discovers a shattering secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about their relationship.
The land itself is a strong character in the book, and Nelson's descriptive passages touch all the senses.
I really enjoyed this one. (Wow -- three winners in a row. Either my reading luck has turned, or I'm getting mellow in my old age.)
61LyndaInOregon
#32 - Bad Days in History, Micharl Farquhar
3 stars
This "almanac of awfulness" has an entry for each day of the year, with a humorous listing of some blooper, blunder, or mishap.
3 stars
This "almanac of awfulness" has an entry for each day of the year, with a humorous listing of some blooper, blunder, or mishap.
62LyndaInOregon
March Books
After a lackluster February, March kicked in with three really outstanding reads from a total of nine. Am I the only person who comes off a streak like that feeling mentally glutted and reluctant to start anything else right away? (It's kind of like contemplating a trip to the donut shop an hour after Thanksgiving Dinner.)
Anyway, here they are:
Top of the list, and in the running for Best of the Year is Alix Harrow's The Once and Future Witches, with Kent Nelson's Land That Moves, Land That Stands Still a close second. Eve: A Biography, by Pamela Norris is also in the top three, but it's the content, not the writing, that makes that one a keeper.
Dance Hall of the Dead, the second in the Joe Leaphorn series; Wyrd Sisters, the Discworld group read; Johnny Lycan & the Last Witchfinder, an LTER; and the intriguingly-titled A Boob's Life were all solid entries this month.
No month is perfect, as proven by Harlan Coben's Long Lost, and the time-filler Bad Days in History, by Micharl Farquhar.
There was also a DNF, Lisa Scottoline's Accused, which took forever to get off the ground and was therefore abandoned after about a hundred pages of blather.
After a lackluster February, March kicked in with three really outstanding reads from a total of nine. Am I the only person who comes off a streak like that feeling mentally glutted and reluctant to start anything else right away? (It's kind of like contemplating a trip to the donut shop an hour after Thanksgiving Dinner.)
Anyway, here they are:
Top of the list, and in the running for Best of the Year is Alix Harrow's The Once and Future Witches, with Kent Nelson's Land That Moves, Land That Stands Still a close second. Eve: A Biography, by Pamela Norris is also in the top three, but it's the content, not the writing, that makes that one a keeper.
Dance Hall of the Dead, the second in the Joe Leaphorn series; Wyrd Sisters, the Discworld group read; Johnny Lycan & the Last Witchfinder, an LTER; and the intriguingly-titled A Boob's Life were all solid entries this month.
No month is perfect, as proven by Harlan Coben's Long Lost, and the time-filler Bad Days in History, by Micharl Farquhar.
There was also a DNF, Lisa Scottoline's Accused, which took forever to get off the ground and was therefore abandoned after about a hundred pages of blather.
63LyndaInOregon
Add another DNF to March: Thick As Thieves, Sandra Brown.
Bailed out of this one on page 92, when the Sexy Bad Boy (who we all know is going to become The Good Guy as well as the romantic interest) breaks into the heroine's house in the middle of the night to prove the point that she's not safe and instead of her (a) blowing him away with the gun she's holding; or (b) calling 911, they proceed to have an argument (with erotic undertones, of course).
Phta. Phooey.
Bailed out of this one on page 92, when the Sexy Bad Boy (who we all know is going to become The Good Guy as well as the romantic interest) breaks into the heroine's house in the middle of the night to prove the point that she's not safe and instead of her (a) blowing him away with the gun she's holding; or (b) calling 911, they proceed to have an argument (with erotic undertones, of course).
Phta. Phooey.
64LyndaInOregon
#33 - Walking Shadow, Robert B. Parker
3 stars
I've always considered Parker's Spenser novels to be literary popcorn, but this one needed more salt.
3 stars
I've always considered Parker's Spenser novels to be literary popcorn, but this one needed more salt.
65LyndaInOregon
#34 - All That's Left Unsaid, Tracey Lien
3 stars
Group read for book club
When the only son of a Vietnamese immigrant family is killed in an Australian night club, his only sister becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth.
While there are some well-done character studies here, this novel ultimately moves at a snail's pace, and the Big Reveal is something most readers will have seen coming for at least half the book.
3 stars
Group read for book club
When the only son of a Vietnamese immigrant family is killed in an Australian night club, his only sister becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth.
While there are some well-done character studies here, this novel ultimately moves at a snail's pace, and the Big Reveal is something most readers will have seen coming for at least half the book.
67LyndaInOregon
#35 - A Matter for Men, David Gerrold
2 stars
Gerrold can't seem to decide whether he wants to write an adventure here, dealing with an alien invasion of Earth by two-ton man-eating caterpillars, or whether he wants to blather on about ethics and politics. Which may be why he can't wrap it up in one book.
