Uprooted--I've read more, but this is the latest I've reviewed

I don't give many 5-stars, but even trying not to blithely inflate my ratings, this book has to be one. Action, strong women characters without trying to be men in women skins, and both good and bad main characters are more complicated than you think.

Okay, I don't find the characters more complicated than  those in The Once and Future King, but very close.
I paid for this book, so even if you think I might be a review toady, it wasn't even a possible event. I just was taken over by the story, the pacing, and the characters.
I will now seek out other of Novik's writing.

Been Awhile since the Last time I reviewed a book.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.
There's so much going on in this short novel / story. The horror of European pillaging in Africa. The petty concerns of selfish functionaries whose only talent, only virtue, only superpower is to stay physically healthy in a place that routinely kills other Europeans through indigenous people's attacks, through disease, and through technology break downs.
As you no doubt know, the movie Apocalypse Now is based on Heart of Darkness with some exact quotes but moved around. The phrase "for my sins" is much later in the book, and the movie uses it differently, for example.
   But the questions of Truth and of moral responsibilities are posed in both the book and the movie. It's a short enough read, so give it a go and see what you think.
  In these times where persons of color are writing their own view and voice of some Western Civ stories and tropes, I wonder how someone of that culture(-al) background might re-tell a similar story?

x

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stievfater

****_
I Listened to the audio book. I enjoyed this book. Even though there's obviously a sequel, there's not the sense that you're left hanging. This novel has its own arc and I find that most satisfying.
I love the character development. There's much more depth to discover, but I felt like these were real people, not just cardboard stand-ups.
The action was thrilling. I regret my review isn't as good as the book. But ignore that part and go read The Raven Boys. (Will Patton is great as the Narrator as well.)

Random Harvest by James Hilton; pub by Books You Hear

As the introduction to this audio version points out, although historical fiction today, it was contemporary fiction when published.  It has that contemporary immediacy even now.

I first read Random Harvest in high school, on the bus ride home (it was boarding school, so it wasn't just an hour read). I've read it many times since then. My love of this book meant an audio book needed to be great to augment the text or at least good not to detract from it.

I'm pleased to say that this multi-voiced cast production augments the text.

Hilton has some striking quotable lines (which you may find for yourself). But rest assured I think you will find some of your own.

My only regret about this book is the same one people have about any great books they have read: I can never read it for the first time ever again. But maybe you can read it for the first time. You'll be glad to share my regret if you do.

x

The Body in Griffith Park by Jennifer Kincheloe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I listened to the audio book, and Moira Quirk is the perfect narrator for the story. The Body... is nearly amazing and I wish they'd let me give 4.5, not just 4 or 5 here.

This is the third book in the Anna Blanc mystery series. You could start here, and it would be a good experience, but I recommend starting with The Secret Life of Anna Blanc.

Anna is the disinherited daughter of a conservative banker in the early 1900s. She had been raised sheltered and isolated to her own class.

Her energy and intelligence, although untrained and trained wrong in so many ways, won't let her take the expected path. She became an L. A. police matron.

The eponymous body in Griffith Park draws her in, turning up, as it does, almost at her feet. In this outing Anna, again, has to fight against societal strictures as well as her own inexperience. She has learned from past experiences, so she has grown. Still, her focus on solving the murder leads to both humorous and dangerous events.

I don't want to do spoilers, but I'm not showing how good The Body in Griffith Park is. Anna will charm and sometimes frustrate you just as she does with the people around her. Yet you will find the experience exhilarating, as Detective Joe does.

Read this book. If you start here first, it will make you want to go back. If you've read Anna's adventures before, it will light off in you all those series satisfactions that attend a really good series!



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Answer Hazy, Ask Again!

Will
by

Christine Bernard (Goodreads Author)

Yorick's review

Oct 09, 2019  ·  edit

liked it

bookshelves: audiobooks, fantasy, thriller

I was given a free Audible audiobook copy of this title for an honest review.

