dieKatze is going around town with books #2

Hi everyone! Time for thread #2. I was in the 2015 group mostly for the group reads last year, but the CATs interested me this year so I decided to actually try the category challenge and make a thread for the upcoming year.

I am aiming for a minimum of 3 books in each category although I am not really concerned about the number; I just want to read good books!

Where Do You Want to Go?
Shoe Store: Memoirs
Antiques Shop: Classics
Pet Store: Animal-Related Books
Magazine Stand: Short Stories and Essay Collections
Pharmacy: Science and Medicine Books
Salon & Spa: Chick Lit Books
Bookstore: General Fiction
Designer Clothing Store: Celebrity Books
Sporting Goods Store: Self-Improvement & Psychology Books
Comic Book Store: Graphic Novels, Comics, and Humor Books
Computer Supply Store: Biography & Autobiography
Movie Theater: Suspense, Horror, Thriller, Mystery, & Science Fiction
Museum: Non-Fiction (Non-fiction catch-all category)
City Hall: Political Books
Shopping Mall: Young Adult Books

CATS, DOGs, & PUPs
DeweyCAT
RandomCAT
BingoDOG
Woman BingoPUP

I am aiming to read at least 42 books off my own shelves this year. Last year, I read 46 books off my shelves. So 42 seems doable.

I have read 42 books this year.

Book Reviews on my previous thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/204813

This One Summer
My America: What My Country Means to Me by 150 Americans from All Walks of Life
The Opposite of Loneliness
One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America's Future
Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life is Your Hidden Strength
Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited
The Uncoupling
The Relaxation Response
The Post-Birthday World
The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye
The Corrections
The Mermaid Chair
Relish: My Life in the Kitchen
The Zen Path Through Depression
The Walking Dead: Miles Behind Us
Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals
A Stolen Life: A Memoir
The Summer of Us
We Were Liars
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
A Crime in the Neighborhood
American Born Chinese
The Nanny Diaries
Bird Box
The Professor's House
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science

Book Reviews on this thread:
Midwives
Before We Were Free
Man in the Dark by Paul Auster
Brave New World
Killer Diller
The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats: A Journey into the Feline Heart
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
What Alice Forgot
The Red Hourglass: Lives of the Predators
Lookaway, Lookaway
Love Walked In
The Blessings of the Animals
Rocking the Ages

Upcoming Reviews:
Animal Tragic
Plain Truth
The Mammy

Shoe Store


In someone else's shoes so...Memoirs

1. Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited by Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein
2. A Stolen Life: A Memoir by Jaycee Dugard
3.

Antiques Shop

Classics

1. The Professor's House
2. Brave New World
3.

Pet Store

Books about animals

1. Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin
2. The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats: A Journey into the Feline Heart by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
3. Animal Tragic

Magazine Stand

Magazine articles are short so...Short Stories and Essay Collections.

1. My America: What My Country Means to Me by 150 Americans from All Walks of Life
2. The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories
3.

Pharmacy

Books about Science, Medicine, or Health

1. Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
2.
3.

Salon & Spa

Chick Lit Books.

1. The Summer of Us by Holly Chamberlin
2. The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
3. What Alice Forgot

--------------------------------------------------------------

4. Love Walked In
5. The Blessings of the Animals

Bookstore

General Fiction

1. The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer
2. The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver
3. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

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4. The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
5. Man in the Dark by Paul Auster
6. Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
7. Killer Diller by Clyde Edgerton
8. Lookaway, Lookaway by Wilton Barnhardt
9. Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult
10. The Mammy by Brendan O'Carroll

Designer Clothing Store

Celebrities wear designer clothes so books by and/or about Celebrities.
Examples: Nick Offerman, Tori Spelling, Goldie Hawn, etc.

1.
2.
3.

Sporting Goods Store

Self-Improvement, Self-Help, and Psychology Books

1. Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength
2. The Relaxation Response
3. The Zen Path Through Depression

Comic Book Store

This category will encompass Graphic Novels, Graphic Memoirs, Comic Books as well as Humorous Books that might be memoirs or books of essays from David Sedaris, Sloane Crosley, Jenny Lawson, etc.

1. This One Summer
2. The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye, Vol. 1
3. Relish: My Life in the Kitchen

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4. The Walking Dead: Miles Behind Us, Vol. 2
5. American Born Chinese

Computer Store

Computers make me think of research. A lot of research is needed for Biographies and Autobiographies.

1.
2.
3.

Movie Theater

A lot of Suspense, Thriller, Dystopia, Mystery, Horror, and Science Fiction books make good movies.

1. A Crime in the Neighborhood
2. Bird Box
3. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Museum


I think I will make this a Non-fiction catch-all category because I realized some of the non-fiction I read or am interested in possibly reading do not fall into any of the categories I made for myself. Museums are about learning and you learn a lot from non-fiction so this fits well enough.

1. The Red Hourglass: Lives of the Predators
2. Rocking the Ages
3.

City Hall



Books about political figures, elections, or politics in general.

1. One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America's Future
2.
3.

Shopping Mall



Teenagers like to go to the mall and hang out with friends (at least they used to--I don't know what they do these days). So the shopping mall will be for Young Adult books.

