4 Stars. I wasn't quite sure to what to expect when I downloaded this book from the library but I liked it. It's quirky and funny but there's a lot of substance lurking beneath the exterior. won't hazard a guess as to what might be "wrong" with Keiko but she really doesn't think like most other people. But is that bad? She [...]
Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl invited us to share ten animals from books this week. This is such a common theme in my reading that I have an entire shelf of animal books on GoodReads so the hardest part of this prompt was narrowing it down to ten! Most of the links go to Malaprop's Bookstore because these are older books I read before I started reviewing. Cher Ami (Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey by Kathleen Rooney)--Although this book is historical fiction, Cher Ami was a real messenger pigeon whose abilities saved a unit of men in World War I. Despite the spelling of her name, she's a female. Reepicheep (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis)--This book is probably my favorite of the Narnia books and Reepicheep is part of the reason. He's a loyal mouse with the heart of a lion. Despereaux Tilling (The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo)--I might not think of this book immediately if you asked me to list my favorite books, but if you gave me a minute, I would eventually get there and smack my forehead for not thinking of it sooner. Despeareaux is another brave, loyal mouse but he has the heart of a poet and adventurer. I love Despereaux so much, I wrote a character sketch describing him (link in his name). Bunnicula, Chester the Cat, and Howard the Dog (Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe)--Who can forget this vampiric bunny and his unfortunate housemates? Flag (The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings)--Flag is an orphaned fawn that young Jody adopts as a pet despite his father's misgivings. Mrs. Murphy, Tee Tucker, and Pewter (Wish You Were Here by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown)--Mrs. Murphy is a tiger cat with a penchant for helping her…
Welcome to my weekly update for April 25, 2021! I got my second vaccine on Friday! I was scheduled to get it at CVS on Thursday but CVS cancelled that appointment at the last minute. A brief scramble led me to Walgreens and they took care of me. As I write this about 24 hours later, I'm tired with a faint headache but otherwise, so far so good! What a huge relief to be fully vaccinated! I haven't felt much like reading or blogging this week for some reason. I worked on some organizational blog stuff in the background and I looked on the Overdrive library app for books on my GoodReads TBR instead. I did listen to a few audiobooks though. I took this picture of a pelican on Longboat Key when my in-laws came up for lunch on Monday. Posted: Ten Colorful Book Covers Read: Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier, translated by Barbara Harshav--3 Stars. I think this was a case of the wrong book at the wrong time. It's beautifully written and thought-provoking but that wasn't necessarily what I was in the mood for right now. Boston Jacky: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Taking Care of Business (Bloody Jack, #11) by L. A. Meyer, read by Katherine Kellgren--2 Stars. I love the Bloody Jack series, largely because of Katherine Kellgren's unmatched narration, but this one actually angered me at the end. I think the author made a huge misstep. If there were more than one book left in the series, I would stop right here. That's how upset I am. But since I've come this far, I might as well push through to the end. Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers, read by Nadia May--2.5 Stars--The mystery was decent enough although I…
Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl invited us to share ten colorful book covers this week. I thought about choosing ten covers with crazy colors but I couldn't think of any books I've read to fit that prompt. So instead, I made my own rainbow of covers, choosing one cover to represent each color of the rainbow and added pink, white, and black to get ten. Click the title to read my review. At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson Circe by Madeline Miller The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith She-Rain by Michael Cogdill A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls He Is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson, edited by Christopher Conlon That's my list! Have you read any of these? Which covers would you have chosen for each color? Link up every Tuesday at That Artsy Reader Girl! I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site.
