Review 454: Evergreen Tidings from the Baumgartners

Evergreen Tidings from the Baumgartners by Gretchen Anthony
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I thought this would be a holiday related book, but it wasn't really. Instead we have a young lesbian couple about to have their first child. The mother, Violet, of the pregnant woman, Cersie, is a control freak. Cersie and Barb delay telling Violet of the pregnancy in order to not overshadow the retirement party for her father. So during a speech Violet hears of the baby and outright faints. In fainting she crashes and into things and ends up with a serious concussion.

Being a control freak and now having neurological issues is the set up for this book, which tries to be so humorous.  I think it was outrageous at times, but I hardly laughed. 

The only Christmas related thing was, well the main event the book started with was just before the holidays. And there is a Christmas letter that Violet writes every year which is peppered throughout the book to show history of their family.  

The book was okay, maybe some people would enjoy the humor more than I did. Perhaps this type of humor works better on screen, I don't know. I found it meh.

Review 453: Open Throat

Open Throat by Henry Hoke
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars


This is a short book, I read it easily in one day. It takes the point of view of a mountain lion, who does understand English. He learns the words from hikers and a group of homeless people he lives with. The mountain lion lives in the wilderness area near the Hollywood sign, although he used to live in a different area.

Getting water and food to eat is a struggle. Humans have become interesting to him since he is so hungry, but it didn’t use to be that way.

An interesting take on the modern problems of the city (such as housing costs) and climate change.

I listened to the audiobook, which was well done by the narrator.

Review 452: The Christmas Hirelings

The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Short Christmas related read.

A novella for the holidays. This is a classic, published originally in 1894 taking place in England. Sir John Penlyon decides that this Christmas some children should be around his lonely huge manor house. So a friend brings three children that were hired to have Christmas for a fortnight on the estate. 

Sir John Penlyon had casted his only daughter out to never accept her as his daughter and definitely not give her any money. She had the audacity to elope and marry beneath her station, which her father would not forgive. Thus, this many years later he is an old man missing children at Christmas.

His friend then brings three children in for the holiday. The youngest which was nicknamed Poppet is so smart and advanced for her young years of four and Sir John and her grow very close in no time. All the children enjoy their time, and gifts at the estate. They go out one day a few days after Christmas to enjoy and play in the snow. The next day Poppet had developed a cold. It gets worse, then even worse, to where they must call in the mother. Of course, the mother is the daughter that was cast out.  At this point Poppet was starting to recover, with her mother there, so Sir John leaves for London for a while. He still does not want to see his daughter, and realized by this point who the children were.

Review 451: Storm

Storm by George R. Stewart
My rating: 3.75 of 5 stars


This is a unique novel, in that it follows a storm over the course of twelve days, from it’s birth to death. The storm is a main character – Maria (pronounced like Ma-RYE-a). This is an old book, written in the late 1930s, published in 1941 and it feels old.

Instead of one main character, we see glimpses of various lives and how they deal with the storm.
We see men at their jobs – from road crews, telephone men, airplane dispatchers, to the weather forecasting bureau. The make sure the infrastructure continues to run smoothly, despite the effects of the storm. We start with the weather bureau, the Junior Meteorologist, with his new scientific methods such as using a slide rule. There is the Load Dispatcher who maintains the electric power and water, keeping track of the rising level of water making sure the dams don't overflow.

Many of the men aren’t named, just called by their titles, such as the Chief Service Office who directs the planes, The General Manager overlooking the rail lines. Everyone’s job is very important to keep people out of danger.

We get glimpses of something that happens with the effects later on, such as an owl that accidentally is electrocuted. Later the weakened wire breaks, the linemen are called out to go fix it, with the details provided.

Certainly these jobs are still being done today, but in different ways. Probably with less people with more monitoring done remotely. They had people out there visibly checking the rail lines, the roadways, the waterways, and today I expect there are cameras or other sensing equipment.

Somewhat interesting book even though it was old, and lots of details on meteorological storms and how they could behave. Every storm is unique.

Review 450: Ripe

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

This book takes place in 2020, the early months of the year, with Cassie as our main character. She’s a year in after college graduation working with a tech start-up company. She had to move to San Francisco and found a friend by their mutual dislike of the city.

Cassie’s job and bosses have unreasonable expectations, not only long hours but taking workshops and working on special (illegal) projects on the weekends. As we get close to the pandemic starting the company states they do not believe in working from home.

Then there’s this black hole that follows Cassie since she was little. It’s obviously depression and anxiety, which grows or diminishes according to situations.

We see her interact with friends she doesn't particularly like, a boyfriend who already has a girlfriend, and parents who tell her she can never come back home. No wonder she is depressed. It's not a joyful read, but there is humor, dark satirical humor.

Review 449: Knick Knack Paddy Whack (or) The Talk of the Town

Knick Knack Paddy Whack by Ardal O'Hanlon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Patrick Scully is not a likeable character. From the onset we are slapped around with cuss words and awful language, that somehow settles down as the book goes on. It’s the first year out of school and his friends have all gone to university while Patrick is feeling left behind, despite that they all share a flat in Dublin. His girlfriend Francesa doesn’t really like him too much, but he doesn’t know this, only she won’t go all the way, so he’s still a virgin. On the weekends he takes the bus back home to his village and spends the weekend with friends getting drunk at the pub or club, and maybe getting into a fight.

It's not a pretty book by any means. Interspersed with Patrick’s POV we get entries from Francesca’s diary that is detailed and erudite. This is how we learn she tolerates Patrick, maybe feels sorry for him, and has affection for his roommate Xavier whom they call Balls.

The timeline isn’t linear and we even have Patrick making up something that could have happened so the story is not clear. As the book goes on, it’s hard not to feel some sympathy for the lonely Scully. Still, I did not enjoy the journey.