This book according to the stars, is pretty good. It reads like a Twilight Zone episode, and I really like Twilight Zone. Will, the title character finds a Magic Eight Ball in a hole-in-the-wall used bookstore/novelty shop. He buys it for nostalgic reasons and races out of the store because the clerk creeps him out.

At first it seems like a normal kids' toy, but soon, its answers start having more direct impact / connection with Will's world. After that, things get weird and ominous. It drew me into the story. Like watching a horror movie, I found myself thinking the equivalent of, "Don't open that door!"

It's an entertaining read. I can't really say more about the story without leaving spoilers. If you like stories that were in The Twilight Zone, you'll like this book. If you really don't know anything about The Twilight Zone, let me say that the book is mysterious, eerie, and is a look at what a normal person might do under unexplainable circumstances. You might not want to read it alone at night. Or maybe that's the best time for a shiver!

Where Loyaties (and various characters) Lie

I was given a copy of this audiobook for free for an honest review.

Where Loyaties Lie by Rob J. Hayes, narrated by Matthew Jackson.

Pros: Exciting story with gripping (and grasping!!!!) characters. The sea is salty, the battles are brash and bashing. The characters are conflicted. The sex is part of the plot, not merely gratuitous.The actions moves from plans to battles and negotiations. The protagonist Drake is mixed in his actions, yet he is following a prophecy that was passed along by his brother. His brother also sends a woman with magical powers to watch his back. Keelin Stillwater didn't really want to follow Drake, but the circumstances seem to give him no other choice. So he does. They are pirates, so they both do exciting piratical deeds, but they both try to live with themselves. So like many a contemporary situation, "it's complicated"--which is definitely good.

Cons: I'm not really over-joyed at the Narrator. Matthew Jackson's voice keeps taking me out of the story into noticing his accents and projecting volume. There is graphic sex. I think it manages to stay outside porn, but it's close. Imagine scenes from the movie Flesh and Blood with Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh, except fewer minutes in the acts themselves. This will be off-putting for some listeners, and a feature for some listeners. The last negative to mention is that this is book one of a two book series. It ends with two and possibly three cliff hangers. While the book is very good, it is not stand alone. Not even a little bit.

Still, this reader / listener will be getting book two to continue the story.

Elizabeth Gilbert's fine fiction.

City of Girls is great, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. Nevertheless, I am such a push-over for narrators--reliable or unreliable--that I like the main character / narrator even though I might have second thoughts about her in real life. And she wouldn't care a pin about my opinion in real life either. So that's me sorted!

I was given a free ebook version in exchange for an honest review. I liked it so much that I bought the audiobook from Audible.

But this book is worth your time and your book credit. The narrator is lively and contrary and full of life, both in spite of and because of choices that she makes. The people she knows and comes into contact with are interesting and convincing. Even though some of the issues addressed in  the book are informed by a current mindset philosophy, I find them convincing because it's happening in pre- and post WWII New York theater environment. So things that might seem unconvincing happening among residents of Levittown, PA, seem more than plausible in New York at the time.

Vivian Morris (in her 90s) receives a letter from a young woman, asking her what Vivian was to her father. Thus, the reader is hooked into discovering what Vivian was / is to the young woman of the letter and her father. All the rest of the adventures and descriptions--most of which have nothing directly to do with the mysterious father--are shared in answer to that letter. On the one hand, that's a writing gimmick. In this case, it works well and doesn't feel as artificial as it sounds.
Through story events Vivian shares her developing philosophy of life, love, and human existence: convincing without seeming didactic or preachy. This book is worth your time and pays off in hours of enjoyment.

I Should have saved this for November, but I found it now

This is a post I wrote on another blog, back in 2009. I just liked it (a clue that it may have better remained lost...). Anyway, let me know if you think it's helpful.

