Metis sisters April and Cheryl Raintree are just kids (in the 1950s?) when they are taken from their “sick” (alcoholic, but the girls are too young to understand) parents to live in foster homes. They are together for part of their growing up years, but mostly separate, though they do get visits (also with their parents). April appears white whereas Cheryl looks Indigenous. The story continues as they reach adulthood and go their own ways, while (mostly) staying in touch.

Audio. This was very good. It did move quickly through their lives. Have to admit, although I liked her as a child, I sure didn’t like Cheryl much as an adult. The author’s note was interesting to learn that not only is she Metis, she also grew up in foster homes. Warning that there is a graphic rape scene in the book. The audio was done well, and I rarely lost focus.

This is a biography of Charles Manson, the man who masterminded the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and her friends + a visitor on the grounds of their home that night, and Rosemary and Leno Labianca, who were murdered in their home the following night. It starts with his (teenage) mother’s family and her religious mother; his upbringing as he shuffled around between family and boarding schools, but he was never able to be controlled. From the age of 12, he was in and out of jail. When he finally headed to California to the “free love” world of Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, he gathered together his “Family” of disciples, mostly women. The two most well known nights of murder were not the only ones committed by Manson’s Family.

There is a lot of detail in this biography. There is also a lot of history included (descriptions of San Francisco in the ‘60s come to mind). I have read Vincent Bugliosi’s “Helter Skelter” twice – once in high school and once recently (in the past year). This one doesn’t even get to the murder until about half-way through the book. I’ve read two other books (biographies) by Guinn and he is very good for getting to details. This was published in 2013, so he was able to interview some of the people involved before they died for the book, though Manson himself would never talk to him (though Guinn tried).

3.5 stars

This is pretty much how it sounds from the title. It is “academic”, published by Oxford University Press, so it does look at a lot of “literary” horror: Frankenstein, Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, etc. But there are also mentions of more current (non-literary stuff) like Twilight. There is also discussion of movies, starting with some of the bloodbath movies in the 1970s and 80s.

Audio. I thought this was good. It’s always nice to catch references and I’ve been a horror fan (books and movies) since I was a teenager. I probably missed more of the recent references than the older ones.

An elaborate theft happens in the special collections room in the Princeton library. Five men work together to steal some first edition manuscripts including one for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”. Two of them are caught right away, but the other three get away, and the manuscripts are gone.

When author Mercer Mann is approached by someone named Elaine to help them find the manuscript, she hesitates. Elaine and Co. are pretty sure the manuscripts (or at least some of them) are with a bookseller in Florida where Mercer used to spend summers with her grandmother. Elaine just wants Mercer to spy and pass on any info she finds out. Mercer will fit right in to this community of authors and the bookseller who helps them promote their works.

I quite liked this. Like Mercer, I certainly would have had misgivings/hesitations in doing something like this. But I (mostly) liked her and some of the other characters. Not a fan of the bookseller himself, Bruce, though I believe he was meant to be friendly and charming. There is a sequel (not sure how many in this series), so I’ll give it a try. It sound like both Bruce and Mercer are characters, though I could have done without Bruce.

Luzina lives in a small community in Northern Manitoba in the 1930s(?). She has 10 children (by the end of the book, anyway). Her husband builds a school, but it is mostly their children who are of the age and close enough to attend, but there are enough of the kids to be able to bring in a teacher – at least for a few years. It is a new teacher each year, but Luzina’s kids are enjoying learning.

This was slow moving, but ok. I don’t like super-long paragraphs, though, and unfortunately, there were many of those (mass market paperback size and some of the paragraphs came close to a full page!). There was a section just past the middle of the book (maybe one chapter or so? But I didn’t know if it would continue to the end or not) that focused on the priest, whom they called the Capuchin. I didn’t find that part as interesting, but it did bring in a few more characters. Luzina and her family are French-speaking, but there were also “Indians” and “halfbreeds” closeby, as well as Ukrainians and English people. Apparently the book was based on the author teaching in that area of Manitoba (as mentioned in the afterword by another Canadian author, also from Manitoba, I believe).

Despite most not believing in vampires, it appears that there are vampires (or something like) out there murdering people. There are also a couple of magicians who work with tigers who are travelling around. Alex Cross is working on figuring out what’s going on and are these things connected? There is also a long-time storyline that is wrapped up.