The book was originally published with the title "The Talk of the Town" which I think fits better

Review 448: Timber Wars

Timber Wars by Judi Bari
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Judi Bari was an activist for saving old growth redwoods. She worked within the group Earth First! and helped to organize non-violent actions and protests to save the forests from the continuing of clear-cut practices. Of course, doing this caused a ruckus and as a result she was bombed. This bomb was a small personal bomb placed underneath her car seat, and it’s surprising she even survived. She nearly didn’t. Instead, she had a painful recovery and permanent disability afterwards.

What becomes more amazing is the first instinct for the FBI is that she and her passenger Darryl Cherney must have been transporting the bomb for nefarious activity and so arrested them, while still in the hospital for the bombing. After not enough evidence was ever discovered to charge them, the case was dropped against Bari and Cherney. However, neither the FBI nor the Oakland Police, where the bombing occurred, seriously looked into who may have actually done this.

Through the Freedom of Information Act Bari was able to get hold of her FBI files and they showed that the FBI used this bombing to investigate all the environmental activists they could. Digging into phone records they also looked into anyone who may have been contacted, which included family members. It is utterly surprising there was no serious investigation into who actually committed the crime.

So, this book is a compilation of articles Bari wrote, mostly newspaper articles, along with a few interviews with the media. The focus is quite often on the bombing. It does get to be repetitive with the same information going over time and again, but I don’t blame Bari, if I was bombed, I’d be talking about it every chance I got, especially when nothing was being done to find the culprit.

The articles are in chronological order, from October 1989 to the last in February 1994 as a lengthy article that appeared in Earth First Journal covering specific details on the bombing and investigation, which included several photos. The most mainstream publication Bari had an article published was with Ms. Magazine, where she focused on feminism and bringing that to environmental activism.

The thrust of the book is about the car bombing and Bari suggests a few culprits, starting with the FBI as the prime suspect. She also discusses evidence that the officials never investigated, such as a letter sent to the local newspaper that took responsibility for the bomb and included details about it that was not public knowledge. This letter also matched another that was sent by someone Bari knew which told the Oakland police he would be an informant against Bari.

Anyway, the book goes into these details, and more, many times. Also included is the local organizing and demonstrations against the corporate companies that were doing the clear-cutting. Bari makes it clear she was for the loggers, the individuals who lived in the area, but was against the destroying of the forest and the jobs for these loggers. Without using the word sustainable, this is what she was striving for, sustainable logging. Then loggers would have employment and people would have the wood they need.

It's a fascinating history, and the work Bari, Earth First!, and other activists did stopped the logging and saved the final areas of old growth redwoods. In the late 1980s there was only 5% left in the world still standing and the corporations wanted to take that too. Today they are still there. A paltry 120,000 acres, but at least it is still there.

Review 447: Breakfast with Buddha

Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

A typical family Christian man gets trapped into taking a spiritual man, Volya Rinpoche across the country. Otto was going to drive his sister, whom he does call flakey, to their parent’s farm in North Dakota to sell the place after their parents sudden death in a car accident. Instead, the sister says she wants her spiritual leader Rinpoche to have her part of the farm so he could set up a retreat. Otto is furious but takes him along on the ride. Slowly as the days eek by Otto relaxes and opens up to the teachings of Rinpoche.

It was an okay book, it felt preachy at times to me, or maybe forced is a better word. This is not my first foray into Zen, Buddhism, or anything along those lines, so I’m no opposed to the message, just in the delivery how it came across. I do have another book, the third in the series. I may just skip the second and go straight to that one, not sure yet. In any case, won’t be in the immediate future.

Review 446: The Lost City of the Monkey God

The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a non-fiction book, and you can tell because the subtitle says “A True Story”. Really, have to laugh at books that have that type of subtitle. With that type of subtitle, then you have to set your expectations low for quality. Despite that, I was dismayed when a large portion of the book went into the details of an illness the author and several other people got from their time in the jungle.

This is a book about the exploration for the mythical Ciudad Blanca in Honduras. It was also known as the City of the Monkey God, presumably the people who used to live in this lost city would worship monkeys, well they are prevalent in the jungle. One man was dedicated to finding this lost city. He isn’t an archeologist, just someone with money, time, and liked adventures.

It took him nearly twenty years, and with advancements of technology, he was able to assemble a team to do another search. The team consisted of journalists, writers, photographers, and filmmakers (which included the author, writing for National Geographic). Later it also included archeologist and anthropologists to round out the team as scientific and acceptable to the academic community. Well, it almost was, controversy still did arise and partly due to the change of government. Which yes, this adventurer did have a hand in overthrowing the Honduras government in favor of someone who was more to his way of thinking about exploring the deep jungle.

The team did find a large city that was abandoned around 500 years ago, and in fact found two large cities. They looked to have at one time had thousands of inhabitants. They also found several caches of artifacts that were still buried and left untouched since those people left the ancient city.

I could have done without the extremely lengthy discussion on the parasite and infection the author and several of the team contracted from their time in the deep jungle. Certainly, one would expect some mention, but it kept going and at great length it started to feel like another book was being written.

Overall, I did learn about something as I hadn’t heard about this Honduras exploration before, despite all the publicity. Have a feeling the author does better with his fictional writing, which maybe one day I will try out.

Review 445: Thoreau at Devil's Perch

Thoreau at Devil's Perch by B.B. Oak
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book fictionalizes a real person. Although his name is in the title and the series title, he is not the main character. No. Instead Henry David Thoreau is sidelined into a caricature.

The book format is of journal entries, alternating between Dr. Adam Walker and Julia Bell. They are first cousins who came to Plumford, MA to aid the elder Dr. Walker who broke his leg. I didn’t find the voice to vary much between the two narratives. Perhaps in an attempt to differentiate the two voices, Adam’s portion became full of awkward or incomplete sentences. Also, they aren’t what a typical journal entry would look like, so it was an odd choice for the book format.

