Review 98: Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale

Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale by Adam Minter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Okay, this book may really change my life. It has opened my eyes to stuff, especially clothing. This was a fascinating look at where used goods go throughout the world. One of the eye-openers is how the quality has decreased in manufacturing. Which industry you may ask, just about all. There are still companies, and exceptions, where things are made to last, but that is no longer the norm. What I found particularly distressing to read is how "fast fashion" has replaced reasonably made clothes to ones that last no more than a few washings. Then there's how quickly a washer or dryer may last, not too long. Sigh.

This is a book that will change your life, or at least your viewpoint on stuff.
Excellent read! Highly recommended.



Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 97: Creatures

Creatures: A Novel by Crissy Van Meter
My rating:  3.5of 5 stars

This is a story about a woman who had utterly horrible parenting. Her dad is an alcoholic and drug user, actually makes his living my growing and selling a sought after strain of marijuana. Her mother has left, appears spontaneously but doesn’t stay long, nor often is in her daughter’s life. Yet somehow the two bonded. Another mother figure appears but even she doesn’t have the capacity to remain, but does something to help for a while. It’s surprising this woman, Evie, made something of her life. And it isn’t surprising she chooses a fisherman who is out at sea for weeks, or months, at a time to be her husband.

There feels like an undercurrent much stronger than the surface, but a rereading on my part would need to tease it fully out, and well, I didn’t enjoy the book that much. Certainly whales are at the center, and perhaps something about living on an island.

This book is a little bit odd, and not helped by the style. There is a constant shifting in time. You never quite know where in the timeline the story is from one paragraph to the other. Often it works, but sometimes not and it throws the reader, trying to place when, what is going on. If this is a book going to audio format I doubt it would work there, as you have less clues about the time shift.

If you’re someone who can enjoy pain in family dynamics and poor choices by parents, perhaps this will be a good book for you. The sentences can be beautiful at times, and that may be enough to carry you along.

Book rating: 3.5 stars

Thanks to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Review 96: The Book of Science and Antiquities

The Book of Science and Antiquities by Thomas Keneally
My rating: no rating

Not rating as I did not finish this book.

This book has an premise that intrigued me and with a writer of some note, with many books behind his name including some well known. This seems like a formula for a good book, if not great, so it was a disappointment that I could not get into this story.

It can be difficult to say exactly why a book doesn't work well. Something about the story or the writing, and in this case maybe it's just the age of the characters, being old and looking back, but I don't know, done well it could be an interesting read.  [see Our Souls at Night] Something here just didn't connect with me and after getting half-way through it looked to me like a chore. Reading should not be a chore.

I like to think that someday I will return to this book and give it another go, try again, as sometimes the book fits better at a different point in your life, or a different mood. Yet, there are so many other books waiting, but who knows. For now, I'm moving on to something else.



Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.


Also note, I purchased the audio version of this book, tried that format and while I got further along in the book it didn't help enough.

Brief Review 95: Hope Never Dies

Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer
My rating: not rated

I'm stopping this at 30% finished. I got the audiobook and the narrator doesn't work for me. I wonder if I would get the book more if I was reading it in print, or had a different narrator. I'm not one to read a lot of mysteries either, so maybe some of the humor is lost on me. In any case, this book didn't work for me in so many ways, I decided to move on to something else.

No rating as I didn't finish the book.

Review 94: Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table

Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table by Kit Chapman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a great science book! I kid you not, it is a book you don’t want to put down, it’s just that fascinating. Chapman writes a fascinating history of chemistry. I kept wanting to know, what happened next? I am by no means a chemistry expert or anything like that, and as a lay person this was an easy to follow book. Chapman layers the information so by the later portions of the book you can understand what is being said without being overwhelmed by the terms.

The book contains humor and little bits that make the stories and people fascinating. You learn about more than just how the superheavy element discovery takes place, but who made that possible, and how. And there is drama in the book. There are only a few labs around the world hunting for new elements, and when they created just a few atoms, it becomes difficult to say with certainty that yes this is a new element. So competing labs have competing claims, and naming rights. This was a captivating read!

Review 93: Ohio

Ohio by Stephen Markley
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book was not an enjoyable read. I thought it was a bit of a mystery, but that part didn't show up until very late into the book. I mean very late. So do not go in thinking this is a typical mystery. The book is very dark and gritty.

Too much of this book was looking back at high school, with the jocks and the popular girls, yet not in your typical teen-bopper sort of way, but bleak, tends towards sadistic way. And the book got even darker as the secrets are revealed. Is this how people in small towns live now? At least the youth in these days post great recession? I didn't know what was going down this road, where the book was leading, and just wanted it to end and quickly powered through.

There was a moment, an aspect that was curious, the layers in the book. The way the stories were layered. We have four different points-of-view with the current day to flashbacks. I appreciated the different sections, adding to each layer their own part of the overall story.

Overall the book felt like something that appeals more towards guys. Of course, all books for all people, but it felt like it was written by a guy that other males would enjoy more than women.

I don't like giving low ratings on books as there is such time and efforts by the authors going into these works they give to readers. Yet this is not to the three star level for myself. Not all books are wonderful, and these lesser books raise up others that are more enjoyable. And of course, each to their own.

Review 92: The Giver of Stars

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

This was an enjoyable book about the pack-horse librarians in Kentucky during the depression era. Having read earlier this year another book on a similar topic I had a little concern that the two would be similar. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson focus was upon one of the librarians and dealing with poverty and racism towards the librarian as a blue person.

This book, in contrast, was more about the beginning of the library and all of the women librarians working in it, particularly a British woman, Alice, and the main organizer, Margery. Alice is recently married to the son of the town’s mine owner and finds herself in complete contrast with her father in law. The book is about the library, and more so about the women running it and how much they change and learn about themselves as being the bringer of books to the rural community.

This book didn’t have the rural, and poverty feel to it as one may expect. It felt more like town and middle class women. Even though Margery was living a distance away, it was still easy walking distance.

This is the first book I've read by Moyes, so I didn't know what to expect from her writing. It seems her books are generally more romance related, which isn’t the type of books I tend towards. Since that is her writing tendency it makes sense that this book is more concerned with relationships than the social structures.


I listened to the audiobook and found the narration was superb and a great way to read this book.

Review 91: The 33 1/3 B-Sides

The 33 1/3 B-Sides: New Essays by 33 1/3 Authors on Beloved and Underrated Albums by Will Stockton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These are short essays each by a different author on a favorite album that wasn’t one that was popular with the masses, the “B sides.” The small book features 55 different musicians (counting the introductions.) If you enjoy music these essays will remind your favorite album and how it affected you.

Many, or at least the ones I read, seem to feature the author reminiscing back to their youth, when music first started taking hold, and the album they listened to over and over, that became a constant.