   How do we start this novel thing? In the Danny Kaye movie (historical reference, ignore and move on…) about Hans Christian Anderson, when asked about his stories, Anderson says that he tells the stories to see what happens next. This suggests that his story-making style was to start with a character in a situation but not have the plot already outlined ahead of time. Another art that makes use of this technique is improv—actors are given a situation and who their characters are and have to make up a scene on the fly.

   In that vein, who are your main characters? This is one way to begin writing. Write down the things you know about two or three of them (the main character and the other character that is most involved with the main character). In technical terms these would be called protagonist(s) and antagonist(s), but you know what you mean. Name is a good start, but if for some reason that causes you to stop while looking for the perfect name or the name that “best fits” your character(s), just use a place-filler (like Bob or Kathy) and move on.

   Then write things you know about them—age, sex, what do they want? How do they look? What do they think about things that matter in their home, hangout, or habitat? How much do they care about what others think or about what others think about them? Do they spend time imagining cars or colleens? Dolls or danger boys? Something completely different?

   Once you have the two opposing characters put them down somewhere with something they want or don’t want the other to have or do and see what happens. Write down what you see. Rinse and repeat.

Read the article (from The Atlantic, below). Read the book. See the movie if it comes with Peter Beagle to a movie house near you. Ahhhh. One of my favorites. It stirs the blood like a champion race horse.

I saw the movie before I read the book. It was on a nearly perfect date (although I turned out to be not the right person for her in the long run), and the book was given to me by the longest running friend I have in my life (not including my sister, whom I met years before him).

I own the book on paper (still the copy I was given), the deluxe DVD (but not Blue Ray), and the revised edition of the ebook. I re-read the book less than once a year but more than once in five years. You should read it if you haven't and read it again if you haven't read it in the last ten years.

Watch the movie. The songs by America are a good addition, and the DVD (and VHS before) makes slightly more sense than the movie first in theaters--an added scene or song makes clear something that was missing in the screening I saw.

AnyWAY The Last Unicorn is great. On any given day it could beat or lose to Holes, like a champion race horse in the post season.

But The Last Unicorn always makes it to the post season.

One of the Best Fantasy Novels Ever Is Nothing Like The Lord of the Rings

Read this series by Patrick Weekes!

The Paladin Caper by Patrick Weekes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fun, quirky adventure fantasy. Third in the series. I suppose this one could be read on its own, but generally, I think this is one of those series that should be read in order. This seems to be the end of the "Rogues of the Republic", although Mr. Weekes has other books out.

The main character is a strong woman, former military turned thief. She's mouthy, clever, strong, great fighter--similar to Jim Rockford (Rockford Files TV show) but she gets beat up less. Her crew members each have different specialties that contribute to the success of the "caper". And there's humor throughout as well as danger and suspense.

I read through all three books in the series, and I was sad to see them end.

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A Requested Title the Library Doesn't Own

A patron came in today and asked if we had a book. I had to say that we didn't but we have a similar title. The patron said they didn't want the new book by that author, they wanted the original book that was published in the 1950s called:
To Kill a Hummingbird.

The patron asked since we don't have it, could we order it. I explained no, and why. Even though it should exist, that book doesn't.

Straits of Hell = Pages of Paradise

Pages of Paradise may be a misnomer, trying to be too clever, but Straits of Hell (Destroyermen series #10) is an excellent book. Full disclosure, I received a free ebook pre-release copy for a fair and accurate review. However, by way of evidence of sincerity, I bought the audiobook from Audible.com. It's good enough to own twice, and I expect to re-read it, as I have done with previous titles from Anderson's Destroyermen series.

Matthew Reddy and his surviving Destroyermen are now stationed on different ships around the Alliance Fleets in this alternate Earth. They are battling on two different fronts with allies from indigenous peoples as well as humans from other arrivals from other time periods in Reddy's earth's history.

Enemies similarly include Japanese from World War II, where the old Asiatic Fleet destroyer USS Walker came from; sentient reptiles called Grik; and other humans from different Earths in the past, relative to World War II. The writing about these groups and their thoughts actions just grabs this reader and yanks him along. These enemy characters are complicated, not mere cardboard cutouts to provide opposition in the plot.