The other problem I had with the book was the main concern throughout was this love interest between the two cousins. They longed for each other, but were told by several people that if they married their offspring would be monsters, malformed and hideous. (Quite the extreme, but still found the entire concept odd and a bit disturbing as well.) As if further proof they are made for each other there is even a part where Adam hypothesizes Julia who regresses to a previous life during Roman times, where the two of them have a beautiful baby. This was another distraction, the hypnotizing and past life explorations, Julia wasn’t the only one. It didn’t need to be in the book at all.

What about the murdered man they find? This mystery takes a sideline to another murder Adam and Thoreau start investigating. They keep trying to keep Julia out, but she is a strong woman, particularly for the mid-1800s.

The book had a lot of points of annoyances for me, and quite a few horrific instances (some involving animals). There seems to be a lot thrown into this book that didn’t need to be there, but I will say it did add dimension.

Apparently, there are two more books for this is a first in a series, and they all follow the same format, even with Julia and Adam continuing to pin for each other. No, I cannot follow along with that.

Review 444: Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Short read. Heard about this book for years, finally decided to find out for myself what all the talk is about. It's okay.  Good message, just not subtle.  Maybe more spectacular when it came out in 1970?

Review 443: Dying Inside

Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was on my to read list for a long time and now wish I hadn’t read it. I’m sure there’s a lot going on to dissect and analyze in the text, but I just couldn’t get beyond all the sexism and racism. For being written in the early 1970s, one would think Silverberg could have done much better. Sure, he is portraying a type one could say, rationalize it, but I don’t think Silverberg gets women, so yes, he could have done better.

This is a character driven novel and perhaps written so the main character is seriously disliked, or maybe feel sympathy? Then the writing style is all over the place. One chapter in particular changed point of view way too often: third, to first, to second, back to third, then to first; just all over the place. Ugh! To sum up, this book was not for me.

Review 442: Cloud Cuckoo Land

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have discovered I’m not a fan of multi-character multi-timeline books. They feel disconnected until the end when it all wraps up neatly, and yet gives away parts of the story earlier than it should. The spoilers come first, then find out how that fits in for the ah-ha moment. Just not my favorite way to read a story.

That said, I did like this book.

Review 441: Clanlands

Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other by Sam Heughan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was different than what I expected, as it revolves around the making of a TV series called Men in Kilts. (I haven’t seen the show, but will look for it.) The two writers met on the other popular series Outlander. There are spoilers and detailed descriptions of some scenes in this book. When I got this book I’m not even sure I realized these two were actors in Outlander, even though I’ve seen several seasons of the show. (yeah, sometimes I can be clueless.)

Sam and Graham take turns narrating the book, and they poke fun at each other constantly. While this humor helped, I didn’t find myself laughing or even chuckling. With the frame of the making of a show, they go to different locations in Scotland over a short time frame, about two weeks, and get up to all sorts of antics. Drinking whiskey at 9am for the show didn’t agree with Graham, but Sam thought it was great. In fact, most of it is portrayed as Sam thought this was great, while Graham viewed it differently.

They rode a motorcycle which neither had done before, tried riding a tandem bicycle, paddled a kayak on a loch (or at least one of them did) and apparently Sam’s driving was a bit of an adventure as well, although driving an RV/caravan on those small Scottish roads is an adventure on its own.

What I enjoyed the most in the book is the history that related to each location. Sometimes it related also to Outlander, and that was discussed, but for the most part the story of the past was told on its own.

This appears to be the first book in a series, at least another is planned for New Zealand, but I think I’ve had enough of Sam Heughan for a while (at least as an author).  

Review 440: Treachery

Treachery by S.J. Parris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In August 1585 Sir Francis Drake and his fleet is about to embark to the New World to strike a blow against Spain. In the days before they leave a man is found dead in his cabin. It appears to be suicide on the surface but Drake is suspicious that instead there is a murderer aboard his ship.

Before setting sail he wants this resolved. Luckily for him Giordano Bruno has accompanied Sir Philip Sidney to Plymouth in order to escort a diplomat back to London. While in Plymouth Bruno undertakes the task to discover who was the killer. Soon enough he discovers several suspects with motive.

One strong motive involved an old book, a lost gospel. This brought in a bookseller with a vengeance against Bruno. The bookseller is partnered with a man who wants revenge against Drake and several others from a previous voyage who killed his brother.

This is a fourth book in a series, I had not read the previous three. While it did not hurt the understanding of the story line, early there are relationships with some characters that happened in previous books.

I did enjoy the book being in the first person point of view, and the historical setting felt accurate. Liked this book enough that I may look for another in the series.

Review 439: The Cosmic Drama

The Cosmic Drama by Alan W. Watts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From the Illustrated Series - The Essence of Alan Watts

Book IX

A view of how this cosmic play may be running.

I only have a few of the books from the series:

Book I  - God 

Book VII  - Philosophical Fantasies 

Book VIII  - Ego 

Book IX  - Cosmic Drama

Review 438: Ego

Ego by Alan W. Watts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From the Illustrated Series - The Essence of Alan Watts

Book VIII

Ego – what is the I, what is me.

According to Alan Watts is more than your thoughts, your body. But we often distance ourselves from the body parts. We typically mean I as in the brain, our thoughts and thinking selves. We feel outside of our bodies, not a part of the world. Watts says this is image is an hallucination of ego. We are the sum of our body, inside and out, and the environment that we live in. Yes, we need the environment too, it is part of us.

The rest of the book discusses how we came to this false identity, this symbolism of ego and I as separate from everything.

I only have a few of the books from the series:

Book I  - God 

Book VII  - Philosophical Fantasies 

Book VIII  - Ego 

Book IX  - Cosmic Drama

Review 437: Philosophical fantasies

Philosophical fantasies by Alan W. Watts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From the Illustrated Series - The Essence of Alan Watts

Book VII

In this book Watts proposes three different fantasies – which at the end he asks, now maybe isn’t this what is going on right now?

The first is about reproduction. Technology has advanced: first we had paintings, then realism style. Photographs were then invented, first as plain black and white, and so on until movies and television. Watts then proposes that someday we will see these images without a tv, but in three dimensions say in your living room. And as technology advances first your hand will go through this image, but then it will be solid, and you do something like dance with this image. Then you could interact and there will be a way that the movie and you are interacting as one, you control the outcome of what happens next, and then the realism becomes perfect. At this point the question arises – is this where we are now?