I didn’t read this entirely, just dabbled here and there with the artists I’m familiar with. I tried reading one or two of ones I don’t know and it didn’t do much for me. I love the concept of the series and will be looking for one of the full-length books dedicated to a favorite artist.


Thanks to Bloomsbury Academic and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 90: Influx

Influx by Daniel Suarez
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What if our technological inventions were way more advanced than was commonly known? What if these inventions were being controlled by a secret organization that ensures these innovations are kept secret and out of public knowledge? This is the premise of this book. John Grady discovers a way to control gravity, "invents" an anti-gravity mirror, then falls into the rabbit hole of this secret organization. What happens keeps you guessing.

There are moments of explaining the technology, and other moments of pure thriller chase type scenes. I loved the premise and how the book wasn't predicable for most of the book, until it was with some aspects that seem to occupy many other books. Have to say the chase scenes were slightly unique due to the technology enlisted, but same premise. Still, the book is a decent read.

Review 89: Every Stolen Breath

Every Stolen Breath by Kimberly Gabriel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow, this book is a fast paced nail bitter. The main character, Lia is trying to finish what her Dad started, and got him killed. She wants his killers brought to justice. Chicago is under the threat of The Swarm, who attack seemingly random tourists by a mob of teenagers beating up a person to death. Lia's wants to prove her dad was killed in retaliation in trying to find the out who at the head of The Swarm.

Before we come to the conclusion of the book more people will die, Lia is convinced she is next, yet trying to figure them out before they take another victim, or herself.

This is the type of book you don't want to put down. While it was exciting and full of tension, I often wanted to scream at Lia. She makes poor choices, she gets herself into situations that perhaps more rational people would not be in. Yet, with the PTSD going on, you can almost forgive her. Add in a unique quality to the book, the level of Lia's asthma. It makes you think she would take it easier in life, but she doesn't let anything hold her back.

If you like thrillers, this is not a book to miss.

Review 88: The Clan of the Cave Bear

The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is a classic, I've heard about it for years, was recommended to me to read it, and finally have read it. I found it difficult to get into the book, was ready to stop, but around the half-way mark I gave into the story and started to enjoy it, yet...

The story is of a young girl who lost her clan, then found by another, but of another type of people. This is so long ago we are talking about pre-homo sapiens girl (Ayla) being found by a Neanderthal clan. She is born of "the others" and looks ugly, huge, and has all sorts of differences, but she eventually is accepted. Her differences, and acceptance, is a major problem with Broud, the next in line to be clan leader. The story is about her growing up, exploring the differences between her and the adopted clan.

The story, plot and characters were interesting enough. My problem became the writing style. So often I was taken out of the story by modern words and descriptions that these ancient humans would have no understanding, no comprehension. Take for instance: a totem piece added to Ayla's bundle, called a fossilized gastropod cast or a fossil cast of a gastropod. That is modern language. Then there's calling a baby born dead as still born, or the elderly having bouts of rheumatism. just to name a few examples.

This type of language peppered the story and every time I was taken out of the suspension of belief. This makes me not want to continue the story. I feel like I've read enough. I like the idea behind the story, just not the way it was told.



Instead of continuing Auel's series, I'm going to stick with a series I've enjoyed, while not quite as long ago, it has some of the same underlying features of ancient peoples, living in their world: North America's Forgotten Past The series of books, authored by husband and wife team of anthropologists, take you into their world and you live in it.

Review 87: Diary of an Eco-Outlaw

Diary of an Eco-Outlaw: An Unreasonable Woman Breaks the Law for Mother Earth by Diane Wilson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The author is a plucky person and writes in a chatty style. The book isn't a diary, nor is it a clear concise book. I'm not sure what it is, other than a book full of tales about the author's antics in trying to get some action on behalf of the polluters to help out the people they harm.

There is no beginning, middle, nor ending, the book is a wandering path of things that Diane did. Most of the middle part of the book seems to follow what she did one thing after another, but as she likely does in life, it jumps around a little too. This doesn't help the book; nothing is ever resolved. Nothing came to a conclusion. I'm sure it's part of her wishes otherwise as well. I love the passion she has and the spunk and complete fortitude to go out and do something, anything. She says often she never plans, just does it, and doesn't matter if she ends up in jail.

Most of her protests are against the major polluters in her backyard in Seadrift Texas: Formosa Plastics, Union Carbide, and Dow Chemical who bought or merged with Union Carbide. And then there's the BP oil spill near the end. She also tries to get justice for the Bhopal residents that are still having health issues, and dying, from one of the worst environmental disasters in the world.

The book is very readable. Might make you take another look at plastics in our lives. The problem isn't just after using them and ending up in the ocean, it's also quite toxic to produce to the environment and the workers.

Review 86: The Story Hour

The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a unique book. The story was told by alternating points-of-view, with the main one being an Indian immigrant, Lakshmi, who at first is portrayed as stupid, and her command of English awful. Lakshmi's sections are then written in a way that is difficult to read, using words like "leaf" instead of "leave" and other odd words or phrasing. I knew this was not going to be a book I could read if the whole book was written in this manner. It wasn't and reading of that broken style did get easier. Yet...

there is something about the writing style that I did not like. It is not just this author, but many others, use an omniscient point of view with an abandon, and it diminishes a story. For example, in this book we are kept to two main characters Lakshmi and Maggie, a psychologist who helps Lakshmi. Nearly the entire book is just their perspectives, then near the end we get other character's point of view, very briefly and only once or twice. It feels a little like cheating on the author's part.

Overall the story was curious enough, there were some wild tales told by Lakshmi and she, and others, had significant changes in their character. There wasn't quite enough for Maggie's side in her growth, and for being a psychologist not enough insight. The way Maggie is portrayed in doing her psychology was completely in correct, even if she didn't blur lines. Her character is hard to believe, I know it's fiction!

The book was good enough, not spectacular, yet it had aspects that made it worth the time to read. A mild recommendation.



I received a free copy of this book at a library conference. I was not required to write a review, but felt like it and, of course, the above opinions are my own.

Review 85: The Stranger Game

The Stranger Game by Peter Gadol
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Since I was reading a couple of non-fiction serious books I needed something easy and light to read before bed. I found this book lingering on my bookshelves. The writing is definitely easy to read, simple language and sentences. The main character is a woman that I found not quite believable in the character, she just didn’t ring true. Also her on again, off again boyfriend of many years didn’t feel fully male, and I don’t think the author was trying for gender displacement or anything, just they weren’t written well.

The story, the plot, was based around this weird game that takes over Los Angeles area, called The Stranger Game. It is about following and making connections with a stranger, but never approaching them directly. It is about stalking, but randomly and not pursing very far. Until the game changes, and keeps changing. The ultimate goal in the plot seems to be about who is in on the game, and why would people end up attempting murder.