1. We Were Liars
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
3. Before We Were Free

DeweyCAT



January: 000: Computer Science & Information:

February: 100: Philosophy & Psychology: Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life is Your Hidden Strength (155 Dewey, Philosophy and Psychology, Developmental and Differential Psychology, Individual Psychology), The Relaxation Response (155 Dewey, Philosophy and Psychology, Developmental and Differential Psychology)

March: 200: Religion: The Mermaid Chair (Fiction) The Zen Path Through Depression (294 Dewey)

April: 300-354: Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science, Law: One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America's Future (306 Dewey, Social Sciences, Sociology, Anthropology, Culture and Institutions, Biography and History, North America)
Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited (306 Dewey, Social Sciences, Sociology, Anthropology, Culture and Institutions, Marriage and Parenting)

May: 355-399: Social Services, Criminology, Education: A Stolen Life: A Memoir (364 Dewey, Social Sciences, Social Problems, Social Services, Criminology, Types of crimes, Kidnapping)

June: 400: Language:

July: 500: Science & Math: The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats: A Journey into the Feline Heart (590 Dewey, Mathematics and Science, Zoology)

August: 600: Technology, Medicine, Health, Agriculture & Home: Animals Make Us Human (636 Dewey, Technology, Agriculture, Domestic Animals, Zootechny, Primary Care), Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science (617 Dewey, Technology, Medicine, Surgery)

September: 700: Arts & Recreation:

October: 800: Literature: The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories (818 Dewey)

November: 900 - 939: World History, Travel, Biography, & Ancient History:

December: 940 - 999: History of Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, Oceania, and Extraterrestrial Worlds: My America: What My Country Means to Me by 150 Americans from All Walks of Life (973 Dewey, Biography and History of North America specifically the U.S.)

BingoDOG



I will fill in the list below as I read them. I am not going to stress about trying to fill the whole Bingo card.

1. Debut book: Stolen Life: A Memoir by Jaycee Dugard
2. Comic, Graphic Novel, Manga, or BD: This One Summer
3. Less than 200 pages: The Relaxation Response
4. About a writer: The Post-Birthday World (book illustrator turned children's book author)
5. Title has a musical reference: Killer Diller (Killer Diller is a song within the book)
6. Title uses wordplay: The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye, Vol. 1
7. You want the protagonist's job/hobby: One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America's Future (writer/politician)
8. A body of water in the title:
9. Food is important: Relish: My Life in the Kitchen
10. Self-published:
11. By/about an indigenous person: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
12. Translated work:
13. Read a CAT: My America: What My Country Means to Me by 150 Americans from All Walks of Life (Fits both DeweyCAT and January's RandomCAT)
14. Author born in 1916:
15. Features a theater: The Uncoupling
16. One-word title: The Corrections
17. About an airplane flight:
18. Focus on art: Lookaway, Lookaway
19. About the environment:
20. Protagonist is senior citizen: Man in the Dark (Protagonist is 72)
21. Autobiography/Memoir: Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited
22. Adventure:
23. Coming-of-age story: A Crime in the Neighborhood
24. Published before you were born: The Professor's House
25. Survival story: Bird Box

Woman BingoPUP



I will fill in the list below as I read them. I am not going to stress about trying to fill the whole Bingo card.

1. About a female ruler:
2. Women in science: The Blessings of the Animals
3. Less than 10 years old: The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories (Pub. 2014)
4. Short story collection:
5. Women in non-traditional roles:
6. Published before 2000: The Professor's House (Published in 1925)
7. African-American author:
8. About a spy:
9. Different genre by same author: We Were Liars
10. Award winner: A Crime in the Neighborhood
11. Autobiography, memoir, or correspondence: Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited
12. Women in combat:
13. By/about a woman: The Post-Birthday World
14. A new-to-you author: The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer
15. Set in Latin America or Asia:
16. African author:
17. Made into a movie: The Nanny Diaries
18. Set in Europe, Australia, or New Zealand: What Alice Forgot
19. About a female critter: The Mermaid Chair
20. Author over 60 years old when book was published: Animals Make Us Human (Temple Grandin was 62 when this was published).
21. 1920s-1930s Detective Fiction:
22. Author from Middle East:
23. From your TBR pile: Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength
24. Poetry or plays:
25. Male pseudonym:

My new thread is open for business!

I will correct the links in >1 Tara1Reads: later.

I hope to be back with more book reviews soon.

Happy new thread! Great to go for a quick walk through your book city again. :)

Happy new thread! :)

Happy new thread! Good point about Atul Gawande in your previous thread - I thought the only thing residency surgeons do when they don't work is sleep. :)

Happy New Thread!!

Happy New Thread! And congratulations on discovering Willa Cather. I have thoroughly enjoyed some of her books. I understand how you related to the one you read. I read Death Comes for the Archbishop and was reminded of a car trip I took with my kids to the Four Corners area. I hope you will read more of her stories.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, looking forward to continuing to follow your reading.

>22 Chrischi_HH: Thank you!

>23 rabbitprincess: Thank you!

>24 -Eva-: Thank you. That is pretty accurate. My boyfriend has just finished his first year of surgery residency and all he has done outside of work is sleep and play video games. ;-)

>25 VictoriaPL: Thank you!

>26 mamzel: Thank you. I am considering Death Comes for the Archbishop as my next Cather read or maybe A Lost Lady. I haven't decided. Cather did a great job of describing the scenes and explaining how her characters related to the natural world around them, but it wasn't in a cheesy, overly worshiping of nature sort of way if that makes sense.

>27 MissWatson: Thank you!

>28 DeltaQueen50: Thank you!

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian



Published: 1997
Pages: 372

I enjoyed this work of literary suspense and the descriptions of Northeastern Vermont through the 1960s to the 1980s. It tells the story of a mother and a midwife, Sibyl, who was practicing midwifery in upstate Vermont when a birth on an icy Vermont winter night in 1981 goes wrong and changes the course of the lives of her and her teenage daughter. The case that goes wrong that night results in Sibyl being put on trial. Readers are pondering throughout the book what the final jury verdict will be and what really went wrong with Sibyl and the laboring mother that night.