Audio. This was ok. I’m not liking the series as much as at the beginning (I rated the first one very highly (for me) at 4.5 stars and it made my top 10 that year). I’d like to say this could be because I often listen to the audios (and so I do lose concentration at times and miss some things), but that first one was also an audio book. One of the good things in this audio was when we followed Alex, it was a different narrator than when we followed the vampires or magicians, so at least I could tell whose POV it was. All this being said, 3 stars is ok for me and I will plan to read the next in the series.

It’s the late 18th century in Philadelphia. Peggy meets and seems to fall instantly in love with a soldier(?), Andre. I’m not exactly sure what happens, but then suddenly she has fallen in love with Benedict Arnold. They marry and have a son. There is a lot more going on here, but I missed it.

I am not American. I do not know the history. All I know of Benedict Arnold is that he was apparently some kind of traitor. I know none of the details. I thought this fictional book might help fill me in. But I had zero interest – that is, the book didn’t make it interesting enough for me to pay attention to those parts, so I still don’t know anything about Benedict Arnold except that he married and had a son.

3.5 stars

52-year old Kelly’s older (and very rich) husband died a year ago. She is just finalizing the estate and thinking about other things when she accidentally walks into a ballroom dance studio and is convinced to try a free lesson. That free lesson turns into more private lessons, plus group lessons.

In the meantime, she also volunteers and a hospice. She is paired with someone to visit with and do whatever they need help with until they are gone. She had been doing other things for the year since her own husband died, but has now been assigned to a young woman with cancer.

I liked this. I also used to ballroom dance (well, I took lessons… never competed, never performed) off and on for 15 years. The author has also obviously danced (probably even competed, by her descriptions of the competitions).

The “Very Short Introductions” is a series of small nonfiction books, published by Oxford University Press on a variety of topics. This one is on witchcraft.

Much of it did come across as academic in nature, so maybe not as interesting as I’d hoped. Was it the style of writing? Maybe. In any case, it seems that even defining witchcraft is tricky… it changes over time and it is tied up with both magic and religion. Overall, I’m rating the book ok. It is a “short” introduction, so it didn’t take long to read. I’ve been wanting to read one of these for a long time and I think this is finally the first one I’ve read! I will try more.

Sports agent Myron Bolitar is at a tennis match when a young tennis player is shot (just outside? at?) the stadium. Myron takes it upon himself to try to figure out who killed Valerie.

Audio. This was ok, but I definitely missed some bits and pieces. I’d like to say the scenes moved quickly – Myron would be in one place talking to one person, then suddenly he’s somewhere else with nothing happening to get him from one place to the other. But then, maybe those were places I lost focus? This is the second book in this series and Coben’s standalone thrillers are so much better. I am not going to to continue this series; I’ll go back to his standalones.

Hmmm... I am now reminded that I picked up a later book in the series at a used book store a few years back; I had hoped to like the series enough to keep going up to and including that one… I might just skip the others in between and at least read that one, although it’s rare that I read series out of order!

When Hazel comes “home” after a separation from her husband, she is intending on watching her parents’ precious pedigreed cats while they go on a cruise. She even makes plans to meet up with her estranged sister. But before that meetup happens, she meets Andrew; they have an amiable chat and he offers her a ride. Unfortunately, he tricks her, then locks her away in the basement of the isolated, dilapidated house he says he’s renovating. Meanwhile, Hazel has her own internal demons she is fighting and she’s losing her grip on what’s real as she is kept from her medication.

I really liked this. It had a very creepy vibe and I wasn’t sure how Hazel was going to get out of the situation she was in. I didn’t necessarily like the secondary characters (Hazel’s sister and Hazel’s high-school friend), but it didn’t take away from how much I liked the book. I did question for a while whether or not Hazel was a reliable narrator.

The author, a professor, decided to start a book club in a men’s prison. There were only nine members, so she got to know them while they discussed “literature”. Yes, many classics that I’m not even a fan of (some were ok; I haven’t read all they discussed, but I don’t even want to read some of them!).

I really liked this. Each chapter was a different book and she described a bit about one of the men, alternating for a different person in each following chapter. There were some illustrated portraits of all the men who participated and photographs of some of them. Since the books were not ones I’ve read or (if I have) ones I don’t remember well, though they might have been “ok”, there might have been a few references I missed. To be honest, I was more interested in the men’s lives in the prison… and out of the prison for the two that Mikita met up with after they were released. It was nice to get that bit of an update on them.