The book sounds creepy, and in parts it achieves it, but not entirely. It should be. Perhaps the writing style is too simplistic, or the tension isn’t drawn out just right.

What I found appealing in the book was looking at how isolated everyone is in their lives. How this isolation makes people do extreme things, like constantly following strangers. At one point it is observed that couples play the game together, then they seem to be letting go and finding some childishness, like skinny dipping in a stranger’s pool. Yet this isn’t fully explored in the text either.

Overall it is a simple book, that falls short of the goals, but it’s a quick read and was quite a counter to the other serious non-fiction books I was reading at the time.


Book rating: 2.5 stars


I received a free copy of this book at a library conference. I was not required to write a review, but felt like it and, of course, the above opinions are my own.

Review 84: Silent Spring

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There has been so much already said about this classic book. Just happy I finally made the time to read it. I've had it lying around for many, many years. It took an audiobook for me to actually read it.

Although the book is decades old, creeping close to sixty years since publication, it is still relevant today. I know changes were made after the publication, but are we back into the same boat, just with other chemicals and pesticides? I'm not sure. More reading to be done!

Thanks Rachel Carson for changing the world!

Review 83: Life Undercover

Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA by Amaryllis Fox
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was amazing, or I should say Amaryllis Fox's life was amazing! (at least the first part.) After reading the book I know she will go on and do more great things for the world.

The book was very readable, and felt like a thriller at times. And with thrillers, there is a lack of character development as it slows down the story. Here I wanted it to slow down and provide us more. I wanted more of her personal relationships, particularly with the husbands, and why with the second one they chose to have a child when their lives are in constant danger. I wanted to know more about her relationship with her mother, as Fox kept coming back to words her mother said or wrote to her, and how that shaped Fox's life. This book was too short. I don't say that often, but this book did need to have more.

Despite the places that needed more, I was blown away by this book. It opens your eyes to the work that is being done to make everyone safer in the world, not just American's but every human being.



Thanks to Knopf Publishers for an advance review copy of this book.

Review 82: Your House Will Pay

Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book revisits one of the sparks that ignited the L.A. riots in 1992, a shooting of a black teenager (Latasha Harlins) in the back of the head by a Korean liquor store owner (Soon Ja Du). The shooter doesn’t serve jail time, claiming self defense. This race conflict between these two groups intensified during the riots. This is history. The book takes this history and brings us to today, with fictional characters, as Eva Matthews being the dead teen and Yvonne Park as the shooter.

The book takes place mostly in today, 2019, where Yvonne Park is now the victim. The novel is told in alternating points of view by the family members that were witnesses to the shootings, Shawn, the 1992 brother of Eva, and Grace Park the youngest daughter of Yvonne.

The book explores race relations, but more specifically the devastation of a shooting, in this case two shootings, and what it does to both families, both long term and immediately. There’s a lot packed into this book and the author did a good job in the form and writing. Perhaps there were a couple missteps, but they can be forgiven for the overall messiness of this subject. There are no easy answers, yet I feel there is some hope given here, in the end. And yes throughout as well, with Shawn Matthews wanting a simple life, with a regular job and family close to him. Something we can all identify and agree with, to get beyond the anger and have peace.


Thanks to Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 81: The Things We Do to Make It Home

The Things We Do to Make It Home: A Novel by Beverly Gologorsky
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I had a hard time at first differentiating the characters, took too long. The book feels too split apart by too many people, there's not really a story here, no plot. As the last few pages approached the book felt like it finally started to so somewhere, but it just ended. The end. I was interested in the family aftermath with Vietnam Vets, and there is some of that here, but not in a good form.

Review 80: The Flicker Men

The Flicker Men by Ted Kosmatka
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a somewhat decent science novel that became a thriller. At that point it also became a little odd, introducing characters that weren't of this "world." Some parts I had really suspend the believably factor. (Categorizing for my gr shelves me has been difficult.)

There were parts that become predictable to all thriller type, running away from the bad guys who seem to be from a shadow organization with all of the abilities, money, etc at their disposal. No way that our main character could fight against them, there is nowhere to hide, and yet...

Well, anyway, I enjoyed the story and the physics and intrigue. The first part of the book is the better written part. And I was disappointed by the ending, yet the book was better than many. I would look for another book by the author, especially if it has a science "problem" at it's core.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narration.

Review 79: Wild Game

Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me by Adrienne Brodeur
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a well written memoir. What attracted me to the the title was the relationship between mother and daughter, not being ideal. Wow, Adrienne Brodeur's mother did not know boundaries with her child. We learn that this poor relationship between mother and daughter did not start there, but was in a line of matriarchs. Brodeur captures the intensity and passion of her mother and their secrets. As she grows older and attempts to create her own self-identity, her mother balks. The pain is palpable.

I don't want to give anything away, as this is a powerful read. I applaud Brodeur for being self-aware and immensely strong to dive deep into family relationships and write this book. I can only imagine how difficult that task when there may be people who want to hide the stark truths.

A film version is already in development, and it's no surprise. Read this book before, it will be worth the time.


Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 78: A Season on the Wind

A Season on the Wind: Inside the World of Spring Migration by Kenn Kaufman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Perhaps it’s best to start out by saying I’m not a birder, nor have any intention of becoming one. I like the idea of knowing more about birds, and of the migration. This book helps to satisfy some of that desire, but not fully. What Kenn Kaufman writes in this book is about spring migration in one area, northwestern Ohio, and particularly in the Magee Marsh region.

There is specific information, such as how Kaufman and other birders track migration using weather and radar, which was interesting and perhaps I’ll never look at weather radar the same during times of migration. Although where I live there likely isn’t enough birds to show up strongly on the Nexrad radar. I enjoyed the discussion about flyways, having never heard the term before despite the popularity, then understanding that it is a false concept anyway. Birds fly wherever they can and do, they don’t have highway type systems such as we have for our cars or ships.

Birds are at the center of this book, and so is Kaufman. He tries at times to remove himself from the story and other times inserts himself. This going back and forth was slightly uncomfortable for reading, but understandable, saying we and us when it clearly isn’t himself solely doing certain work. The same for the activism side of fighting against a huge wind-turbine project that was planned at the Camp Perry Military Reservation, which is only around 10 miles away, as the crows fly. Unfortunately huge wind turbines are very deadly for birds.

The discussion of wind power and impending projects was important and necessary to include, yet the placement didn’t work well for me. Maybe for birders the flow of the book will work better. I was trying to get situated and understand things, then this part was thrown in, and back to birds, it made for more difficulty for myself getting into the book.