Connie, Sibyl's daughter, misses school for a few weeks to attend the daily proceedings of her mother's trial. And as an only child who had always snuck around the family home eavesdropping on her parents' conversations, Connie knew a lot about the case and what her mother's lawyer was saying and doing, so the book is actually all from her perspective years later when she is older and looking back on that fall and winter. I thought sometimes Connie's description of events was a bit melodramatic which makes sense considering she was a teenager she was watching her mother be put on trial, but she's telling the story as an adult in her 30's so it was weird that she still used such melodramatic language.

Probably 75-100 pages of the last part of the book could've been cut. The court case was drawn out far too much. We didn't really need to go through every possible juror that got excused and then go through every word of the trial, but Bohjalian almost did that which was boring. I just wanted the final verdict!

Midwives is one of Bohjalian's earlier works so I am not going to fault him too much for being long-winded about the trial in this book. I have read some of his more recent works, such as The Double Bind and The Night Strangers, and enjoyed them. And I plan on reading more Chris Bohjalian in the future.

This book reminded me a lot of A Crime in the Neighborhood by Suzanne Berne. The protagonist in Berne's book was only 10 years old when the crime happened whereas in Bohjalian's book Connie was 14 so there are parts in the book about how she is dealing with her mother's trial in a teenage fashion, and she discusses her relationship with her first boyfriend who she relied on during this time of her life. It sounds like both of these books could be compared to Ian McEwan's Atonement which I still haven't read yet.

Has anyone noticed this before where books have the exact same covers?

This is an example I came across today. I know I have seen some others examples in the past, but I can't think of them now.



Obviously, this is a stock photo being passed around and photoshopped a little. But even the font and font placement on these two covers are basically the same.

>31 Tara1Reads: Interesting! How did you spot it?!

>32 cbl_tn: I knew what the cover of Orchard looks like because I have considered getting it from the library before. I went to my library's online catalog searching for another book and at the bottom of the page where they give recommendations of other books you might like The Outcast was shown and I recognized the cover!

>31 Tara1Reads:
I own a couple of books that have the same photo as cover - it's funniest when the content of the books are completely different. :) There are a couple of blogs that lists books like that (and one I followed belonged to someone on LT, but I can't remember who that was, unfortunately).

re:books with the same cover. I love that Nicholas Sparks meme White People Almost Kissing, LOL.

>34 -Eva-: I knew there more! I just can't seem to find any more examples now that I am looking.

>35 VictoriaPL: Haha. I wasn't familiar with that and had to look it up. It looks like that happens the most with the movie tie-in covers.

Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez



Published: 2002
Pages: 163

This is a historical fiction YA book. It tells the story of Anita, an 11 year old girl, in the Dominican Republic. It is the end of 1960 when the book opens and Rafael Trujillo, the Dominican dictator, still has power. Before We Were Free tells the story of Anita and her family including her extended family as they try to fight the evils of Trujillo's dictatorship and find a way for them to all be free.

The story spans about two years so by the time the book is ending Anita is turning 13. The book goes through some typical young adult stuff that got a little bit cheesy for me as an adult reader. But at 163 pages, it's not like I had to endure it for very long. And it also felt as if Alvarez struggled with writing a younger character and writing from Anita's perspective. Most of the time Anita felt very juvenile, naïve, sheltered, ignorant, what have you, but sometimes there were some inconsistencies in this because she would know a lot about some things and suddenly say something more adult-like.

I wanted to know more about Anita's family especially her father because their family seemed to be wealthy and have some importance. They lived in a private family compound with multiple houses, gardens, orchards, and fish ponds on the grounds. The family had a gardener, a cook, and a housekeeper, and their own car and the children each had their own bedroom and some popular American 1960s products. But the family's wealth and prominence was never explained.

I hadn't heard of Rafael Trujillo before, but now that I know about him, his secret police (Servicio de Inteligencia Militar aka SIM), and the atrocities they all committed I am interested to read Julia Alvarez's other fiction works which seem to deal with this same period of Dominican history and to read some non-fiction works on this subject.

I checked the reading level for this book because I wasn't sure if it counted as YA or not. The reading level is around 5th grade with an interest level for readers between 4th and 8th grades. So to me that is middle grade and not YA. It does mention the gruesome murders and torture tactics the Trujillo's secret police used on dissidents and their family members, so I don't really know how age appropriate it is for 4th and 5th grade but I am not a parent either so take that with a grain of salt. It's just something to keep in mind for younger readers.

>37 Tara1Reads: I'm currently reading In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez and like it a lot. It's set a bit earlier (1960 and before) and about fours sisters and their families' activities. Fiction based on a true story.

>38 Chrischi_HH: The Mirabal sisters who refer to themselves as the Butterflies are also mentioned in Before We Were Free. In the Time of Butterflies, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, and Before We Were Free are all set in the Dominican Republic in roughly the same time period and have overlapping events and characters. From what research I've done into her books anyway! I still need to get to her adult fiction. I am glad to hear that you liked In the Time of the Butterflies.

Man in the Dark by Paul Auster



Published: 2008
Pages: 180
BingoDOG: Protagonist is senior citizen

This short novel is Auster's typical meta-fiction style. The protagonist, a rather depressed and bitter 72 year old August Brill, is having difficulty sleeping at night and so he lies in the dark making up stories to tell himself to wait until the sun comes up and to try to suppress memories from his life he doesnt want to think about. Brill is a man at war with himself, feeling guilty about decisions he made in the past, and feeling terrible over what has happened in the lives of people around him including the lives of his daughter and granddaughter he lives with now. It's a rather depressing household of people with what Brill, his daughter, and granddaughter have all been through. The granddaughter has dropped out of college and is living at home full-time just trying to heal and cope.