The second philosophical fantasy is about how every living thing on this earth is the center of it. You are the center, and so are rabbits and a fish and a fly, right in the middle of everything.

The last is about a cycle of everything, somewhat like the chicken and egg. The big bang started everything and the stars, planets everything was formed. But here Watts case is slightly smaller, just a star and planets. Life developed and kept on developing until there is an intelligent species, like us and goes on until boof they blow everything up and then it starts again.

One reason I like Alan Watts is that he has you think about the state of things, ponder this.

I only have a few of the books from the series:

Book I  - God 

Book VII  - Philosophical Fantasies 

Book VIII  - Ego 

Book IX  - Cosmic Drama

Review 436: God

God by Alan W. Watts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From the Illustrated Series - The Essence of Alan Watts

Book I

A short excerpt book on some of Alan Watts teachings, adapted from transcripts recorded in the last years of his life. A series of nine books were published, this is the first book.

The book is small, very easily read within one reading session. One page has an image, mostly derived from Japanese images. The other page is a short paragraph. The content is to have you think about God, how to represent the image. The viewpoint is mostly from the Christian religion, although others are mentioned. Letting go is the fundamental aspect of faith. To believe is from the root word lief, which means wish, so to believe is a strong wish. Faith is what is needed. Do not cling; but have faith.

I only have a few of the books from the series:

Book I  - God 

Book VII  - Philosophical Fantasies 

Book VIII  - Ego 

Book IX  - Cosmic Drama

Review 435: The Stations of Still Creek

The Stations of Still Creek by Barbara J. Scot
My rating: 3.75 of 5 stars

I've had this book a long time, been meaning to read it right away for a long while, finally I did and now slightly disappointed. The writing style was okay, with some good descriptive scenes of nature.

The book was about Scot's time in living apart from her husband in a cabin in the Mount Hood National Forest. They owned this cabin for years, and she moved in one day to figure things out: her marriage, her writing, and contemplate death. Also, to heal physically as she had problems with her back and eye. Scot was a teacher and quit several times but kept going back as they needed money. It was her husband’s time to quit work for a while, instead she quit work again and went to the forest. They really don’t talk about important things.

What bothered me the most is how she approached nature. It was there for her, for personal use. When she described how she developed these stations, these places in the forest for her to stop and just sit, they were highlighted on how she fit in there. She tended to them, she created them and the paths by cutting out a lot, it is not nature as it is, but human involved. At least she would stop and just look and be.

Scot says that her goal after being healed was using her privileged time in the Mount Hood Forest to be an example of how nature can heal psychologically when you stop and just not do anything, not-doing.

Review 434: The Rebellion of Jane Clarke

The Rebellion of Jane Clarke by Sally Cabot Gunning
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Really enjoyed this book! It's set in 1769 in Boston and a small town nearby where Jane Clarke grew up. She's now a young adult tending to the sick learning from a village woman, when her father wants Jane to marry Phinnie Paine. Jane, however, says no to Paine's proposal. This infuriates her father, and he sends her off to Boston to tend to her elderly aunt who is ill.

While in Boston Jane hopes to see more of her older brother and finds that tending to her aunt's illness is much different than a sore throat or a burn, it's a daily management of her symptoms, which seems to increase whenever there is noise outside. The city life is much noisier, and smellier, than the small village Jane is used to. There is also the political situation, which is very much on everyone’s mind and agenda.

British soldiers have been sent to the colony to "keep the peace" in Boston, instead it aggravates the townspeople and creates disturbances. Jane Clarke finds herself entwined in a couple of these disturbances and she quickly learns that the newspapers don’t necessarily print the truth as it happens.

While exiled from her Satucket village Jane tries to understand not only the political situation, but also herself and what she wants for a husband. In an errand to buy paper for letter-writing Jane meets Henry Knox and they become friends. Though there is this bit of match-making and relationship woes, it certainly isn’t the center of the novel. Plus there are unexpected turns of events!

I love how Jane grew as a character and discovers herself. And the historical facts in the book make it brilliant. However, Jane does question nearly everything frequently, particularly in the beginning of the book. She is growing and learning but this type of uncertainty may make some readers frustrated at the pacing. For myself, I just want to read another Sally Gunning book!

 

P.S. Apparently this is book 3 is a series. I didn't realize that and this book can be read without the previous two. Although, maybe those are where I should start with another of Gunning's books.

Review 433: Elizabeth Costello

Elizabeth Costello by J.M. Coetzee
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Perhaps if I knew what I was in for with this book the rating would be higher...there is little to no plot or character development. It is barely a novel, instead many texts of essays written out, but put into the mouth of the main character, Elizabeth Costello.

The last "lesson" or chapter was the most interesting to me, despite agreeing with several of the premises put forth in the previous "lessons". This last makes you really consider all that she has said before, and so it seemed with sincere conviction. This is a book that will make you think, it does not give you everything. That I do like, just wasn't quite what I was in the mood for when I started reading.

Review 432: North Woods

North Woods by Daniel Mason
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There was some early hype and good reviews, so I thought I should read this as well. An audio copy was available to borrow, so I started to listen.

Turns out, this was highly enjoyable. I very much liked the multi-cast narration for this book. The format lends itself to more voices than one narrator, as there are different forms of storytelling weaved into the book.

The location doesn’t change through the book, but the years and characters, even the trees change. We get an in-depth view of some of the people who live in the yellow house. And some of the residents don’t really leave after dying. So, this book is a good pick for this time of year.

I loved the deep focus on the trees and the nature around the house, the apple orchard and the forest. There was a surprising section on some beetles that the text is more often found in the romance section. Perhaps too much anthropomorphizing on those small creatures. It definitely provides a new way of seeing.