Previously read Bird books:

Read back to back -

• Going Wild: Adventures with Birds in the Suburban Wilderness
• by Robert Winkler 
• 4 stars
• Read: Aug.18-24, 2016

• The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature 
• by Jonathan Rosen
• 5 stars
• Red: Aug.25-Sept.06, 2016

Review 77: The Lightest Object in the Universe

The Lightest Object in the Universe by Kimi Eisele
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a great story, good writing. It's about after the world collapses, what do you do next? How do you rebuild? And how do you reconnect to your loved ones when there aren't planes anymore? Who takes control?

This books gives some great answers to those questions. It's not a new story, first thought that comes to mind is The Postman, but there are others. For that reason it's not a five star, just not unique enough. But it's definitely worth your time to read, that is if you like a little disaster in your fiction.

I listened to the audio book narrated by Gabra Zackman. She did a fantastic job. Although the point-of-view switches characters often, the narrator handled it well without confusing the listener. For myself this was the way to read the book.

Book rating: 4.5 stars

Review 76: Snowflake, AZ

Snowflake, AZ by Marcus Sedgwick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is hard to rate. There is such oddness in the book, and it isn't the main topic of the type of illness either, it's the way the book is written.

First of all the narrator, Ash, calls him/her self a kid. (It is never firmly stated if Ash is a boy or girl, I'm going with girl for pronouns sake.) Early on Ash says she is 18, but the way Ash thinks is more like aged 12. It's way off, the age and the writing level and the extreme immaturity. So I found myself continually asking, how old is Ash?

Another weird thing was the relationship with the step-brother. I get the closeness, but there's a point where it seems like it's going beyond that, maybe. It's just odd. Or written different than intended.

And there's this repetition, particularly in the beginning, of certain phrasing gets old very quick. But I understand this is a young adult book and maybe it plays better there, for the younger side of YA. There are other little things as well, in the writing style, it just didn't work for me.

Not to persuade that the book is all awful, because it isn't. For instance the main topic of the book is something that is not talked about, or very little, about these illnesses that affect people and doctor's don't know much about them. I'm certain there is truth in the book about the various illness and things that affect the people making them sick or not, such as products that exude toxins. It's not that new either (and below). People have different sensitivities. I have some sensitivities for some smells, mostly with laundry such as soaps, dryer sheets and fabric softeners. Also "air freshener" sprays. UGH! Anyway, people can get illness that are hard for doctors to determine what is going on. Just think about all the chemical spills into the water supply that takes a while to be discovered, (like Flint, MI) and what that might be doing people's health.

In any case, the main issue addressed in the book is a good one. The delivery, the writing style, it was more difficult. The main protagonist, Ash, is written in an odd way. Maybe younger people will connect more with the book than I did. I also have to say that I absolutely hated the ending.

Book rating: 2.5 stars, rounded up.

Also, for anyone who many be interested in another fictional take on the environmental illness side there was a movie called Safe that came out in 1995. It's a bit odd too, but in a completely different way.


Thanks to W.W. Norton/Norton Young Readers and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 75: Les Misérables

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a book!

So much as been written about this book it's difficult to add anything new, except my own personal reading experience.

I chose to read this book via an app on my phone called Serial Reader. The app takes books out of copyright and splits them into small daily reading that takes around 10-15 minutes a day. For this long book it was split into 233 daily issues. That's roughly 8 months with this book being over 1,400 pages!

There were many days where I didn't read this book, and many days where I read several issues. A few times I got way behind, around 30 days. In late June I took a trip across the country and managed a lot of reading, perhaps reading as many as 30 issues, and still didn't quite catch up. The closer I got to the end of the daily issues being released the more I read and was able to be completely caught up for the final week.

In the book, as it must be known, there are some areas where digressions went on and on, and it seemed like a complete stop to the story. This book contains a lot of history of France. If someone knew more about French history than myself, perhaps would be easier reading during those parts. When a new character was introduced we often got very specific and detailed background information and often their parents as well. For myself, when the story connected characters, which was unknown ahead of time that was going to happen, it was very satisfying, an a-ha! moment.

While some parts tend to slow down the story, overall I found the book exciting. Yes, it is overwritten, way too many descriptors that go on and on and on and on. It is easily seen why this book is often abridged and cut down, taken to the basic aspect of the story. Yet when one reads a highly edited book you lose the overall structure and story, you lose much to where you really haven't read the book. This book is a commitment that's for sure, but when I finished I understood why there are so many movie and TV versions of the story, and why this classic will continue to live on.


Book read: Jan.30-Sept.19 2019

Review 74: Tar Baby

Tar Baby by Toni Morrison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While Morrison's writing is powerful, I find I just don't like magical realism. This book has less of that than other books of her's I've read, but the older I get the more distaste I have for it. I know it's me!

There were strong issues addressed in this book, but in the end there lacked resolution for any of the characters. And some of these issues seem nearly impossible to solve. I suppose that was the point, but it's hard on the reader. I mean, the title sort of nods to the whole thing. (OED: "a difficult problem which is only aggravated by attempts to solve it.") Morrison did accomplish what was set out for the book. Likely I should rate the book higher, I get that, so perhaps the rating reflects more on me as a reader.

Review 73: Call Upon the Water

Call Upon the Water by Stella Tillyard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This historical novel is set in the mid 1600’s in two locations, England and the New World. This book is told mostly from the point of view of a Dutch engineer Jan Brunt, writing, to you. Jan starts the book in New Amsterdam as he is writing in his diary. We soon find out who this you is, not to the reader, but one of the native fens woman, Eliza. They had a secret romance.

Water abounds and the Dutch engineer is there to control it, change the land, hold the water at bay, bend it to their needs. So these fens, the wetlands, will be drained made into the Great Level, so the land could be made useful for the English. The native, fens people had already sabotaged a prior attempt to alter the natural landscape.

Much of the book was enjoyable, but it was a slow paced novel. It is not long, but it took a long while to read it. The writing is good, the story is mainly interesting, but there is lingering. I wavered during the relationship parts, and that seemed to take over the entirety of the novel, yet not quite. There is a bit more.

It was an odd choice for the author, Tillyard, to only give the reader Eliza’s point of view towards the later part of the book. Then we return to Jan’s briefly once more, and it is odd that this back and forth wasn’t for the entire book. After completing the book entirely you can understand more of each character, yet part of me desires that the entire book was just one point of view. In any case, the choice didn’t ruin the book at all, just a little different with the structure. Also, I didn’t feel the voice of Eliza’s writing was much different from Jan’s, it is only the author telling us this is which character.

I did enjoy the historical aspect of the book, the turning of the city from the Dutch to British with New Amsterdam becoming New York. Even saw a different side to Virginia.

Book rating: 3.5 stars


Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review


View all my reviews

Review 72: Fall, Or Dodge in Hell

Fall, Or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I had high hopes for this next book of Neal Stephenson's. It takes the same world, some of the characters from Reamde but years later. (You don't need to have read the other book, but maybe you will feel more vested with the characters, possibly.) Anyway, the idea of having your brain scanned and uploaded to somewhere is interesting. It's a topic that computer scientists and others talk about a possibility for one day this to happen, so here is one writer's thoughts on what that may look like.