I bought this at a yard sale, started it and realized it was the first of a "trilogy", went looking for the other two books, decided midway through this one that I wasn't going to pursue the whole thing, and then discovered it has been infected with the George R.R. Martin virus and is now planned for as many as seven volumes, though in reality it seems to have stalled out with Book 4 about 5 years ago.
The yard sale lady can keep my quarter, but I'd really like a refund of the six hours of reading time I wasted on this thing.
2 stars
Gerrold can't seem to decide whether he wants to write an adventure here, dealing with an alien invasion of Earth by two-ton man-eating caterpillars, or whether he wants to blather on about ethics and politics. Which may be why he can't wrap it up in one book.
I bought this at a yard sale, started it and realized it was the first of a "trilogy", went looking for the other two books, decided midway through this one that I wasn't going to pursue the whole thing, and then discovered it has been infected with the George R.R. Martin virus and is now planned for as many as seven volumes, though in reality it seems to have stalled out with Book 4 about 5 years ago.
The yard sale lady can keep my quarter, but I'd really like a refund of the six hours of reading time I wasted on this thing.
68LyndaInOregon
#36 - The Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream, Jeannie Zusy
3.5 stars
A not-quite-divorced, not-quite-empty-nester reluctantly takes on the responsibility of caring for her developmentally disabled sister in this debut novel, which is not quite the downer it could have been. The full review is here, if you're interested.
3.5 stars
A not-quite-divorced, not-quite-empty-nester reluctantly takes on the responsibility of caring for her developmentally disabled sister in this debut novel, which is not quite the downer it could have been. The full review is here, if you're interested.
69LyndaInOregon
#37 - The Thread Collectors, Shaunna Edwards
3 stars
This story of two couples, Black and White, Northern and Southern, separated by the Civil War, has an intriguing premise, but the writing style never rises above the pedestrian.
3 stars
This story of two couples, Black and White, Northern and Southern, separated by the Civil War, has an intriguing premise, but the writing style never rises above the pedestrian.
70Whisper1
>60 LyndaInOregon: I added Land That Moves, Land That Stands Still by Kent Nelson to the tbr list . I'll check tomorrow to see if my library has this one. I enjoyed your recent reviews!
71Whisper1
>61 LyndaInOregon: I added Dance Hall of the Dead to be TBR list. You are reading at a fast clip, and there are so many good books within.
72LyndaInOregon
#38 - Hollywood Hoofbeats, Petrine Day Mitchum and Audrey Pavia
4 stars
Okay, I admit it. I was a horse-crazy kid who never outgrew the obsession, and quit riding only after my decrepit old body alerted me in no uncertain terms that to continue was risking permanent debilitating injury. (Long boring story.) But I can still look!
This outstanding study looks at the many ways in which horses have been used in motion pictures over the art form's century-and-a-half history.
In fact, a trotting horse named Abe Edgington, was featured in an 1878 series of precisely-timed still photographs (reprinted in the introduction) to win a bet for his owner, former California governor Leland P. Stanford. The bet was not for speed, because Abe Edgington was alone on the track. It was to prove that, during a precise point during the trotting gait, all four feet of the horse would be off the ground at once. This series of still photos, combined with others of horses moving at different gaits, gave impetus to the idea of the "moving picture", which burst out of the gate, so to speak, within the next 20 years. And the dust hasn't settled yet.
Authors Petrine Day Mitchum and Audrey Pavia, have accumulated hundreds of high-quality photos and an even greater number of anecdotes and historical information on big and small screen horses, and rather than taking a straight historical line from Abe Edgington to the horselike aliens in the movie Avatar, they've broken the content into the different film genres in which equine actors helped transport audiences into and through the adventure.
From the early silents, through the heyday of the Western, with side trips through historical costume dramas, racetrack action, kids' movies, and slapstick comedy, the individual equine performers get to shine here. Insider information explains how many onscreen stunts are prepared, how the horses are trained, what sleight-of-hand is used to perfect the illusions, and how the humane treatment of animal performers evolved over the years from something not even considered to being taken just as seriously as the safety of their human co-stars.
This is also a beautifully designed book, balancing text and photos on quality glossy stock, with a large-scale format that lets the artwork really shine. The only quibble one might have is with the paperback format, because this is a book any horse afficionado will want to keep in their permanent library.
4 stars
Okay, I admit it. I was a horse-crazy kid who never outgrew the obsession, and quit riding only after my decrepit old body alerted me in no uncertain terms that to continue was risking permanent debilitating injury. (Long boring story.) But I can still look!
This outstanding study looks at the many ways in which horses have been used in motion pictures over the art form's century-and-a-half history.