The story Brill tells himself most often at night is one he makes up about a man named Owen Brick who wakes up thinking he is in Iraq because he can't feel his legs and everyone is calling him corporal and telling him he needs to assassinate someone. It turns out Brick is not in Iraq but in a parallel universe that survives as long as Brill keeps Brick's story going every night. In the parallel universe Brick is in, there is no war in Iraq and 9/11 never happened. Brick is in a war-torn America that is experiencing a civil war after the presidential election of 2000 and a failed bill in Congress to try to change the electoral college. Several states seceded from the union and formed their own government ruled under a prime minister that is now at war with the remaining U.S. States. The story becomes one of following Brick wondering if he is going to kill this stranger he is being told to assassinate and also wondering what is going to happen to the depressed, insomniac Brill who has created this parallel universe and let it erupt into chaos.

I really enjoyed this book and couldn't wait to find out what was ultimately going to happen. Since the story line is so complicated the writing is kept fairly easy to follow and alternates between Brill and Brick with no chapters to break things up just sections. I didn't find it hard to follow even without the chapter breaks.

War is definitely a strong theme in this book and more of that comes to light and makes sense at the end.

There was a long passage with Brill and his granddaughter that needed to be in the book to explain some of the above things and explain more about Brill. I just wish it had been done in a different way because I found it to be really uncomfortable, cheesy, unbelievable, and unrealistic.

This is definitely a multi-layered book with lots to say about marriage and relationships and redemption, guilt, what it means to be a good person, as well as commentary on books and film. I think the cover of my copy is fitting for this layered novel.

Recommended.

My boyfriend says this book sounds similar to the film Total Recall which I have never seen, but I might watch it now.

>40 Tara1Reads: I think I just took a book bullet! Sounds interesting.

>40 Tara1Reads: I love Paul Auster and you have reminded me that I have this book and need to read it already!

>41 VictoriaPL: I hope you like it when you get to it!

>42 LisaMorr: Oracle Night is one of my all-time favorite books. I could never get interested in The New York Trilogy for some reason. Have you read that? I really enjoyed Man in the Dark. The protagonist is definitely a bitter old man and that could put some readers off, but I sympathized with him for the most part.

>43 Tara1Reads: I took a walk down memory lane of the Auster I have read - I loved The New York Trilogy and The Book of Illusions. I read Oracle Night in his Collected Novels: v. 3, which also included Timbuktu, The Brooklyn Follies and The Book of Illusions - I was just looking at my review and I thought that Oracle Night was good and had reminded me of The New York Trilogy and The Book of Illusions!
So, I don't know if that means you will like The Book of Illusions or not...

I've also read Travels in the Scriptorium - Oracle Night is part of this novella through a linkage to a story within a story.

>44 LisaMorr: You've read a lot of Auster. I am taking note of The Book of Illusions. Thanks!

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley



Published: 1932
Pages: 259

This is Huxley's science fiction examination of the eternal question of human happiness. The book is set in London but the way of life there is the same around the world. In Huxley's future, society is technologically advanced and controlled by a World Order conglomeration that takes all choice and decision-making out of people's lives. People are created into strict social castes and conditioned on how to think about everyone and everything they will interact with in this new world. They think society is stable and that everyone is happier living this way. Anyone living according to the old way of life is consider uncivilized such as the savages that are all kept cordoned off in a walled-in compound in New Mexico. There are two characters in the civilized society that can think for themselves to a certain extent and aren't totally brainwashed into accepting society as it is. These are the primary characters we follow throughout the book and we accompany them on a trip to the savage reservation in New Mexico.

I enjoyed reading this book especially the world building at the beginning that explained the science behind how they were creating these conditioned, civilized humans. To me, both the civilized and the savage societies had positives and negatives. And, at times, both societies seemed demented. So neither society seemed preferable to me. But if I had to choose, I think I would choose a life of freedom where I can choose when I am happy and why I am happy over a life where all freedom of choice is taken away but you're supposed to be happy with all the pre-set choices that have been made for you. I think these questions of freedom of choice vs. happiness and what makes humans happy will always remain relevant and is part of what makes this a timeless book.

Recommended.

>46 Tara1Reads: We read A Brave New World my senior year of high school. In hindsight, I'm not sure it's a book most 17 or 18 year-olds are really ready to read. I'm not sure I would appreciate it any more now than I did then (I rather liked it), but I know I would pick up on different things than I did then. It's one of those books on my list to return to eventually, because Huxley raises a lot of very interesting questions.

>47 inge87: I had this book on my shelves for years before finally reading it now. I am glad I waited because I know I wouldnt have understood this book in middle school or high school which is when I think I got the book. I studied some reproduction in college so I was able to appreciate the reproductive engineering parts of the book and get more out of those parts than I would have if I had read the book earlier. I agree there is a lot to ponder over in this book and for that reason I think there would be benefits to doing a re-read years later.

I got another Bingo on the BingoDOG card! Review to come.

Killer Diller by Clyde Edgerton



Published: 1991
Pages: 259
BingoDOG: Musical reference in title

This is Edgerton's typical humorous North Carolina (NC) novel. The book follows, Wesley, a twenty-something guy living in a half-way house after a few arrests and jail time. He is in Summerlin, NC on the edge of a Christian college campus. The twin brothers who are president and dean of the Christian college decide to start Project Promise. The idea of this project is to pair a member of the half-way house with a student or young person in town that has mental handicaps, and the person from the half-way house is supposed to teach a skill to the person with mental handicaps.