Book rating: 4.5 stars

Review 431: Into the Groove

Into the Groove: The Story of Sound From Tin Foil to Vinyl by Jonathan Scott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a history of recorded sound. Initially the inventors, Edison and others, thought this would benefit businessmen the most, as they could record their notes or whatnot. Reporters could record an event then dictate off that recording for their articles. The inventors didn’t foresee how music would dominate.

Jonathan Scott had done incredible research about the recorders and players, and the formats for these devices. In the early days it wasn’t clear if the cylinder, which was most popular, or the disc would win out. Later there were format wars of speed of the discs, and of course the materials used until we land on vinyl that is used today.

There’s an extensive glossary at the back, which I perused but didn’t thoroughly read. Links and pointers to old archives and the earliest recordings are included. All in all an extensive book and interesting, however it didn’t hold up to extensive reading. The writing style at times was a bit hokey, gimmicky with trying to make puns and otherwise funny remarks, but they fell flat for me. Not sure it matters terribly, but the writer is based in England so there was a focus more on the UK than the United States, so a little slant away from my own experience.

Musicophiles and those dedicated history buffs about things or stuff, may find this a more engaging read than myself.

Fun fact: Jazz was first known as jass but everyone thought the letter J would be too easily erased, so they switched the last letters to Z so we have: JAZZ.

Review 430: Shift

Shift by Hugh Howey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sure it's been a while since I read the first book in the series. I absolutely loved that book, was astonished by it. Maybe because of the hype and it started out as self-published?

So, finally I read book two, which is a prequel and yes I forgot most the ending of the book, but figured it wouldn't matter being a book that takes place earlier, leads up to the first book. Perhaps. In the end though, this book was okay but not great. Seemed a little repetitive at times, plodding and really long, unnecessarily so. The book also brought up a LOT of questions, so had to really suspend disbelief. If I had started here, I wouldn't continue. But now I'm two-thirds in and I did buy book three, so I'll keep going.

Oh, and I really disliked the ending of this book. But there's more, so maybe I shouldn't think of it as an ending...

Oh, just read there is a movie or series of Wool? Something to look into!

Review 429: Dreambound

Dreambound by Dan Frey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book surprised me! It's a bit of a mystery, a journalist Dad can't let go of his daughter who went missing six months earlier. His wife felt differently, gave her up for dead, and the marriage ended as well. But the focus in the book is these fantasy books that the kid was into and how they were connected with her disappearance. The Dad turns into an investigator and the way the whole story was told was well done.

I listened to the audio book version and it was awesome, as there were a many narrators for all the different voices, really added to the book.

maybe a few more thoughts on this book soon.

Review 428: Entries

Entries by Wendell Berry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It can be hard to rate poetry. I did enjoy reading these poems, they were accessible, but they didn't wow me.

A few poems were political in nature, some personal, and the last section: In Extremis: Poems about My Father was very personal. Yet the personal is relatable. It was a nice way to close the book.

This was the first I've read of Wendell Berry, although I've heard about him often. Will look for more of his works.

Review 427: All Waiting Is Long

All Waiting Is Long by Barbara J. Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



many issues are brought up in the book, but the characters take the center stage. Well written. Perhaps more thoughts on this soon.




but...i read this during a lull in reading and reviewing...feel a little stuck

Review 426: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Great airplane travel read.

Read entirely on a plane ride and it was the perfect book for that.

Review 425: The Locksmith's Daughter

The Locksmith's Daughter by Karen Brooks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Takes place in London in the 16th century, with a young woman as the main character, Mallory Bright. We quickly learn she has returned to her family, shamed, and posing as a widow. Mallory has strong ties with her Papa, the locksmith who taught her things that ordinarily only men would know. Her mother has always shunned her and even more so now she has returned, and so Papa finds a job for her. Soon Mallory is a spymaster.

The books mystery is one of Mallory’s life, but also what is also going on in England with the Queen Elizabeth declaring the Catholic religion outlawed. Mallory’s mother is one of the recusants, bringing more danger. Yet the Queens’ enforcer and right-hand man is Papa’s friend, Sir Francis Walsingham, would he bring the law upon them?

Meanwhile they have a long-term border, Caleb who is a playwright and homosexual. His plays have become popular although they may tend to comment on the current political situation that could be dangerous. He has a new benefactor, Lord Nathaniel, appearing at first as a bit of a rogue. Yet soon Mallory starts to see another side to the man.

With Mallory’s past of love and hate, she attempts to control her emotions and called this mediocrita, a balance of opposites. This attempt to find that calm is carried throughout the story in many different situations.

Mallory is a strong character, intelligent and doing work that in those days only men would do. She is unique in that world, although has some clouded judgment at times as well as succumbing to some womanly pining that embrace, the kiss…

Yes, there is a bit of romance in this historical book, but the plot leaves that mostly to the background.

There are a few gruesome scenes that I could have done without reading, but it adds to the layers and depth of this book.

It is not perfect by any means. There are awkward backstory moments when someone comes up in the story and we get a tangent, apparently Mallory remembering that occasion. Yet this minor flaw can be forgiven for a riveting tale and story. I particularly appreciated the long author’s note at the end which detailed many of the historical facts, and where the fiction began.

The intricacies of the story made this an interesting read. I held back reading this book thinking the romance part of the story would be the main focus, but happily it wasn’t. I enjoyed this book enough that I have several others of her now on my ever-growing to-read list.

Review 424: Family of Origin

Family of Origin by C.J. Hauser
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

There are some good parts in this book, but it gets muddied (extremely) by some oddities and weirdness. There is a lot of angst, anger, and plain misunderstandings, which drove me nuts reading it.

Oh, and the lack of quotations marks does not help. Just adds confusion.

A very general over: brother and sister travel to this island upon their father's death to gather his things. Not brother and sister, but half (same father).

No, not half, as sister is by different father.

sorry, that may be spoilers, but no need to read the book actually. It's a pass.