3.75 stars

This is NASA and its history, primarily in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, with the Challenger disaster in 1986 as the “highlight”. Included in the book is what happened/went wrong with the Apollo mission when three astronauts (while doing a test in the shuttle) were killed in a fire, then it continued to the Challenger and the temperature issues when it launched, particularly the effect the record cold had on the o-rings, as they were unable to expand and seal due to the cold weather.

I want to give this 4 stars and I would to the last parts of the book (I didn’t notice how much was left when I got more interested). But (after the Apollo disaster), I did get a bit lost in some of the technical details. Oddly, I must have also skimmed through much of the biographical information on the astronauts who were killed in the Challenger disaster. It was interesting to read about the competition for a teacher to head into space. Given my age at the time, and a lack of interest in the news, I certainly don’t remember that. Of course, some of the talk about average people paying to go into space is now happening (well, maybe not “average” as you pretty much need to be a billionaire, but not astronauts, anyway.)

This was read for my book club and it sure came in a timely manner with Artemis II just back from its flight around the moon. I did watch the takeoff and landing of that one. I also remember when Challenger blew up. I was in grade 7 and home from school studying show more for an exam that day. I heard it on the radio first. And yes, watching Artemis II was a bit nerve-wracking, but also quite exciting, and obviously that one was a happy event as everything went smoothly. show less

2.75 stars

This is nonfiction, going way back in history starting over 1 billion years ago and ending 150,000 years ago. It’s about nature – the plant and animal life that came and went throughout history.

Audio. I had this on a 1 week loan from the library, but had already placed my hold on the print copy when it came up for me via audio. I did pick up the print as a backup in case I didn’t finish. I did manage to finish the audio, but after I finished I flipped through the print book for the nice illustrations. I found the animal information more interesting than the plants. But, as often happens with me and audio (more often with nonfiction), I missed more of the book than I would have liked. Looking at the print, I’m pretty sure I would have taken in more and enjoyed it more if I’d read the print.

3.5 stars

This is the third book in a series. Crater Lake (in Oregon?) is a national park and there have been dinosaurs appearing in the lake for a few years now. The rangers thought they had gotten rid of all of them the last time. But now, when they go to investigate in the lake, there a so many of them, and different species, too! Not only that, the head ranger comes across some small-ish (turns out just young) ones in the forest. It’s not long before they learn that some of them (and big ones) have even made it into the nearest town and to places (and states) beyond; this is the first time they’ve been out of the park.

This was good. Of course, the times when they were facing the dinosaurs were the most exciting parts of the book, rather than the organizing and trying to figure out what to do in between those times. There are some personal stories, as well, mainly with the head ranger and his wife who has dealt with cancer. They also (conveniently) have a son-in-law who is a paleontologist. I do hope to continue the series.

2.5 stars

Audio. I (often) have a harder time with nonfiction via audio book and this one was that way for me. I couldn’t focus, so I missed much of what was read. What I heard was interesting enough. Most of what I heard was history, including the abundance of whales and why so many have disappeared. The author is a paleontologist, so he did talk about fossils and such, as well.

This is book 3 in the Molly Murphy series. Molly is a recent immigrant to New York from Ireland. She wants to be a private investigator and has (due to circumstances in book 2) taken over the PI company where she was initially hired at a very low level. But in the early 20th century in New York City – when gangs are rampant – trying to do this alone, as a woman, is very very difficult. Even so, she gets two jobs at the same time.

One is via a man who runs a clothes-making factory (a la Triangle Shirtwaist Factory), who knows someone is stealing designs from him and giving them to a rival, who then comes out with the designs first. So, he hires Molly to first work for him for a while, then go get a job with the rival to see if she can figure out who is stealing the designs. At the same time, Molly receives a letter from Ireland from a father looking for his daughter who ran off to New York with her boyfriend, who was staff of the family; the relationship was frowned upon.

The two cases do intersect, and I was interested in both of them. I have read a few books about the Triangle factory fire, so I already had an idea of the conditions those girls’ worked in. I also enjoy Molly’s backstory and the majority of the secondary characters, especially Sid and Gus.

Ella is whisked away and brought to an asylum. When she figures out where she is, she protests that she shouldn’t be there. After she immediately tries to escape, she is taken to the women’s section of the hospital. During the attempted escape, she caught the eye of John, who is in the men’s section of the hospital (though at the time of her escape, he was outside doing work). Dr. Fuller at the hospital also plays instruments (violin? piano? both?). The one time the men and women in the hospital can get together is during the weekly dances, where Dr. Fuller plays. Dr. Fuller also writes papers on eugenics.