Wesley loves music and is in a band with other members and former members of the half-way house. Wesley becomes friends with his mentally handicapped partner from Project Promise and lets him join their band. It's not the most interesting plot ever, but it's supposed to be a funny and light-hearted, small town NC kind of book.

I did not find this to be funny as I did the previous Clyde Edgerton books I have read. I am not sure if my sense of humor has changed or this book just wasn't that good, but I think it's a combination of the two. The last time I read Edgerton was in high school, so I think my sense of humor has changed since then.

There were a lot of jarring things that are mentioned in this book. Wesley has a sexual fixation on a girl living across the street from the half-way house and feels the need to tell both her and other characters in the book about his past bodily/medical malfunctions while they are on a date or eating in a diner.

Both black and white characters say and think racial slurs about one another in the book. The way the two black characters are portrayed in the book is nothing but stereotypes. I am not sure how to feel about the racial slurs and portrayal of people of color in this book. If the book was trying to have a serious discussion of racial issues and used racial slurs as examples or to make a point then I think I would be okay with it. But when a white man from the South uses racial slurs and stereotypes about black people in a Southern novel that is supposed to be a humorous, light-hearted fun book, it's unsettling to say the least. Yes, including racism is being accurate to the South but I don't feel that it belongs in what is supposed to be a light-hearted, humorous novel that is focused on the antics and trouble a guy in a half-way house gets himself into.

The twin brothers and a lot of the other high-level staff that work at the Christian college are portrayed more accurately I think. They are hypocritical, self-serving, superficial, shady, wanna-beat-my-way-to-the-top-but-not-have-anyone-know-it types. The book is very typical NC in this fashion because there are some hypocritical Bible-thumping people in the Soth. The small town setting, the dialect the characters use, the food they eat, etc. is all very NC. So readers that aren't familiar with the South or with NC may not understand some of this or be able to really appreciate those details. I thought these were the most accurate and best parts of the book since I had issues with the characterization, plot, etc.

Killer Diller was made into a movie in 2004 starring John Michael Higgins and featuring a cameo appearance from the author himself (which I didn't even notice when I watched the movie). They changed a lot for the movie. Pretty much all the negative racial stuff from the book is taken out of the movie to make the movie more PC and appear to be more innocent than the book was--making the black woman the lead singer of the band when she wasn't even a band member in the book, no racial slurs are used, the black characters are more prominent in the movie, and the two white women that were band members in the book are smushed into just one white woman character/band member for the movie.

I was afraid the movie would be boring. But the movie isn't long; it's about an hour and a half or so. I found the movie to be slightly more tolerable than the book, so I actually enjoyed the movie more than I thought I would.

This book was a disappointment after the laugh aloud funny books I remember Raney and Walking Across Egypt being in high school. Although, who knows how I would feel about those books now.

I can't recommend Killer Diller, the book or the movie really.

The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson



Published: 2009
Pages: 239

This is Jeffrey Masson's exploration of nine essential cat emotions similar to Temple Grandin's exploration of animal emotions in Animals Make Us Human that I read earlier this year, but this book obviously just focuses on cats. Masson has one chapter for each of the emotions or states of being he considers essential to cats, and they are narcissism, love, contentment, attachment, jealousy, fear, anger, curiosity, and playfulness.

This is a much less scientific look at animal emotion than Grandin's book. Masson relies on a lot of anecdotal evidence and his personal experience with the five cats he had at the time he was living and writing this book in New Zealand.

I really enjoyed this and enjoyed reading the anecdotes about Masson and his five cats. I actually got more practical advice and tips for how to keep my indoor/outdoor-turned-all-indoor cat happy from this book than I did Grandin's book. (I like both books but for different reasons). I was actually kind of jealous of Masson's relationship with his cats because they all love and adore him, follow him everywhere, and sleep with him etc. My cat is not really like that with me!

I did learn little things about cats that I didn't know and I have been implementing things I learned from this book since I read it and it does seem to be helping my relationship with my cat and getting her to be more affectionate with me again like she used to be.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan



Published: 2012
Pages: 288

I do not want to do any sort of plot summary for this because I think it's best to go into this book knowing as little as possible that way you will have something to be surprised by.

I was hoping to enjoy this more than I did after all the hype surrounding this book and the fact that it's supposed to be a book about books/reading type of book. I was really intrigued after reading the first 40 or so pages, but then I was disappointed when I found out what was going on. I just think this plot was a little thin. And the characters weren't developed, so I couldn't connect with anyone. I just don't think this book was that well-written. It was rather flat and average. Then I was let down by the ending. It was a rather cheesy ending.

It was just okay; I was disappointed.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty



Published: 2009
Pages: 423
WomanBingoPUP: Set in Europe, Australia, or New Zealand

Alice falls from her spin bike at the gym and hits her head. She is unconscious for a few minutes. When she wakes up, she cannot remember anything from the last ten years. She thinks it's 1998 instead of 2008. As she uncovers what her life is like in 2008 and tries to slowly regain her memories, she doesn't really like who she seems to be in 2008. She doesn't understand how she came to be this person she doesn't really like and none of her family and friends seem to like. She wants to change and get her old self, old life, and all her memories back, but is it too late?

I loved this. It was exactly what I needed at this time. Despite being over 400 pages, I read this in about 24 hours. It's really a compulsive read. It's total mind candy but very delicious and satisfying mind candy. It really did have me guessing the ending until the last few pages. I was very surprised to glance over the reviews and ratings on LT and see quite a few negative reviews. Like I said, it was exactly what I needed at this time and maybe that has something to do with how much we enjoy a book and what kind of rating we end up giving it.