What it looked like was somewhat like the real world with some gaming tropes thrown in. Hopefully that didn't spoil it for you, but this is a long book and it comes up fairly early in the percentage-wise into the book.

In fact the book started out very strong. A good ways in and I thought to myself this is my favorite Stephenson book so far (this is the fourth, to give that statement some context). Then somewhere along the way the story gets lost into more detail and other aspects that honestly don't add to the overall book except page length. This seems to be quite a pattern for Stephenson, that he has to write these massive books, and probably 300 pages could be cut and not lose anything significant. So these books are marathons, and maybe that's Stephenson's way of things.

Anyway, I stuck with the book to see the payoff and I didn't find it. Maybe you will if you're a happier fan of Stephenson than me. I didn't like the gamification of the afterlife, at least the way it was portrayed. I also didn't like the whole creation myth recreated, that's about where it really stared it's downfall. Yes, there's much to gnash your teeth on for symbolism that's not that hidden, but it didn't do it for me. I'm sure it will get a good following of love from fans and some other folks.

Review 71: Walking

Walking by Henry David Thoreau
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Dover Publications for the reprint of this lecture, by Thoreau that was published posthumously. The image they added to the text perfectly represents the mood of the book. Thoreau writes in a time when land was still being dominated and tamed, and here is the one voice speaking out that the wild nature has value as well. Not only has value, but we need it, as Thoreau writes: “in Wildness is the preservation of the World.”

There are many good quotes to pull out of this small book. I will refrain from quoting too many, but I must include another, “Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest.”

Thoreau also states how his walking is like the wildness, to go without a purpose, to go without your head thinking of things you need to do. It is a walk to just be out in nature and walk.

The book is short enough to read in one sitting and perhaps it best when read in that manner. I did not have the fortune to do so, but did have some extended periods of time while reading, and broke away a little refreshed, with a new view, after each reading. Thoreau’s writing may not be fully accessible and easy, but once you dive in, you can see why his words are still relevant today, and will be for a long time to come.

Review 70: The Mind at Work

The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker by Mike Rose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thought this book was going to be like the description, a bit like Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America and Terkel's Working: People Talk about What They Do All Day and How They Feel about What They Do books, but that is not quite the case.

The book addresses the intelligence, the level of the mind while working at blue-collar type jobs. Society has not acknowledged the level of intelligence these people have that do these types of jobs. Mike Rose explains how people's understanding of intelligence has changed over the years, and this too is one area that needs to be modified. It takes the entire book to come to this conclusion, providing several long examples, and several briefly. A couple of the long examples come from his own family, while others from observing high school classes in vocational education. There are other examples as well, ranging from welder, hair dresser to a surgeon.

One of the later chapters delve into the education of students taking the two tracks of vocational verses academic. This part was unexpected for me. Rose explains how this does a great disservice as the students in vocational education route aren't challenged to their full extent and even come to believe their own intelligence is more limited than it may be, or they denounce intelligence as a way of compensating. Students get placed into programs often by income level backgrounds, or parental jobs. Other issues of how the two tracks differ and perpetuate problems are explained. This chapter felt like there were arguments that came before, for those in the education field may be better versed in the discussion. This chapter also felt like the thesis of the book, what the previous chapters were leading towards.

Mike Rose comes at this topic as a scholar in the field of education. He is a professor in education, yet he writes this book in a fairly approachable manner.

While the book was decent, and he took years in research and writing the book, it felt like there was missing quite a lot as well. Most of the book was about only a few job categories and only briefly mention others. It would seem the book would have been stronger with more details on more job areas, take those curiously mentioned and expanded upon, perhaps cutting down some other areas, or not. The book wasn't overly long.

After reading it entirely I would doubt the book would get a large audience outside of the academic world in the education field. I seem to have a large area of curiosity and love learning, so I continued the book where it veered from my primary interest. Certainly there are other people out there like myself, yet educators will likely gain the most from this book.

Review 69: Women Talking

Women Talking by Miriam Toews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is based on something that happened, a true thing. The author fictionalized the response, well a little more than that was fictionalize, such as the size of the settlement. Yet knowing the basis of this story was fact made the book a harrowing read.

What was odd for me was why have an outsider tell the story? And why was the outsider a man?

The framing of the book had a male teacher, who was once excommunicated from the colony with his parents, write down the minutes of the women's meeting. He writes more than that, he write about himself. Sometimes it is acknowledged and other times it feels like the author forgot the frame of the story. A few parts of the story could not have been written down, yet we still have this in the book.

The women were portrayed, as almost simple. I think the author struggled with this aspect, their intelligence there, they are not stupid women, yet there were not allowed to be taught about the outside world, not reading and writing, not even the local language. This dichotomy comes across oddly, and it's hard to discern if it's due to the situation or the author struggling to find the right balance.

It's a short book and a quick read. There isn't much action of any in the book, it is as the title says, women talking, trying to decide how to proceed now they know their men drugged them and raped them, even the girl children. Should they stay and fight despite being pacifists, or should they leave, venture out into the unknown. There is a third option, to stay and do nothing, but for the women who believed in that option did not go to the barn to discuss what's next.

Often I found myself in disbelief how women continue to be abused, again and again in the name of religion. I loved that one of their topics was to be free; to be free from the patriarchy, to think for themselves.

Review 68: Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World

Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World by Clive Thompson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was a mixed bag for me. Some aspects of it, was interesting and adding to my knowledge about computer programmers. But other aspects of the book irked me.

What I did like was learning about the computer industry, particularly the history that was provided, although it wasn't too deep. Thompson covered some personalities, and influences, such as computer programming in education. It's eye-opening how colleges can shape an industry, at least for a time. There was quite a lot about how women have been sidelined in the industry, and covering some of the scandals briefly. Overall there was a lot in the book, it is long, and sometimes felt meandering. I liked the breadth even though it wasn't expected.

Yet, there were too many generalizations as regards to the personality type of a true coder. Thompson used individual examples to extrapolate to the larger population. There wasn't any real studies or research done, it's cherry picking.

There were times when the language, the grammar was poor. For instance used this..."as Dropbox grew huger". Maybe huger is a valid word for very large, but there are better ways of getting to same point. In general it felt like sloppy writing, and sloppy research.

Another thing that bugged me was how Thompson used the word hacker interchangeably with coder or computer programmer. It wasn't until past the half-way point of the book, he explains that hacker is appropriate, as what many may think of "hacker" is actually termed "cracker". Generally "hacker" tinkers with systems to improve things, while a "cracker" breaks into systems for illicit motives such as personal gain or crime. Okay, well that information would have been better put in the beginning of the book, not in chapter 8 (out of 11).