Alternating chapters told the story from all three points of view. I found Ella’s most interesting, but as a whole, I didn’t really like this.

3.5 stars

Adele is a nurse from Windsor, Ontario in Belgium during WWI. There, she meets injured tunnel digger, Jerry, also from Windsor, Ontario. Jerry is fixed up and heads back to fight. Luckily, both he and his brother make it home, but to find that both their parents died of the flu. Jerry and John take over their father’s alcohol business, getting it over the US border during prohibition. But this can be dangerous. It is a few years before Jerry and Adele run in to each other, but this is something they had both hoped for.

Audio. I liked this. It did move quickly through time between all the events, though. There was a present-day story, as well, but I didn’t find it nearly as good. There is a nice author’s note at the end. The audio was well done with three different narrators, one each for Jerry, Adele, and Cassie (present-day character). So, it was easy to tell what time period and which character’s POV I was hearing.

This looks at the history of birds in the US, how quickly so many disappeared and the reasons why, as well as the people who tried to save them. Early on, of course, hunting was a big threat, but also habitat destruction (for human use), fashion (particularly hats), and more. The main focus is on the late 19th century and early 20th century, also as groups formed to save birds (some were deemed more important than others early on), and some of the people who helped with that and how.

This was very good. Of course, as nonfiction in comparison to a fiction book of a similar length, it was slower to read, though I still found it very interesting. Some of it I’ve read before, but one of the things that I hadn’t really read much about (maybe it has been mentioned in other reads, but this went into much more detail that I remember reading about) was hats. And how much that devastated birds – and it wasn’t just for feathers, but women wore entire dead bodies or parts of dead birds on their hats!

Another thing I hadn’t realized was the amount of violence against people (wardens) trying to stop others from hunting when and where they shouldn’t. That reminded me of modern-day poachers in Africa. Yes, even the in the US, people were violently hurt and even killed when someone tried to stop another from shooting birds. The epilogue concluded with current issues hurting birds (glass windows, cats, pesticides…), but also some ways to help are offered.

3.75 stars

Anna has been hiding for 10 years; she uses a different name and even her husband and two daughters don’t know her history. When her husband decides to leave Anna for her best friend, Estelle, they take the two girls to give Anna time to move out. Estelle’s (famous) husband, Fin, appears to see how Anna is holding up and because he is famous, Anna’s neighbour (whom she really doesn’t like) takes a picture and shares it to social media. Unfortunately, Anna is also in the picture, so she grabs Fin and runs.

To deal with things, Anna likes to listen to podcasts. The one she has just started is about a man who died on a yacht with his two children. He had sent the crew away before they took off (in the dark with no lights on) from the dock. A bit further out, the yacht exploded and all three family members died. Anna knows the father in this story… she knew him ten years previous, and decides while she’s running, she is going to help figure out what happened.

I wasn’t as interested in the first half of the book, but once I learned Anna’s history and why she ran, it got much more interesting (at least for me). That being said, I didn’t really like Anna. It frustrated me how long it took her to fill Fin in on what was going on with her and her history. There was a lot going on in this book. I averaged out the 3.5 stars for the slower first half with the 4 stars I would give for the 2nd half to a 3.75 stars.

3.5 stars

This is a history of milk. More broadly, it includes cheese, ice cream, yogurt… agriculture (organic and factory farming), dairy in other countries/cultures, and much more.

Of course, for centuries, there was no refrigeration, so milk went bad very quickly, so it was often transformed into cheese or yogurt. One interesting thing I learned that I didn’t know before was “swill milk” – cows were kept in breweries (horrible life for them!) and fed the waste from making the beer. The milk was awful, but it sold – at least for a while. I found the other countries/cultures interesting, particularly in Tibet with the yaks. I was a bit less interested in (most of) the recipes (though the fudge sounded good!). Is it good for humans or not? The jury is still out on that one. Much to learn in this book.

Werewolf Adam and were-coyote (and mechanic) Mercy are getting married. Things happen on their honeymoon, including (I think) Mercy learning more about her biological father.

Audio. Yeah, this will be the end of this series for me. At the start, Mercy and Adam got married, but then I lost interest through the vast majority of the rest of it and I’m not too sure what all happened. In addition to learning about her father, I think Mercy learned more about her indigenous heritage and Coyote.