I can't wait for the movie!

>51 Tara1Reads: My cats spend a lot of time with me. I just wish they'd find another way to awaken me other than starting a playful cat fight right next to me. I was hoping to sleep in on my day off. With three of them, it's not to be.

>54 thornton37814: Haha! My cat tries to wake me up by playing with her toys that have bells in them. But that soft jingle usually isn't enough to wake me up.

The Red Hourglass: Lives of the Predators by Gordon Grice



Published: 1998
Pages: 259

Gordon Grice is fascinated by insects and all creatures but mostly insects it seems. This book is a collection of his interactions with and observations of various predatory insects and predatory species of mammals and reptiles he encounters where he lives. I am not entirely clear on the location of all these encounters. Grice's author bio on the dust jacket mentions Oklahoma and Kansas. Grice mentions Kansas and several other places in the book because he seems to have moved around a lot. In general, the encounters all seem to have taken place in the Midwest or the Southwestern United States. There is a chapter or one extended essay of sorts for each insect or animal. They are the black widow, mantid, canid, pigs, tarantulas, recluses, and rattlesnakes.

I wanted to enjoy this book a lot more than I did. There's nothing wrong with the book. Grice has a great sense of humor that shows subtly. I really enjoyed the first chapter on the black widow that explains a lot about insects that sets the groundwork for understanding things in the later chapters about other insects since a lot of insects have major similarities. But I guess after all that detail and groundwork from the first chapter, I was bored reading about similar reproduction and eating habits in the other insect chapters. And there was no new information for me in the chapters about pigs and the canid. The creepy, unsettling feeling I thought I would get from reading about the lives of these creatures I only got from the first chapter. I don't know if I was just immune to it after that or if I just lost interest in the topic of insects after reading basically a 60-page essay about black widows. But I do think it's a credit to Grice's writing that he is able to evoke a visceral reaction to descriptions of insect activity. You feel like you're really seeing the lives of insects up close and personal and getting those creepy crawly unsettled feelings humans often get with insects even though you're just reading about it.

I did enjoy this book overall, but I found it very easy to put down and not return to for weeks at a time. Like I said, I am not sure if it's my fault or a fault of the writing and/or the book's structure.

I would still recommend this to people that are new to the topics of animal behavior and/or insect life especially predatory behavior. But beware there is graphic detail of bugs devouring bugs, animals killing and eating animals, or insects and animals causing some bodily harm to humans. If you don't want to read descriptions of these things, this might not be the book for you.

It's a short book and for the information and Grice's sense of humor I still recommend it.

DNF

Blue Ridge by T.R. Pearson



Published: 2000

I picked this book up thinking it would be a comforting (comforting because of the familiar locale) if gritty Southern mystery. This book isn't that at all. It follows two cousins, Ray and Paul, who each have a murder mystery on their hands. For Ray, he is just starting a new job in the police department in Hogarth, Virginia and finds a dead body on the Appalachian Trail. For Paul, he gets asked by the police to go to New York to identify his son's body that has just been found murdered. Paul goes to New York to identify the body even though he never really knew his son and didn't even know he was living in New York.

Ray's storyline is told in third person and Paul's in first person which is confusing and jarring. Each chapter will alternate between Ray and Paul, but also within each chapter there will be page breaks and we will suddenly switch over to Ray or Paul. Each time there was a page break or a new chapter I had to look for specific things to see if we were in Ray or Paul's storyline because you never knew who it was going to be and it was hard to tell. I got to the halfway point in this book and it seemed be focusing more on the storyline of Paul in New York, which like I said, is not what I wanted when I picked this up to read a Southern novel with a familiar Southern setting.

Paul's storyline starts to involve many characters in New York with weird names like Doogan, Giles, and Jumbo. I couldn't remember who was who or be bothered to care really. At least one new character was being introduced for both Paul and Ray's individual storylines in each chapter. This constant flitting back and forth between two storylines with the constant introduction of new people being plopped in there was terrible. Add to that a bunch of scenes that were really unnecessary but clearly added in because the author thought they were needed to provide atmosphere, a sense of place, and characterization. Scenes such as Ray's co-worker, Carl, at the police department eating greasy food in the patrol car while parked along the roadside clocking the speed's of drivers and giving a negative comment or piece of gossip about every single driver that goes past because ya know small town and all that everybody knows everybody and has something to say about everybody cliché. And another scene, yet again with Ray and Carl, involving a supposedly menopausal lady that's gone crazy from hormones throwing dinner plates and kitchen utensils through the screen door of her trailer. And Ray and Carl feel that they need to get involved and enter this lady's trailer and argue with her and chase her up and down the length of her trailer because that's totally necessary involvement by the police and totally how you get an upset person to calm down. Chase them around their home while yelling at them. These scenes were poorly written and did nothing but cast a bad light on the people in the town of Hogarth, Virginia, which is maybe what the author was going for, but these scenes did nothing to advance the plot of solving the two murder mysteries or eventually connect the two storylines of Paul and Ray together.

The writing in this was just so terrible. The author clearly had a bunch of ideas for this book, but absolutely zero idea of how to actually execute them on the page.

>57 Tara1Reads: Sounds like that one is safe to avoid.

>58 thornton37814: It was so disjointed and jumped all over the place. Blech. I am glad to move onto something else.

Lookaway, Lookaway by Wilton Barnhardt

Published: 2013
Pages: 359
BingoDOG: Focus on art

Barnhardt is a North Carolina writer and I feel like this book couldn't be written by anyone that wasn't. It's a family saga of a Southern well-to-do Charlotte family with all their familial secrets and dysfunction typical of Southern families that sweep things under the rug.