Not to go on too long, particularly about what bothered me, but it is a mixed bag. Some readers may not be so picky, others maybe more so, it just depends on what you're looking for. This book is a generalization, but by no means definitive.


I listened to the audiobook from my local library. The narrator did a decent job of narration. Sometimes narrators, especially author-narrators, of non-fiction books end up sounding bored, happily that was not the case here. If interested in the book print or audio will work fine.

Reissue Review 67: The Life of the Skies

The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature by Jonathan Rosen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reissue Review #3: On occasion revisiting and reissuing reviews from the days before my blog postings. This is one to not miss.

A recent read: finished on September 02, 2016.

“what to make of a diminished thing”

This book isn’t so much about birding and birdwatching as it is a meandering of ideas that uses birding as the main focus. It’s tempting to call this a literary critique of birdwatching as literature appears almost as much as the birds.

Rosen frequently calls back to writers and poets, such as Thoreau, Whitman and Frost, but also those who may be more obvious such as Audubon, Darwin and Wallace. (Alfred Russel Wallace came up with the idea of evolution through natural selection at the same time as Darwin.)

The frame of the book is an attempt to find a bird that was claimed extinct but recently spotted – the ivory-bill woodpecker. This one bird can represent both despair and hope at the same time. The reason the bird went extinct was due to human logging of old growth forests. Hope is that it still survives, remained hidden all these years. Despair in that we have realized that our species can cause many other species to go extinct. Then hope in the attempt, or struggle to reverse that trend. Hope and despair is often found in the book.

The second half of the book Rosen goes to Israel for birding. Jewish heritage, history, religion, and of course the holocaust comes up. Perhaps the latter is brought into the book as a somewhat relation to the extinction of the ivory-bill and the attempted extinction of the Jewish people, both brought about by humans, albeit one consciously and the other unwittingly. This is just one example of the various connections Rosen brings up throughout.

There are some lines, some quirks to the book I haven’t seen before or extremely rare. At one point Rosen talks about lying and then reveals his story early in the book about how he started his habit of birdwatching is a lie. That’s curious. If you’re going to state it correctly why do that? You can edit. And occasionally there are moments that Rosen seems to think what the critics may say about his book and in this anticipation he brings up the idea and then answers it as well. Such as in the epilogue he writes: “Can a book about birdwatching sustain a reference to the horrors human beings inflict on each other?” The horrors he means specifically the holocaust. This oddness does remind me of a few authors who have written similarly. They think they know what people will say then dispute it within the same book. I don’t particularly like the tactic but can understand the motivation. They wish for a stronger argument within the book. But what is Rosen’s argument? That the environment is diminished for the birds?

“what to make of a diminished thing” This phrase comes up quite frequently. Rosen doesn’t quite answer it, as it is more a meditation, something to ponder rather than something to be fully answered. But if he does provide a hint of an answer for the reader it is found in the last pages: “We need to know that we are asking it about ourselves as well as the world around us.”

I really enjoyed the book, but not in the way I expected. I thought it would be more about birdwatching than a meandering of literary references and more. But I liked it. I’m sure some, who really are more interested in just the birdwatching aspect might find it tedious. There is a lot in this book, many digressions and sometimes the bird portion just seems like a thin veil to get to what he really wants to talk about. But it is interesting, there’s surprises on nearly every page, not knowing where this is going or where you’ll really end up.

Final note – didn’t like there isn’t an index, and this book really needs an index! Why this trend in non-fiction books to get rid of useful things such as references and indexes (indices)? At least he included notes on sources.

Book rating: 5 stars

Review 66: The Women's Guide to Overcoming Insomnia

The Women's Guide to Overcoming Insomnia: Get a Good Night's Sleep Without Relying on Medication by Shelby Harris
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I don't have insomnia, maybe a night or two here or there, or a week at most at a time, but nothing long lasting. But who doesn't want a better night of sleep? I definitely have a problem with Sunday night as during the weekends I time shift. It's automatic, I can't help it. I fit myself into a sleep schedule to fit work, but it does not fit my internal time clock. Actually sounds like a recipe for chronic insomnia, so the fact I don't, makes me feel lucky.

Yet, I do struggle at times, which is why this book looked interesting to me. I wanted to also understand why it was geared towards women and not everyone. The author, Harris, mentions several things that are particular to women: we tend to worry more, our brains are harder to shut off, then there's those things such as menopause, perimenopause and pregnancy. The hormones and cycles definitely play a role in our sleeping.

It's sometimes hard to rate self-help books, and this one definitely fits in that category. One reason for a lower rating is the repetitiveness that is here. I think authors of these types of books figure people may skip around and not read every chapter, but this book is geared for reading in the usual manner. Another reason I rated the book lower was for lack of examples. It felt like more examples for the situations would have made for a better book. If there was repetition due to padding out the book, more of these examples would have taken care of that issue.

In a moment of synchronicity, I received an email yesterday that discussed a new FDA Black Box warning for insomnia medications. The short article states that the best primary way to tackle insomnia is not medications but cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, known as CBT-i. I had never heard of this before reading the book, but the book is all about CBT-i.

Despite the flaws of the book it still contains a lot of useful advice. I will likely add some of these recommendations to my sleep routine.

Book rating: 3.5 stars

Thanks to W.W. Norton and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 65: The DNA of You and Me

The DNA of You and Me by Andrea Rothman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Another book that didn't do well for me. Had a few duds lately. I wanted to like this, a story about scientists and personal relationships, maybe love. But it was too odd really. The seemed to be no reason why our main character Emily fell for Aeden so quickly. And their relationship was odd too. Definitely needed more in that department.

As for the science there was definitely enough. The first large portion of the book was about the science and Emily getting into this new lab, and bickering. Too much of that. Perhaps it is realistic, I don't know.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did an excellent job of the book.

Review 64: Opioid, Indiana

Opioid, Indiana by Brian Allen Carr
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

This book was a good attempt at showing how a teenager deals with things he shouldn't have to. He is an orphan at too young an age and moved from caretaker to caretaker, the lastest being his mother's younger brother who is a drug addict. Our narrator, Riggle, never tells us the name of the town, instead naming it Opioid for all of the addicts.

The book takes place over about a week of time, and each day we get a little fable that his mom told him with using a hand shadow puppet they called Remote. I didn't like these asides. Also made it feel like the character is much younger than his 17 years, but that's understandable with his circumstances. He's had to take care of himself at too young of age.

During this week Riggle is suspended from school and he and Peggy (his uncle's live-in girlfriend) are trying, half-hardheartedly, to find the uncle. Riggle's only friend plays a small role in the story too, grounding us in the reality of kids living with the possibility of school shootings. There's a lot in this short novel, too much perhaps, and unfortunately a lot of it is lost.