Welcome to my weekly update for April 18, 2021! My best friend from high school and her husband (both fully vaccinated) are stopping by to see us this weekend on their way to their vacation. We can't wait to see them! I haven't seen them in over a year and my husband hasn't seen them for almost a year and a half. Someone built this beautiful sand castle on Siesta Key and I took a picture on my morning walk. Posted: Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells by Helen Scales--4 Stars Fatima's Great Outdoors by Ambreen Tariq, illustrated by Stevie Lewis--5 Stars The Classics Club Signup--50 classics I plan to read in the next 5 years. Ten Book Titles That Work As Crayola Color Names Read: Fatima's Great Outdoors by Ambreen Tariq, illustrated by Stevie Lewis--I loved this book so much that I've already reviewed it. Link in the title. The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #3) by Rick Riordan, read by Michael Crouch--4 Stars. I haven't reviewed any of the books in this series so I won't write too much here. The action is fun and non-stop, as Riordan's loyal readers would expect. I do like that Magnus is more of a healer and peacemaker than a fighter. Don't get me wrong--I love all of Riordan's main characters. But Magnus is different in a way that I appreciate. Also, Riordan tends to write very diverse characters but he really goes all out in this particular series. He understands that representation matters. Cosmic Queries: StarTalk's Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We're Going by Neil deGrasse Tyson and James Trefil--I only had two weeks to read this before it was due back at the library…
5 Stars. Fatima is totally relatable. She feels overshadowed by her smart older sister and she doesn't always feel like she fits in at school. She's a little nervous about sleeping in a tent, especially when she and her sister spy a "monster" outside the tent in the night. They laugh the next morning when they see what it was [....]
4 Stars. I downloaded this book on a whim from the library, thinking that it would work for the 2021 Nonfiction Reader Challenge "hobby" category since I can't resist picking up seashells when I'm at the beach. As I read, I decided it would work better for the "oceanography" category but either way, I found the book captivating [....]
Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl invited us to share ten book titles that work as Crayola color names this week. This is a bit abstract for me but I do love colors (there isn't a white wall in my house back home and I'm trying to convince my husband to let me paint our RV walls) so I'm going to give this a try. (As an aside, I just found the random sort function on my GoodReads shelves and I'm so excited to browse through them this way!) Snow Falling on Cedars (David Guterson)--This would definitely be an off-white but would the undertone be gray since it sounds shadowy? Green from the tree needles? Reddish-orange from the tree bark? This could go in a few different directions. The Inferno (Dante Alighieri, translated by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow)--My first instinct is that the color is a fiery red. But then I thought about the ninth circle and decided it might be a pure, icy white. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)--A burgundy so dark, it's almost black. Madapple (Christina Meldrum)--This would be a poison apple yellowish-green. Stardust (Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess)--I've never cared much for the metallic colors in the Crayola box but this needs to be a soft, mellow gold that actually looks good. Shiver (Maggie Stiefvater)--I can only think of the blue on the cover when I think of this title. Prodigal Summer (Barbara Kingsolver)--The lushest green you can imagine, the color of things reaching perfect ripeness at the heart of summer, just before they start to fade and turn brown. The Bright Forever (Lee Martin)--I don't know about the rest of the country, but the skies back home in North Carolina in late September and early October are a perfect, cloudless blue that you could fall into…
Welcome to my weekly update for April 11, 2021! First of all, my apologies that I haven't been visiting other blogs as often as I usually do. At first we were traveling around national parks in Arizona while we were nailing down my husband's next work assignment. But now that we've settled in Florida, our internet connection is inconsistent. I'm getting an idea of times when it might be better, so hopefully I can start visiting your blogs more frequently again. I didn't make it to the beach very often this week so this picture is from a walk around our current campground/mobile home park. I see a surprising amount of wildlife here, especially considering that we're in a "city" park right off a busy interstate. These are glossy ibises. Posted: Fathoms: The World in the Whale by Rebecca Giggs--4 Stars The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer--4 Stars Ten Books I'd Throw into the Ocean Read: Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells by Helen Scales--4 Stars. Who knew that snails and other shelled creatures could be so fascinating? Scales, a marine biologist, covers topics like why shells have such intricate patterns, "sea silk" made of fibers from Noble Pen Shells, snails that hunt fish and can kill a human within heartbeats, and sea butterflies as harbingers of climate change. I constantly Googled pictures of the species the author mentioned as I read (I didn't realize there were color plates at the back of the book but that didn't matter anyway on my Kindle Paperwhite) and watched videos of some of the more unbelievable species in action. Readers with a scientifically-curious bent will enjoy this one. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley--4 Stars. I inhaled…
4 Stars. What an inspirational story! William and his family have almost nothing by Western standards but they do have each other and William has dreams and the willingness to teach himself and try. That takes him farther than he could even dream of. The part describing the famine was extremely difficult to read. People starve [...]