I thought this book was so entertaining, funny, realistic, believable, honest, and overall a rather accurate portrayal of these types of families and characters in the South. As I was saying before, it's not just a Southern novel, it's a North Carolina novel with Duke, UNC, and NC State rivalry and the like. I loved it. My favorite character was the head of the family, Jerene. I loved her straightforward style of speaking to her children and putting people in their place. I thought she was hilarious even if I didn't always agree with what she did.

Definitely recommended.

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I am using this for the BingoDOG square 'focus on art' because Jerene inherited artwork from a family member and had it all housed in a special Jarvis family room at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC. Jerene made a Jarvis Family Trust for this artwork and holds galas at the Mint for people to come tour her family's art gallery. There is a lot of talk about this gallery and which Jarvis woman will take over as the head of the Jarvis Trust once Jerene is no longer able to do it. I have other books that focus on art more than this book did, but just in case I don't read them this year, I am going to count this one for now.

Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos

Published: 2005
Pages: 307

Loved walked into the café Cornelia manages in Philadelphia, but this isn't a typical romance story. Love walks into the café in several different forms.

I liked this book well enough to read through to the end, but I didn't enjoy all aspects of the book. It's told in alternating chapters going back and forth between Cornelia and Clare and I was enjoying the Clare chapters way more than the Cornelia chapters which isn't a good sign when Cornelia is the main character. It took a couple chapters longer than it needed to to get these two storylines of Clare and Cornelia to intersect, but once they did the story picked up pace for me. I wasn't really able to relax and enjoy the story though because for the most part I was taken out of the story by thoughts of how unrealistic the plot was. The character's actions were not believable. And add to that Cornelia being cheesy and referencing lots of old romance movies I've never seen and comparing people in the story to actors and generally just being melodramatic about every little moment. Cornelia annoyed me.

It was a light enough, cozy, Fall read, but I am not sure I am interested in Cornelia's story enough to read the sequel Belong to Me. I was more interested in the Clare parts of this book, and obviously, the sequel is going to focus on Cornelia since she's the main character and the series is the Cornelia Brown series. I just don't know if I care enough. We'll see.

Currently Reading


The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle


Rocking the Ages: The Yankelovich Report on Generational Marketing by J. Walker Smith and Ann S. Clurman


Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman


Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang


Animal Tragic: Popular Misconceptions of Wildlife Through the Centuries by Malcolm Tait


What Color is Your Parachute? 2015 Edition by Richard Bolles

Help! My currently reading pile is too big. I prefer to read one-two books at a time. I need some motivation to get through some of these. Even though I am/was enjoying them, four of these have been on my currently reading pile forever. I am not DNFing because I am getting enough out of them to keep going. My enjoyment of a book is dampened by having the reading experience dragged out for so long though.

The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle



Published: 2010
Pages: 424
WomanBingoPUP: Women in science

Cami, a veterinarian, co-owns a veterinary hospital, works with the Humane Society in a volunteer position, maintains her own little farm of rescued animals, and her many friendships while being married and raising her 17 year old daughter. Her husband leaves her unexpectedly one day without notice or any prior relationship troubles or arguments. The book deals with the aftermath of how Cami and her daughter deal with their husband and father leaving. There are chapters interspersed throughout the book to give us the husband's perspective and the perspective of some other characters.

I really enjoyed this book. I was interested in Cami's life just as much as I was interested in the descriptions of Cami's veterinary work and her interactions with animals. This was an easy, enjoyable read that I had a hard time putting down when I needed to go to sleep.

Definitely recommended. I will probably be seeking out more of Katrina Kittle's work.

DNF

Shine, Shine, Shine by Lydia Netzer



I had to DNF this book at only 50 pages in. The writing was terrible and disjointed. I felt like Netzer was trying too hard. She made the main character, Sunny, have a cheesy name and birth story and then had to constantly remind us of the fact that Sunny is bald because she was born without any body hair and has never grown any. The word bald was used every couple sentences. I don't need to be reminded 50 times per page that the main character is bald! It felt like Netzer was trying so hard to create unique and interesting characters, but I didn't think anything about the characters or their situations was that unique, interesting, or believable.

Sunny's husband is a NASA astronaut off in space for a mission to the moon. But before the space crew leaves for their mission, he does a TV interview where he blatantly lies and gives false scientific "facts" on purpose. He and Sunny both know these "facts" are false, but it's not explained why he wants to mislead the TV anchors and the viewers.

I couldn't stand the incorrect scientific information given in the above scenario and I also didn't like the portrayal of the couple's autistic son. I don't think a lot of what was mentioned was factually accurate to autism and how it is treated (not cured, treated is the key word). I am not an expert in autism, but some of the things in this book set off alarm bells for me.

Add to all this a disgusting second chapter that explains the Sunny's birth and the disgusting backstory of her parents. Her mom, Emma, was raped by a preacher that somehow snuck into her family's home when she was a teenager (?). This preacher rapes her then tells her he has chosen her to go on a mission trip to Burma with them that he can only illegally (?) go on by pretending to go on the trip for scientific research. Emma marries this guy and goes to Burma with him where he rapes her every night (?). He tells her that he is sterile, but Emma ends up pregnant at the age of 38 and gives birth to Sunny there in Burma. She wants to take Sunny back to the United States and leave her husband behind in Burma. But she never does. Keep in mind Emma and her preacher husband have an age difference of 17 years.