There are interesting sentences and observations but somehow the book isn't pulled together well. It's hard to pin down exactly but the book didn't resonate with me. Perhaps for teenagers this will be a better read for them, yet I find it hard to call this young adult. (I did add the tag.) The book is grity and dark, but the language and main character does lend it to that YA genre. I wanted the book to work, but unfortunately, for me it didn't.

Book rating: 2.5 stars, rounded down


Thanks to Soho Press and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 63: The Warehouse

The Warehouse by Rob Hart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A dystopian tale that seems all too plausible, well mostly. As society crumbles with climate change and governments failure to do much, one company steps in and solves all of our shopping needs. After a deadly Black Friday massacre people just don't want to go into stores anymore. So now there is Cloud and nearly the only place to work. It reminded me a little of the movie Idiocracy, with the huge warehouse that everyone shops. As a worker you also must live there. It's a self-contained company store, with entertainment and everything. It's a bit creepy. The watch that tracks your movements and tells you were to go next when to wake up for your next shift.

We have two main characters, one a woman, Zinnia, who is undercover with a mission: find out their power source, it can't all be solar. The other is a discouraged inventor, Paxton, with prison guard work in his resume who ends up on security. We also get the founder's Gibson Wells voice in his blogs that he writes as he nears the end of his life.

The pacing of the book was great. I do like how we see the "other" side with Gibson's blog postings. He sounds like a down-to-earth guy, not a creep who has taken over just about everything.

There are a few aspects to the story-line that was kinda weird, seemed unnecessary. Some parts maybe not explored well or overdone, otherwise a decent book. It looks like the book has Ron Howard interested in the movie rights, so we may see it on the big-screen sometime. I'll definitely see it if that happens.


Preview of the book: https://youtu.be/lh4jJk4rBJc
Like a movie trailer! Wow, looks exciting!
The book was exciting...and may become a movie. So the trailer makes sense.


Thanks to Crown Publishing and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 62: Vox

Vox by Christina Dalcher
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

I listened to this book on audio and it propelled me forward with such strength that I could not stop the book. Now that it is all over, looking back well, the book was not so fantastic.

The first problem is that the basic plot has been done before. Sure there are some twists to it, but it is not anything new. I normally do not compare to other books, but this one lends to that too easily. First you take The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Then add a bit of All Rights Reserved by Gregory Scott Katsoulis for limiting speech, but just women. Then you throw in (nearly any) medical thriller, say Next by Michael Crichton.

This book is a dystopian future where the Christian right goes way overboard on their "Purity" movement and wants women at home and not speaking. The main character was a neuro-linguistic scientist that happens to have a "cure" for aphasia, which the President's brother gets from a ski accident.

Part of the problem with the book is way too many people seem to be getting aphasia from various reasons. Lacks believably. The thriller part, the action, was overdone. The main problem really is that the story line just doesn't hold up well enough. Not really. The romance? That was incongruous and didn't belong.

Best to stick with Atwood's book, it was done much better. This book is too similar in idea that no need to branch out further. Unless you just must have more.


Book rating: 2.5 stars, rounded up because yes, I was hooked in.

Review 61: The Last Redwoods and the Parkland of Redwood Creek

The Last Redwoods and the Parkland of Redwood Creek by Philip Hyde
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this short book even though it's a bit heartbreaking. This was a Sierra Club book written and published 50 years ago now. It was a call to save the last of the virgin Redwood forests. Some areas had been saved already but not nearly enough to really save the trees.

There are many full page color photographs taken of the forests. There's a few of the areas after a clear cut as well. There are more of the ferns and other plants than of the actual trees themselves, which surprised me, but all (excepting the clear-cuts) the photographs are beautiful.

I did learn some interesting aspects about the trees, such as their range used to be much wider than just the Western Coast of California and Oregon. Way wider, nearly across the globe. There is also still (well at least 50 years ago) a stand of Redwoods in China.

A previous version of this book published in 1963 did wonders to help establish some parks and saved some groves. I haven't looked further into the park boundaries and areas of redwoods, but I hope this book also made a lasting impression and help the conservation efforts. I do know we still have redwood trees, but how viable the forests are that we have so far saved, that I don't know. These trees take so much time to grow and too quick to chop down. I hope they remain and can survive in our warmer climate that's coming our way. That was one part not addressed in this book, as it wasn't known at the time.

Review 60: Doxology

Doxology by Nell Zink
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a generational book, that covers the late 1980's to today. Pam is the main focus, for the first part, a young rebellion who leaves her hometown of Washington DC as a senior in high school to do "art" in New York City. Along the way she stumbles into a coding job and two life-long male friends for life. One, Daniel, becomes the father of her child. It's years before she reunites with her parents, but they end up being important . The child Flora becomes the focus of the later part of the novel.

A lot of ideas are pumped into this novel, and symbolism as well. Look at the title of the book; Doxology: a liturgical formula of praise to God. Then you have Daniel's last name of Svoboda which is a political party in the Ukrainian and also means "freedom". Anyway, undertones abound in this book. At first the art project is music, then it shifts and perhaps the daughter is the ultimate project. Yet she doesn't live her life like theirs.

There's a lot to like and enjoy in this book, the focus on music then on climate change and resting on politics, particularly the Greens. Yet...I think it's the writing style that gets me, makes me reluctant to wholeheartedly embrace this book. I'm not a fan of the writing style. The sentences are short and clipped, and somehow it reminds me of Neal Stephenson. It feels more like a bunch telling and not much showing. I think there's a lot missing, that could have made it better.



Thanks to the publisher Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers. I received a free copy of this book at a library conference. I was not required to write a review, but felt like it and, of course, the above opinions are my own. Somehow I also got a copy on NetGalley, so double thanks to the publisher.

Review 59: We Are All Good People Here

We Are All Good People Here by Susan Rebecca White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an enjoyable book that spans two generations.

First we are firmly placed in the South in the early 60’s then slowly go through the years. At some points many years are jumped. The book is about two friends, Daniella and Eve, who meet in college as roommates, and quickly become best friends. We end up in the early 1990's.

Their friendship and lives are shown through the changing of racial prejudice and attitudes. The Vietnam war is important for a while as well. The girls want society to change and as Eve was the most naive about the prevailing situations she also became the most dedicated.

Overall the book was decent, but sometimes I felt it was too ambitious for the scope. There are moments of detail, of specific situations, but they are fleeting and brief, and may not have been the best scenes to highlight. Perhaps I’m someone who enjoys generational novels to be longer and more in depth. This is not the first book that bothered me in this way, seemingly too cursory.

Also, the book has several characters (not just Eve) changing their fundamental beliefs rather easily. It didn’t help me with the believable factor.

The book for me was a solid 3.5 stars, rounded up.


Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review 58: Hustle and Gig: Struggling and Surviving in the Sharing Economy

Hustle and Gig: Struggling and Surviving in the Sharing Economy by Alexandrea J. Ravenelle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is more a sociological text than a popular reader such as Ehrenreich’s books, like Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, but the book is along the same vein. It’s a look into how are trying to make it work in this “new” gig economy.

The book looks at four app based services and how well they do for the workers: Uber, AirBnB, Kitchensurfing and TaskRabbit. Other app based services are mentioned but not in the detail and the interviews were done with people who worked with one of those four services. Ravenelle uses sociological methods of a standard interview and elicits the information which is detailed and summarized in this book.

There are parts that are very readable, and a few sections that feel more like a text book, overall it’s fine. I found myself highlighting a lot in this book, because there was so much that seemed to define the work.

There are some interesting stories in here. It definitely opened my eyes up to some of these services, even though I’ve used very few. I can understand what it is like to be on the worker side instead of the consumer, or client.

The stories of the people trying to make it, to have the flexibility, and still earn a living, the personal aspect made this book remarkable.


Thanks to University of California Press and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 57: Stay and Fight: A Novel

Stay and Fight: A Novel by Madeline Ffitch
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

What attracted me to this book was the aspect of self-reliance and living off the land. There was a little of that, but the three main women seemed to have no real clue how to do that successfully. The first person we meet, Helen, came from Seattle, checked books out of the library to read and reference. The other two women were from the area in Appalachia, had history of the place, but didn't seem to do much better. And do they ever argue.

At several points I considered not continuing because the three main women characters do fight. I didn't like them, nor the arguing. The book is written from different POV's one for each of the women and Perley, the child.  The young boy is raised by the three women, and I loved his character and I stuck with the book.

The title of this book fits so well, the fighting then staying with each other, and my own experience with the book, staying and fighting through the discomfort. This is not the easiest book to read. Yet I found at the end of the book it paid off. I'm happy to have stayed with the book.

Book rating: 3.5 stars


Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 56: The Glass Woman

The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a quick read! This book took hold of me and wouldn't let go until the end. Caroline Lea certainly wrote the tension right. Yet I didn't feel that the characters were true to themselves throughout the book.

This was an atmospheric book. Set in 1686 in Iceland during the last few months of that year. We have Rosa who is newly married and her husband that demands and expects with harsh looks, but doesn't hit. Yet Rosa cowers.

This is a time of changing religions, the old ways must be put aside now known as a crime of witchcraft with a punishment of burning. Yet the comfort is hard to let go.

All is not as it seems on the surface. There were a few turns in the story I found were nearly unbelievable. Perhaps I was expecting too much. Certainly it read fast, yet my experience felt discordance with portions, which amplified at the end.


I received a free copy of this book at a library conference. I was not required to write a review, but felt like it and, of course, the above opinions are my own.

Review 55: In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of the Sasquatch

In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of the Sasquatch by John Zada
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Here's a book with a great cover. The title fits the image and perks my interest, then we get to the sub-title...Sasquatch? Well, why not. My personal belief is much like aliens visiting Earth, so not likely. We would know if any of this was real, the cover-up is too much. I don't like conspiracy theories too much either. Anyway, I thought the book might be a fun read.

As I read the book it felt like we, reader and author, are sitting around a camp fire and he was telling stories. Zada has a lot of stories. This book is a collection of those tidbits her learned and he also writes of how he got those stories. The book has these short exciting stories, between longer periods of what's going on with the author and the people he meets.

The book takes place nearly entirely in the Great Bear Rainforest, which is located in British Columbia, on the west coast near the central and northern coastal region. It is one of the few areas where old growth still exists. There are small towns populated by people of different First Nations who have lived in the area for thousands of years. This area has the most Sasquatch stories, but also it is part of the oral history for the people.

Zada goes into the project with an open mind, trying to truly determine if Sasquatch is real or not, despite his boyhood fascination with the subject. There is only a little review of the history of "Sasqualogy" and some of the most important "Sasquoligists." Perhaps Zada believes people reading this book already knows all that came before. I didn't, but it doesn't really matter too much.

The book was entertaining enough, the writing well done. The story line got a little distracted and sometimes not very focused. For myself, the most interesting parts of the book to me where of the landscape and the First Nations people.

Book rating: 3.5 stars


Thanks to Atlantic Monthly Press/Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 54: Invitation to a Bonfire

Invitation to a Bonfire by Adrienne Celt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hmm...this book is a little complicated for me. There was some good writing, interesting sentences, beautiful at times. Yet that alone doesn't hold up the entire book. There is a story, a plot, but somehow it also feels lost at so many points.

The early part of the book goes way back for our main character, also the narrator, to ground you in her person, who is Zoya Andropova this Russian orphan. Interspersed with chapters are letters written from a writer to his wife, people we haven't quite met yet. It felt odd at times. The story moves forward in a fairly straight forward manner, yet there is so much of the early time. It is setting the stage for what comes after yet it painfully long, nearly half the book, in this somewhat short book.

The later part worked better for me, when the characters actually connect, the story moves forward faster. Funny enough, in the end I have to say I'm more in favor of the book than not.


I listened to the audio book which perhaps was a better way to approach the book. The narrators did an excellent job.

Review 53: The Beekeeper of Aleppo

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

We are given little details at a time about what happened to the refugees our main characters Nuri and Afra, so as not to overwhelm the readers, as obviously they were. They suffered many distressing events before they fled Aleppo, Syria, and slowly make their way to England. They endure despite all the difficulties and trauma from before leaving their country, and what happens in the camps. PTSD is portrayed as almost sleepwalking, our narrator see's what's not there....Ironically his wife, Afra does not see anything, gone blind.

The writing was decent but I did not like the gimmick of the words, that flow from one scene to the next, as the section heading, which switches the time line. The first time I think it was neat, but it got old quick. Some may like this new way of writing, playing with the novel form. I think it was enough to just portray the situation of refugees without needing to experiment with the novel.


Thanks to Ballantine/Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 52: Commute: An Illustrated Memoir of Female Shame

Commute: An Illustrated Memoir of Female Shame by Erin Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow! I am floored by the brave and honest truth in this book. Erin Williams tells an unflinching reality about herself and sadly many, many women. I can identify all too well with her story. Perhaps not to the degree but yes, had a few similar experiences, being taken advantage of by guys then feeling the shame. Finally women are talking about this openly.

I'm amazed at how forceful and direct this author wrote and illustrated her life story. She is unflinching and it is uncomfortable. It is what is necessary and needed. When the book comes out in color it will be all that more powerful.

I hope men will read this, but I have a feeling very few will, especially the men who do this, did this, who should see what their behavior does, and how it lingers years and decades later.



I received a free print copy of this book at a library conference. I was not required to write a review, but felt like it and, of course, the above opinions are my own.