Review 423: Sleep Donation

Sleep Donation by Karen Russell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Trish Edgewater works at the Slumber Corps, a non-profit agency that helps those infected. Her sister Dori died from insomnia, stayed awake too long. It has become an epidemic. Dori was one of the first dozen or so documented deaths. Using her sister’s story Trish is one of the top recruiters, always able to get new donors that give their dreams. Then comes the unexpected Baby A whose dreams are so pure they help reverse the illness with the highest percentage of the afflicted. Are they using her dreams too much? Her father thinks so.

Then comes the nightmare from Donor Y that causes some to electively not sleep. Is the nightmare so bad you would die to stay awake to avoid it? Apparently, that is what’s happening.

Within this crisis moment, Trish something out that would taint the purity of their non-profit organization. Trish isn’t sure if she should tell someone. If she does, another crisis will develop, less donors and even fewer sick people will be helped, meaning more people will die. It is a dilemma.

There’s a slight aspect of horror in this book, but it’s always at the edge, beyond what’s on the page. The book I read contained pen and ink drawings in black and white which accented the story line.

This was a quick read, being a novella helped, but the story was quick as well. What a horrible world it would be if people couldn’t sleep, then died from it. Yes, it is a bit of a horror story.

Review 422: Small Days and Nights

Small Days and Nights by Tishani Doshi
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this book, but the main character, Grace, I could not connect with. Grace claimed it was hard to grasp her history and that's how the whole book felt, particularly about the main character. Grace is in her 30s, her marriage is failing in America, when her mother dies in India. Grace herself is half-Italian, half-Indian. Upon her mother's death Grace finds out she has a sister that has Down's Syndrome and has been raised in a care home.

Grace inherits not only a fairly large sum of money to live without working, but also a house along the beach near a small village. Here Grace brings her sister to live and care for her. But the monotony of the daily activities and the remoteness is too much so about once a month she goes into the city to visit friends for the weekend.

The book attempts to be about her parents, and her marriage but it seems to fall flat so often.

Review 421: Feed

Feed by M.T. Anderson
My rating: 3.25 of 5 stars


A dystopian world of a possible future, where the internet is embedded into people's brains, the younger the better. The feed provides direct communication chats, news, and even better shopping ideas, sales and more! The feed even runs while they sleep. Of course it's all run by corporations, which have taken over the schools(trademarked!) as well. Sounds horrid!

The main characters are teenagers, and their slang is oriented to computers, and at first is very jarring, hard to follow. But after a while, either it makes sense or it settled down, but I could get what they were saying. Oh, but their English skills have degenerated so much!

Titus and his friends go to the moon for Easter break, and he meets a girl Violet who becomes his girlfriend. That night almost everyone in their group gets hacked and their feed is offline for a few days while the doctors and technicians make sure everything is okay.

I was hoping this would lead to them liking it being off, but the book didn’t go that way. Instead it went a different direction, which was perhaps more realistic.

Violet’s father is a professor and studies languages not used anymore, home-school’s Violet. She sees things in a vastly different way than Titus, and opens his eyes to something else that may be going on in the world than their antics and shopping. He doesn’t seem to want to learn about that stuff, like many teenagers.

In the background we see the world, nature is nothing but artificial. There’s even housing pods with their own sun, let alone how tall these housing units go, one would expect that’s to accommodate the exploding population.

This is a dark book, sad, and grim look at a future. Yet there is humor in what these teenagers do and how they talk.

Review 420: It All Comes Down to This

It All Comes Down to This by Therese Anne Fowler
My rating: 2.75 of 5 stars

A summer light read, a beach read as they say. Three sisters are coping with their mother's recent death. One of the shockers was in the will that said they must sell the Maine vacation home, oh and another secret she withheld all these years.

But mother soon took a back seat to all the other drama going on in these three women's lives. They were never very close being born four-five years apart, but they do seem to be connecting in this book, through their shared experience. The eldest Beck is very hurt by her mother's ask to sell the house she wanted to use as a writer's retreat. To get away from her editor husband, who may just be gay. The middle girl Claire is a recent divorced woman, a pediatric cardiac doctor with way too much on her plate, plus the pinning for her sister's husband.

Then there's Sophie, the youngest who is faking it until she makes it but is drowning in debt to live the best instagram life for all those followers. Being in her late thirties she's starting to wonder if it's time to settle down, actually find the right man to stay with.

Oh, there's much more, but the best character really was C.J. who just got out of jail for three years of attempted patricide. He seemed to have taken those years to improve himself, be a better person and it shows when he encounters a young boy and his grandma living in the house his buddy said he could stay in for a while.

There were small holes here an there, which I overlooked but the ending I found too preachy. Sure the message was a good one, aren't they all, but it just rubbed me the wrong way.

Review 419: The God of the Hive

The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nicely concluded from book 9 in the series, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes.

I may add more thoughts soon.

Previously Read Laurie R. King books:

Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Series:

Book 9: The Language of Bees (3.5 stars) - July.2023

Book 8: Locked Rooms (3 stars) - November.2009

Book 7: The Game (4 stars) - March.2017

Book 6:  Justice Hall (4 stars) - August.2012

Book 5: O Jerusalem (3 stars) - January.2012

Book 4: The Moor (5 stars) - August.2011

Book 3: A Letter of Mary (4 stars) - January.2012

Book 2: A Monstrous Regiment of Women (4 stars) - August.2011

Book 1: The Beekeeper's Apprentice (5 stars) - June.2009

Review 418: Scottish Journey

Scottish Journey by Edwin Muir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While this is a travel journey around Scotland, it is much more. The book was written in 1935, about six months after the two-week journey described in the book. Being nearly 90 years ago now, one may look at this book as a historical look at Scotland rather than a travel book. And it is still more than that.

The frame of the book is Edwin Muir driving around the country for two weeks in an older car, and since these are early automobile days, of course it gave him trouble along the way. Instead of our typical travel descriptions, while sometimes is there, particularly when he reached the Highlands, he writes about the character of the people.