In fact, a trotting horse named Abe Edgington, was featured in an 1878 series of precisely-timed still photographs (reprinted in the introduction) to win a bet for his owner, former California governor Leland P. Stanford. The bet was not for speed, because Abe Edgington was alone on the track. It was to prove that, during a precise point during the trotting gait, all four feet of the horse would be off the ground at once. This series of still photos, combined with others of horses moving at different gaits, gave impetus to the idea of the "moving picture", which burst out of the gate, so to speak, within the next 20 years. And the dust hasn't settled yet.
Authors Petrine Day Mitchum and Audrey Pavia, have accumulated hundreds of high-quality photos and an even greater number of anecdotes and historical information on big and small screen horses, and rather than taking a straight historical line from Abe Edgington to the horselike aliens in the movie Avatar, they've broken the content into the different film genres in which equine actors helped transport audiences into and through the adventure.
From the early silents, through the heyday of the Western, with side trips through historical costume dramas, racetrack action, kids' movies, and slapstick comedy, the individual equine performers get to shine here. Insider information explains how many onscreen stunts are prepared, how the horses are trained, what sleight-of-hand is used to perfect the illusions, and how the humane treatment of animal performers evolved over the years from something not even considered to being taken just as seriously as the safety of their human co-stars.
This is also a beautifully designed book, balancing text and photos on quality glossy stock, with a large-scale format that lets the artwork really shine. The only quibble one might have is with the paperback format, because this is a book any horse afficionado will want to keep in their permanent library.
73Whisper1
Lynda, Your review of Hollywood Hoofbeats is excellent! I can tell by your writing that this is a book that connected with you. I imagine the illustrations are stunning!
74LyndaInOregon
#39 - No Perfect Mothers, Karen Spears Zacharias
3 stars
I was disappointed in this one, which tells the partially-fictionalized story of a young Virginia woman whose forced sterilization in 1920 ultimately set the stage for one of the most brutal and destructive U.S. Supreme Court decisions ever written. The full review is here, if you're interested.
A little background ... between the briefly popular notion of eugenics and the routine violation of the civil rights of American girls and women (mostly impoverished young women of color, as well as developmentally disabled people of both sexes) an estimated 70,000 people were forcibly sterilized in the last century in the United States. The process became so routine, particularly in the American South, that it was often referred to as "the Mississippi appendectomy", both because it was done so casually and because many of the patients were led to believe that was the procedure that had been done on them.
This is powerful stuff, but Zacharias has chosen to approach it via a novelist's viewpoint rather than that of an historian. There's a helluva book out there about this case ... but No Perfect Mothers isn't it.
3 stars
I was disappointed in this one, which tells the partially-fictionalized story of a young Virginia woman whose forced sterilization in 1920 ultimately set the stage for one of the most brutal and destructive U.S. Supreme Court decisions ever written. The full review is here, if you're interested.
A little background ... between the briefly popular notion of eugenics and the routine violation of the civil rights of American girls and women (mostly impoverished young women of color, as well as developmentally disabled people of both sexes) an estimated 70,000 people were forcibly sterilized in the last century in the United States. The process became so routine, particularly in the American South, that it was often referred to as "the Mississippi appendectomy", both because it was done so casually and because many of the patients were led to believe that was the procedure that had been done on them.
This is powerful stuff, but Zacharias has chosen to approach it via a novelist's viewpoint rather than that of an historian. There's a helluva book out there about this case ... but No Perfect Mothers isn't it.
75justchris
Nice reviews! I was horse crazy as a kid, but was never more than a city kid wannabe with occasional riding opportunities as child or adult. So I salute you for a lifetime with horses. Sounds like a lovely book too.
76LyndaInOregon
#40 - The Bradbury Chronicles, edited by William F. Nolan
5 stars
First, many thanks to Whisper1 for sending me a copy of this book, which had been on my Wish List for some time. All Good Karma back at you, Linda!
I've been working my way through this 22-story collection for about 6 weeks, and relishing almost every page. Sure, there were one or two entries that didn't hit it out of the park for me, but the overwhelming majority were very good, and one or two were pure heaven.
Full review is here, if you're interested.
5 stars
First, many thanks to Whisper1 for sending me a copy of this book, which had been on my Wish List for some time. All Good Karma back at you, Linda!
I've been working my way through this 22-story collection for about 6 weeks, and relishing almost every page. Sure, there were one or two entries that didn't hit it out of the park for me, but the overwhelming majority were very good, and one or two were pure heaven.
Full review is here, if you're interested.
77LyndaInOregon
#41 - Coyote Waits, Tony Hillerman
3.5 stars
Another early entry in the Leaphorn & Chee series as the two separately investigate the murder of a Navajo policeman and how -- of if -- it's connected to Navajo creation stories.
Hillerman's glimpses into the Navajo Spirit Way and his detailed descriptions of the Four Corners landscape are what keep me coming back to this series.
3.5 stars
Another early entry in the Leaphorn & Chee series as the two separately investigate the murder of a Navajo policeman and how -- of if -- it's connected to Navajo creation stories.