Obviously, at number 10 in the series, much has happened before the events of this book. All things being equal, I'd recommend that readers start the series with book 1, Into the Storm. Nevertheless, if a reader is willing to start "In medias res," this book can carry the extra weight. What are characteristics that make this a compelling and worthy read?

As mentioned before, the characters are interesting and complicated. They are put in dire situations and have to overcome being outnumbered, plans that are more clever than they expected at the time. Another facet of these books is research and re-development of technologies that existed in the World War II time frame, but were unknown in the alternate Earth that the Destroyermen arrive at. Much of the technology has been developed in previous books, but the struggle to improve and manufacture items needed for war goes on as a plot thread. Finally, showing characters working hard to create a more ideal civilization including multi-species interests and entertains.

Straits of Hell is worth your reading time and your book dollars--as is the rest of the series.

First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

This novel is a thriller with a time travel twist. North's narrator, Harry August, doesn't travel in time using technology, but some unexplained phenomenon of his person sends him back to his own birth after his death. Every time. And each time he gets sent back to his own birth to re-live his life, he remembers the events of his previous life. Others exist in the future and in the past with this same looped-life quality. Because their lives overlap slightly--one person being a child when another person is old--they can send messages up and down history.

The problem occurs when one of these multi-lived people decides to change history and brings technological advances into existence earlier than they normally arrive. Then he starts killing permanently others with returning lives who would oppose him.

The reader learns the hard-knock wisdom that Harry August picks up in his serial lives and waits to find out if August will be killed permanently by the Other who is trying to manage human history and destiny through his own lives.

This is an exciting read, even if a much less exciting review.

Cauldron of Ghosts--Third book in the Crown of Slaves series taking place in the "Honorverse" of David Weber

This book is very good--action, suspense and favorite characters.

Action--fights on a small enough level to follow individuals--space ship takeovers, urban fighting in defended and booby-trapped buildings, and cargo "truck"-jackings gone sideways.

Suspense--will the characters be caught or will they succeed? Will they die? Will they Die AND succeed? The reader in the moment is kept guessing.

Favorite characters--Anton Zilwicki, Victor Cachat, and others from the Crown of Slaves segment of the Honorverse are all here doing their characteristic mannerisms; dangerous, insane plans; and forlorn hope actions. The one exception to known character similarity is Andrew Artlett who acts younger yet more thoughtful than his appearance in Torch of Freedom.

In any case, there's a lot to love in this volume and a reader's favorite villains to hate as well--from bit-part slavers to (literally) evil genius father & sons.

Full four stars from me! The only thing that kept it from being five stars for me is that (as other reviewers of the David Weber Honorverse books have complained about a couple of other titles) is that in this book several paragraphs are taken word for word or nearly from the second book in the Saganami Island series, Storm from the Shadows. Since the scene takes place in both books, it's understandable, if not  justifiable. I found it only a little disconcerting.

Nevertheless, for readers who enjoy the Honorverse or for readers who just enjoy good space / spy / military adventure stories, this is a four-star read that they will want to dive into. Like a number of individual books in a series, it may not be the best volume to jump into from a standing start, but it does read well on its own, and for first time readers, the repeated paragraphs won't even be noticed, because they fit perfectly in this story.

For fun and adventure, read this book!

Missing Simile

Why doesn't anyone ever say "Cute as a zipper"?

Overheard Art Movements

Two Schools of art that I heard of:
Gopher Baroque
Hoosier Dada (this is apparently the name of a race horse as well).

 I just need to think of others for an imaginary art history course.

The Sea without a Shore by David Drake, review

The Sea Without a Shore by David Drake
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Drake pours on the adventure and gives readers an excellent time.