Such as in Edinburgh the people want to look at each other so take to walking about, although depending on class only walk in certain areas, “they turn back when they reach this invisible barrier”. The prostitutes are the only ones crossing these “barriers” with any ease and regularity.

In Glasgow Muir describes the slums and how industrialism has ruined the town and the countryside since many people moved for the jobs which now are nonexistent. There was a depression going on, shipbuilding he says is past its peak, unless another war breaks out (which it does, but he doesn’t know that).

Muir has lengthy passages of a political nature on several occasions. There’s quite a bit about Scottish people starving and suffering on unemployment. Every now and then he addresses the question of Independence and has some concluding thoughts in the last part of the book, which basically comes down to the question of economics.

Overall Muir provides a bleak look at Scotland, and perhaps it was at that time. I expect most of the world looked bleak as well. Although, certainly London, or England overall, was doing much better in comparison.

I found it curious that in the chapter titled Conclusion he states that one cannot know Scotland, even saying about his travels, “I could not find anything which I could call Scotland”. Muir himself is Scottish, first living in the Orkney Islands, then in Glasgow and elsewhere, although at that time was living in England. Curious.

Review 417: The High House

The High House by Jessie Greengrass
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Set in England in the near future, at the edge of world catastrophe caused by rising oceans and devastating storms. Afterwards, years later three people survived, brother and half-sister and another woman. The siblings are nearly 20 years apart. Yet the bulk of the novel is of the past, how these three came to be where they are and what happened to the parents.

I enjoyed the writing style, with the exception the timeline and how it was laid out. The book moves toward the event with what came before and after laid out, sometimes jumping too frequently and without a marker of where in time it is exactly. I don't mind non-linear books, but when there is this constancy without letting the reader know what is going on, makes for some confusion. Yet it really didn't detract overall.

The book leaves many unanswered questions, but what is provided is enough when reached the end of the book. It's not a happy book, and provides little hope. Yet within their family there is growth.

Review 416: How Can I Help You

How Can I Help You by Laura Sims
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well, I went through this book screaming fast. I did enjoy it. Perhaps it’s not for everyone, but one of my primary joys of the book was the setting, in a library.

The book is told from two points of view, we start with Margo who turns out just reinvented herself from being Jane, who decided that working in a sleepy town public library was perfect for her. She gets the job and as long as she has her scalding hot bath every evening things are going well, forgetting about Jane and what she did as a nurse.

One day in comes Patricia, filling the 12-year empty reference desk position. Patricia reminds Margo too much of her ex-nurse friend Donna and that rattles Margo. Things escalate when a patron is found in the bathroom stall near death.

It isn’t such a sleepy library after all.

I listened to the audiobook which was done quite well by two narrators, one for each main character.

Review 415: The Language of Bees

The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

ends with ...to be continued...ugh!

Book nine in this series of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. It’s been a long while since I read book eight, so I felt a little rusty getting back to these characters. There were a few references to what happened before, which I don’t remember, but it didn’t make the reading difficult or confusing.

In this book Holmes finds out he had a son from a woman he had a liaison with many years ago. The son is now a young man, nearly the age of Mary. He had grown up in France and served in the war, was wounded then became addicted to drugs to deal with the injury. At the beginning of the book he, Damian Adler, had been accused of murder and sitting in a jail in a small town in France. Mary and Holmes go there to meet him and help his case. Soon enough he is released, whether he did it or not was not relevant as the eyewitness was beyond reliable. We find out Damain has gotten clean, then back on drugs several times. There is a French woman who has helped him, and with his art, as Damian is a surrealist artist that paints well.

Years pass without much word from Damian, until he unexpectedly shows up at their house in Sussex wanting help to find his missing wife and child. He’s been sober for many years now, focused on his art. The search takes up most of the book, and while some of it is resolved, the book does end with “to be continued” which irked me quite a bit. As far as I remember this is the only instance in the series where there isn’t complete resolution to the case at hand.

I do like L. King’s writing style and would have rated this four stars if there wasn’t that darn cliffhanger. Well, I have the next book queued up and shall get to it soon.

Previously Read Laurie R. King books:

Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Series:

Book 8: Locked Rooms (3 stars) - November.2009

Book 7: The Game (4 stars) - March.2017

Book 6:  Justice Hall (4 stars) - August.2012

Book 5: O Jerusalem (3 stars) - January.2012

Book 4: The Moor (5 stars) - August.2011

Book 3: A Letter of Mary (4 stars) - January.2012

Book 2: A Monstrous Regiment of Women (4 stars) - August.2011

Book 1: The Beekeeper's Apprentice (5 stars) - June.2009

Review 414: Uncommon Carriers

Uncommon Carriers by John McPhee
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is too short for it to have taken me over a month to read it. Why so long? Well, despite enjoying McPhee's writing overall, I found the book slightly boring. I was interested in most of the topics and late in the book I realized the problem here was he’s provided way too much information, too many details. So, maybe I wasn't quite that interested, maybe.

The first chapter, A Fleet of One, I enjoyed the most. It’s about a trucker, an owner-operator who specializes in hazardous liquid materials. He's been on the road for decades. The last chapter returned to the same trucker, although I wouldn't say it added much of anything new; and happily, was quite short compared to the other chapters. McPhee rode with him again, three years later and perhaps just had to add that into the book.

The next chapter, or essay, as it were, is called The Ships of Port Revel and is a training course for ship captains and ship pilots. They come from all over the world to train there for a week. It was somewhat interesting, and the shortest of all the essays.

The third essay, Tight-Assed River, started out okay, but went on way too long. It’s double the length of the essay before it and had many details that literally put me to sleep. Here the book really lagged for me, too much information. Oh, it’s about a barge carrying freight along the Illinois River.

The middle essay called, Five Days on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, was somewhat different than the others. Thus far, the collection is about work, mainly shipping in different formats (carriers). This one instead has the author and his son-in-law retracing the journey that Henry David Thoreau and his brother took many years before, which was recounted in HDT’s first book with a very similar name. While I mainly enjoyed this essay, the comparison from then and now (being 2003), it doesn’t fit with the theme the other essays.