3.5 stars

This is my 2nd Science Comic in a row. These are short graphic novels geared toward a younger audience, but with plenty of information that many (most?) adults likely don’t know, either! The storyteller in this one is a young elephant herself.

I am not rating this one quite as high as “Frogs”, I think, because I already knew more about elephants to start with. But, as usual, this still brought some new interesting information to me. Sadly, this one did wrap up with a warning that humans are causing habitat loss and even evolutionary changes to elephants (smaller tusks due to the wlwphants with larger tusks being poached and not passing on those genes for larger tusks). I feel like, if I had endless amounts of money, these would be a great series to buy and keep, as I could go back and look things up again later as a refresher.

Science Comics: this is a graphic novel series aimed at “middle school” readers. This one is about frogs. The “story” to learn about them is that a city girl, Fran, has moved to a rural area with a small forest and a hidden pond nearby. When she discovers the pond, she starts to learn about the various types of frogs and toads.

I love the Science Comics! I learn so much from them myself. Sometimes the story leading to what you learn is silly, but I thought this one worked well. Some of the things I learned are simple and probably lots of people already knew these things. Now I can tell a toad from a frog (though all toads are also frogs, but it doesn’t work the other way around). Frogs breathe (in part) through their skin, drink through their bellies, and their eyes help them swallow. I learned about different species of frogs in different parts of the world. And there’s so much more. Some of the illustrations do a really good job of helping explain things.

This is pretty much what the title says it is: a history of witchcraft. I seem to have the opposite opinion compared to most people on this one. I was bored. I was looking forward to reading it, but I got bored almost right away with all the Biblical stuff and mythology that started off the book. There were times in the book I got more interested for a bit, but then I’d get distracted and lose interest again. There was one chapter on Wicca that I was most looking forward to, and it was one that started off well, then I just lost interest. (This sounds like what sometimes happens for me with audio books, but this wasn’t an audio. I was legitimately bored while I read it.)

3.5 stars

Cassie works at a bookstore and Mr. Webber is a regular customer (there is also a coffee shop, so he is able to spend time, reading and chatting). When he dies, Cassie is surprised to find he has left a book to her: the Book of Doors. It seems there is something special about this book, as Cassie and her friend/roommate Izzy discover – they can travel in an instant between doors (and countries!). But there are others who know about this unusual book (and there are other books, too) and are willing to kill for it.

Audio. This was good. I did miss out on a few things as I got distracted while listening, but I think I got the gist of everything that happened, even if I missed some details. I’m not usually a fantasy fan, but urban fantasy is better and I do like time travel. I did like that Cassie was able to see and spend time with both her grandpa and Mr. Webber in the past.

Elodie and Bren met in Australia, where Elodie is from. It wasn’t long before they got married and moved to the US, where Bren has been fixing up his parents’ old house. Elodie is the single mom of 6-year old Jude. Jude has some problems and is hard to handle, but Elodie believes she is the only one who is able to handle him. She has a hard time leaving him with anyone else (though he is now in school). Even worse, Jude is scared of the old house they now live in; not only that, Elodie is starting to see why. The house seems to be breathing and it doesn’t want them to be fixing it up.

I can’t say I liked either Elodie or Bren (or Jude, either). But I did really like the story. But I would consider Elodie an unreliable narrator: it was hard to know what to believe from her POV. There were some twists toward the end. I did guess one just before it was revealed. Note that there is some gore in the story.

Rosie and Rex were complete opposites, but fell in love, anyway. Rosie is a free spirit and Rex likes things very structured. After ten years and two kids (10 and 6 years old, I think), they are separated and getting a divorce. Willow (the 10-year old) is bullied at school, and doesn’t like staying with her dad with all his rules. But she loves being with her mom. But things go very very wrong.

I really didn’t like Rosie. I thought she was immature and irresponsible. Yes, I am much more like Rex – all the structure – but he was a bit “much” at times, as well. Overall, I’m still rating the book “ok” for the story.

This book starts as Abraham Lincoln wins the election in 1860. It leads up to the beginning of the U. S. Civil War. It takes a detailed look at Fort Sumter and the lead up to that attack and the aftermath.

I am not liking Larson’s more recent books. I really liked many of his older ones, but the last few I’ve read I just haven’t liked. In this one, I got bored pretty quickly and just wasn’t really following what was going on and ended up skimming toward the end just to finish. It took me ages to even figure out which side was occupying the fort that was being targeted.