The Sea without a Shore by David Drake is the latest (#10) in the Daniel Leary / Adele Mundy space navy series. Drake keeps things fresh in this adventure of the duo in the Cinnabar Navy--RCN as all the insiders call it. Because this is one of a series, and because the author has said he tries to make it possible to start the series from any one of the books, this book has some passages that readers familiar with the series will either welcome as familiar friends or feel some level of annoyance with the repetition of stuff they already know. Mine was the familiar friends reaction.

David Drake (as his author's note explains) takes earth minor historical events and recasts them as a plot framework for Leary & Mundy to work through in different planets and star systems. It's a technique that works very well for me. The author is able to take his characters through multiple adventure scenarios without becoming repetitive (except in as much as some have found the explanations of the Matrix or Leary or Mundy's personal history repetitive, as mentioned above).

In this book, they are not acting as official RCN members. They escort the son (formerly a ne'r do well, but now reformed) of Adele's civilian boss to a planet where there's a revolution going on, where the son hopes to find a buried treasure to help his side buy weapons and win the revolution. They don't know if there really is a treasure, but they set off to help--with Adele having a related secret mission that she doesn't share with Daniel or anyone else!

In one sense, it's a well-known pattern for fans of the series--Daniel & Adele are given a nearly impossible mission, Daniel thinks up a bold and sly plan, and Adele gets normally inaccessible information and fools the opposition. This may sound simple and mundane, especially after nine previous novels in the series, but once again, for me, Drake pours on the adventure and gives readers an excellent time.

I've read all his books in the Leary & Mundy series more than twice! and I expect to do the same with this volume.

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All Men of Genius

All Men of Genius by Lev A.C. Rosen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book stands on its own, but as you've no doubt read in other reviews / previews, it's also a mashup of Twelfth Night and The Importance of Being Earnest. Related to Oscar Wilde's personal issues, and the masquerade / hidden (sexual) identity in Twelfth Night, All Men... has alternate sexuality as plot points. None of it is "R" rated, I think, but perhaps a strong PG-13.

Readers with tenaciously held convictions regarding traditional sexuality may be more or less offended. Readers with less concern with those matters will not be bothered.

The story involves Violet Adams who wants to attend the premier science institution, Illyria College, where only men are accepted as students. She pretends to be her brother (the names of the character and the college are deliberate, not to say obvious allusions to 12th Night). All Men of Genius is not a pioneer after 12th Night using sexual disguise as a plot device. For example, in the first Alanna book in the series by Tamara Pierce, the plot point is exactly the same with all the complications involved for a teen girl trying to pass as a teen boy.

Along side the difficulties and confusions of Violet's progress in science academics is also the couples / mating "rituals" in an alternate Victorian England. This too, is well done. Like much of science fiction, it speaks to issues of today's culture through a lense of an alternate time.

The struggles involved in invention, discovering and fighting an elitist scientific club's plan to take over England and then the world provide page turning thrills. Many readers will finish quickly to appeaase their desire to discover "what happens next".

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Rhyming dictionary websites

Only two I will mention. There are others.

First of all, I get distracted by words like shiny objects or the exclamation, "Squirrel!" I was walking along and I saw the phrase, "100 years ..." and then I was past it.

Although I confess, I have not read the book, the first thing that came to me as I thought on the flashed phrase was "100 Years of Solitude." Then I thought of plays on that title--100 Years of Attitude, 100 Years of Certitude, etc.

So I looked for a rhyming dictionary online to help me come up with other amusing word mash-ups to see what meanings might result. RhymeZone rhyming dictionary at http://www.rhymezone.com/ is woefully inadequate. I'll just say it. Even if you ask it to search for near rhymes, if finds fewer words that I can think of off the top of my head.

The WriteExpress Online Rhyming Dictionary at http://www.writeexpress.com/online2.html works much better and came up with words I was expecting to see, including one syllable words that you could add to a phrase as well as the three syllable words that fit exactly into stress and rhyme pattern of solitude.

Oh. And another spoof title thought up by a colleague: 100 Years of Running Nude.