The rape is graphically portrayed in this second chapter. I really could've done without that. Just like I could've done without the confusing writing where it feels like I am missing important details (hence all these question marks) and getting way too much repetition of unimportant details like Sunny being bald. And I could've done without the entirely unrealistic scenario of Emma and the preacher!

Terrible. This is going in the donation pile.

Rocking the Ages by J. Walker Smith and Ann Clurman



Published: 1997
Pages: 305
DeweyCAT: 600s (658 Dewey)

Yankelovich Partners Inc. does market research for companies looking to understand their customers needs and wants better. The first part of the book is explaining what hallmark characteristics and historical events mark the time periods of the Mature generation, the Boomer generation (Baby Boomers), and Generation X (Xers). The second and longest part of the book is a compilation of sorts of their research results through the 1980s and early 1990s up until the book's publication date in 1997. Some of the chapters do speak directly to marketing employees for how to best target certain generational groups, when, and why. I am not a part of the target audience of marketing experts, so I didn't focus too much on those parts of the book when they came up.

I really enjoyed reading through the timelines for each generation in the first part of the book. And I did enjoy reading and learning about defining characteristics of each of these three generations. It was interesting to make comparisons to my own family and see how members of my own family fit in with each of their generations. I learned things about some companies too like Carmax, Kroger, etc. This book was an interesting and informative read. I don't work in marketing though so I don't think I am really the right audience for this book and the more heavily geared a chapter was towards marketing strategies the more boring I found it and some parts became tough to get through.

There's a lot in this book about technology and the authors make predictions about future technologies to come and how technology will change marketing and the way consumers do their shopping. It was interesting to read those predictions in 2016 and seeing what has and hasn't changed so far.

Despite getting bored in the marketing-heavy sections of the book, I enjoyed this book much more than X Saves the World by Jeff Gordinier which I read a few years ago and thought focused too much on music references, music taste, and his own personal coming-of-age. I really like reading about generations and the differences between them. I really want to read X vs. Y: A Culture War, A Love Story as my next generational read.

I do intend to keep my copy of Rocking the Ages around because even though it's not the most updated marketing book now, I don't plan on using it for marketing strategies; I think the historical timelines for each generation could be a handy reference.

DNFs

I DNF'd Wild Swans, Eat to Live, and What Color is Your Parachute? 2015 Edition.

I enjoyed the first 100ish pages of Wild Swans but I found that if I put the book down for more than a day or two I was forgetting important details and eventually I had put the book down for so long that I had forgotten important things and lost my momentum with the book and when I tried to get back into it I was confused about who was who and what was happening. I still hope to pick this back up one day and start over from the beginning. I enjoyed what I read; it has an easy, fast-paced style because there is plenty of action and the writing keeps the pace moving even while you're learning a lot of Chinese history.

Eat to Live was okay. But Joel Fuhrman is vegan and I do not eat a vegan diet, and I think I overdosed on vegan books years ago when I read a lot of them. I studied some human and animal nutrition in college and I know the basics. I don't really need to read a healthy eating book especially not one biased towards the vegan lifestyle and especially not one geared towards turning the reader's life around/help them lose weight etc. as I am not looking to do any of those things. Also, Joel Fuhrman's website doesn't allow you to look at anything, including recipes, without paying for them. It all seems like a gimmicky, money-making scheme. Ick.

What Color Is Your Parachute? does have some helpful tidbits in it. And I know I should do the exercises and worksheets in this book, but I just do not have the mental energy for it right now. I was taking note of all the websites he suggests as I was reading and a lot of them are already gone, changed, or out-of-date and this is just the 2015 edition of this career, self-help book. So I guess Richard Bolles really does have to come out with a new edition of this book every year just to update all the website URLs he mentions if nothing else.

Currently Reading of Sorts...Reading Slumps...



I have 25 pages left in Animal Tragic and could've finished this book weeks ago, but just haven't felt like it or made it a priority.

I read the first chapter of The Romantics by Galt Niederhoffer but I am not sure I am going to continue reading it right now.

I'm definitely not feeling in the reading mood but still *want* to be reading if that makes sense, so I keep trying to force it which just backfires. This hasn't been a great reading year from the start. I'm just going to do other things besides reading for awhile until I get back in the reading mood. Right now, I can't even tell what kind of book I am in the mood for because I don't feel in the mood for anything I ponder trying to read whether it's fiction or non-fiction.

Sounds like you are cleaning your slate and need a good book to jolt your enjoyment again. Hope you find something!

>68 mamzel: Yeah if I can find something I am in the mood for it needs to be a good palate cleanser for sure.

I have my fingers crossed for you to find that special book that will clear those reading blues away.

>70 DeltaQueen50: Thank you!

>61 Tara1Reads: - Oh, I loved that book! Glad you enjoyed most of it though not as much as me.

>72 LittleTaiko: I liked it enough to consider reading the sequel. Have you read the sequel?

>72 LittleTaiko: - Yes, I've read the rest of her books including the sequel. I enjoyed the sequel (4 stars) but didn't love it quite as much as the first book. Her third book, Falling Together was just okay, but I also enjoyed her latest The Precious One.

Taking the morning to play catch-up on all the threads in the group.

Made notes about a number of the books you have read and reviewed. You caught my attention with your review of The Professor's House. Having loved Death Comes for the Archbishop, I am looking forward to reading more of Cather's stories. Man in the Dark also looks intriguing, especially since your boyfriend says the books sounds similar to the plot of the movie Total Recall, which I have seen.

>75 lkernagh: Thanks for visiting my thread! I am about 3 reviews behind on my thread right now. I really enjoyed The Professor's House; it has been one of my favorite reads of the year. I hope you enjoy it and Man in the Dark if you get to them.