Hillerman's glimpses into the Navajo Spirit Way and his detailed descriptions of the Four Corners landscape are what keep me coming back to this series.
78LyndaInOregon
#42 - Ghost Wall, Sarah Moss
4 stars
Reminiscent of Shirley Jackson's work. This slim tale of a summer's anthropology field program re-enacting life in an Iron Age village in Northumbrian boglands is full of dark, primal menace.
4 stars
Reminiscent of Shirley Jackson's work. This slim tale of a summer's anthropology field program re-enacting life in an Iron Age village in Northumbrian boglands is full of dark, primal menace.
79LyndaInOregon
#43 - the Toughest Indian in the World, Sherman Alexie
4 stars
Just finished this collection of short stories, after working through it over a couple of weeks. I'm not really up for a full review, but I did enjoy it, though I notice my book buddy Whisper1 didn't. Alexie warns in the intro that a lot of the stories will involve sexual content, even though his past habit has been to avoid writing details about his characters' love lives. And because so much of what Alexie has written has ended up categorized as YA, I guess I can understand that some reviewers were turned off by the content.
4 stars
Just finished this collection of short stories, after working through it over a couple of weeks. I'm not really up for a full review, but I did enjoy it, though I notice my book buddy Whisper1 didn't. Alexie warns in the intro that a lot of the stories will involve sexual content, even though his past habit has been to avoid writing details about his characters' love lives. And because so much of what Alexie has written has ended up categorized as YA, I guess I can understand that some reviewers were turned off by the content.
80LyndaInOregon
April Summary - Didn't seem I was completing that many books, but aparently they all slid down to the end of the month, because I ended up with 11 reads.
Best book of the month was The Bradbury Chronicles, with 5 stars.
Honorable mentions include Ghost Wall, Hollywood Hoofbeats, and the Toughest Indian in the World.
After that, in descending order, The Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream, Coyote Waits, Scorched (which doesn't want to link, but it hasn't been officially released yet), No Perfect Mothers, Walking Shadow, and All That's Left Unsaid.
Dud o' the Month was A Matter for Men, which sneaked under the radar because I didn't realize it was the first book of a trilogy ... which is now up to five books and counting with two more an anticipated. And the first one wasn't that impressive, so I won't be making that journey.
Next month could get interesting. Two LTERs, a RL book club read, and the Witches Abroad group read here already in the queue.
Best book of the month was The Bradbury Chronicles, with 5 stars.
Honorable mentions include Ghost Wall, Hollywood Hoofbeats, and the Toughest Indian in the World.
After that, in descending order, The Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream, Coyote Waits, Scorched (which doesn't want to link, but it hasn't been officially released yet), No Perfect Mothers, Walking Shadow, and All That's Left Unsaid.
Dud o' the Month was A Matter for Men, which sneaked under the radar because I didn't realize it was the first book of a trilogy ... which is now up to five books and counting with two more an anticipated. And the first one wasn't that impressive, so I won't be making that journey.
Next month could get interesting. Two LTERs, a RL book club read, and the Witches Abroad group read here already in the queue.
81LyndaInOregon
#44 - I Sleep Around, Sue Ann Jaffarian
3 stars
LTER
It was mildly interesting, but it's being marketed as "humorous", and that ain't happenin'. Would be helpful to anyone planning to get into RV-ing or contemplating a long road trip in the U.S.
3 stars
LTER
It was mildly interesting, but it's being marketed as "humorous", and that ain't happenin'. Would be helpful to anyone planning to get into RV-ing or contemplating a long road trip in the U.S.
82LyndaInOregon
#45 - Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
4.5 stars - Group Read
Lots of fun revisiting this. According to my journal, I read it originally in 2008, but I really didn't remember any of it. Apparently there are some rewards for getting old and forgetful.
4.5 stars - Group Read
Lots of fun revisiting this. According to my journal, I read it originally in 2008, but I really didn't remember any of it. Apparently there are some rewards for getting old and forgetful.
83LyndaInOregon
#46 - The Unsinkable Greta James, Jennifer Smith
4 stars - Group Read
There's a slow build to this story about a rockstar musician trying to rebuild both her confidence after a disastrous onstage meltdown and her prickly relationship with her father, all the while on an Alaskan cruise that was planned to take place under very different circumstances.
I was afraid, from the cover copy, that this was going to be romance-y, but fortunately the inevitable shipboard romance angle was an integral part of the main character's ongoing struggle to get a handle on her life.
4 stars - Group Read
There's a slow build to this story about a rockstar musician trying to rebuild both her confidence after a disastrous onstage meltdown and her prickly relationship with her father, all the while on an Alaskan cruise that was planned to take place under very different circumstances.
I was afraid, from the cover copy, that this was going to be romance-y, but fortunately the inevitable shipboard romance angle was an integral part of the main character's ongoing struggle to get a handle on her life.