The next essay didn’t fit well either, called Out in the Sort. It’s about a company that ships fresh lobster all around the world, the largest lobster company. Then it morphs into what UPS, United Parcel Service, can do for you. One could say a meandering essay, and perhaps covers shipping via airplane.

Then we have Coal Train, which is about what it says, about shipping coal via train. This essay is the longest and by far could have been cut in half. It went on for too many pages, with too many details, that maybe a train buff, train spotter, what-have you would enjoy, or not.

Then the last I’ve already mentioned. This book has not put me off of McPhee’s writing, but it may be a while before I jump into another collection of his essays.

Previously Read John McPhee books:

Assembling California (4 stars) - April.2018

Crofter and the Laird  (5 stars) - May.2019

Irons in the Fire (4 stars) - May.2021

Review 413: A Simple Plan

A Simple Plan by Scott Smith
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

The story is well written. A man gets in deeper and deeper to justify something he shouldn't have done in the first place. Until it is just way too much. How much can a person rationalize their behavior?

While in the middle of the book, I did find myself thinking about these characters, wondering what will happen next, but overall this is a bit of a horrible story! Glad it's fiction!

I disliked the ending. Almost anything else would have been better.

Review 412: Glowrushes

Glowrushes by Roberto Piumini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



A strange fairy-tale/fable type book for kids. Very sad actually as the main character, a kid, is dying from an unknown disease. He is allergic to nearly everything and must stay inside his room in the castle. 

Takes place in Turkey but written by an Italian, also old, a classic. 

Review 411: The Art Thief

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



A fascinating true-crime story about a prolific art thief. Young and obsessed with art, Stéphane Breitwieser couldn't seem to leave a museum without stealing something, with his girlfriend serving as lookout. Perhaps the most amazing part was he didn't do this for money, he just wanted to live with the objects. The book is well done, and the narrator did a great job as well.

Just to add: I learned the most stolen art is by Picasso. 

Review 410: The Librarianist

The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was looking forward to this tale of a retired librarian, but was disappointed by the writing style. I found way too many instances of where current slang was used when the time period was the 1940s-1950s. Nothing pulls me out of a story quicker than these types of incongruencies. Unfortunately, the writing issues were multiple, with overgeneralizations of character, thoughts and actions which made the writing clunky, and many instances of telling when showing improves the prose.

The plot was okay, although it was slow it fit the story. It was simple really. The middle section of the main character Bob Comet during his childhood when he ran away briefly seemed to have a better quality of writing and saved the book for me to finish.

The eBook I read was a pre-publication release and it felt like it, actually more like a rough draft of a book that still needing a few pass-throughs. However, I also had access to an audio book, and found the problems were there as well. Although I don't know the all about the publishing industry, I highly doubt an audio would be made of a rough draft form of a book.


Please note I read an uncorrected electronic copy of this book for review purposes. I also listened to the audiobook in advance of publication release. Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for this access.


Last thoughts: the book has one of my favorite covers for a book, so it has that going for it.

Review 409: Chang and Eng

Chang and Eng by Darin Strauss
My rating: 1.5 of 5 stars



This book was truly bad in so many ways. Not sure why I was so compelled to finish.

to explain myself a little: I finished this in June while travelling. I wasn't going to finish this book, but when my trip came up I wanted a book I could leave behind and not care, so I went ahead and finished this. What can I say, the author did a horrible job at writing this historical biographical story. This book was truly bad in so many ways. I got the book in March 2001, when I was in one of those book clubs that send you the book if you don't respond. For many years I thought this was a true story, a biography about the real conjoined twins, but no, this is a fictional one and poorly done at that. 

Edit (Feb.2024)

Whenever I come across this title I just cringe...it truly has been one of the worse reads in a while...although it not alone, unfortunately.

Review 408: Waypoints

Waypoints: My Scottish Journey by Sam Heughan
My rating: 2.5-->3 of 5 stars

This is an autobiography from an actor, which is not a typical read for me, but it looked like here it was about walking the West Highland Way in Scotland. That sounded interesting! Nature, hiking and Scotland which I plan on visiting later this year, all is interesting.

While that is the frame of the book, the bulk turns out to be about his acting life, which I didn't have much interest (despite being a fan of the tv series Outlander. I just don't fan over actors/actresses/sports figures/etc. maybe a few authors...) Anyway, there were many generic statements, particularly about the long hike, that made me disappointed in this book.

I ended up rounding up to the three stars, due to the humor, which added immensely to my enjoyment and had me getting through the book instead of setting aside. Also there was bonus material in the audio (I checked with an eBook). This was mainly Heughan speaking at the end of the each day during his hike into his phone, with that minute or two added to the chapter. We hear the rain, his hard breathing if still hiking the last bit before the finishing up for the day, the wind, etc. These were the most real part of the entire book.

Review 407: The Employees

The Employees by Olga Ravn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This short novella is heavy with ideas. It is a series of responses by employees, workers on the Six Thousand Ship. As we quickly find out, some are human, and others are humanoid. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.

I found it interesting that each response is numbered, but not necessarily in order, yet generally moves forward. It makes me wonder about what is missing from the record.

It’s a fascinating book. Short enough to read in a day.

Review 406: Them

Them by Joyce Carol Oates
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The setting is Detroit covering three decades from 1937-1967. Well, it starts in a unnamed town, moves to the county ending in Detroit with the riots.

The book is centered on a family that is poor, that has tragedy at every turn. Not always from drinking, but there is that too. Loretta’s dad is an alcoholic, but she doesn’t blame him. The Depression is what caused it, he lost his job and lost himself. At age 16 Loretta takes up with a guy, a boyfriend and loses her virginity, that night she awakes suddenly, and found him shot dead by her brother Brock.

In trying to fix this situation she runs into someone she knows from the neighborhood, happens to be a policeman but not on duty. He fixes it and takes her as a bride. They have three children, the first two, Jules and Maureen, who become the main characters of the book.

The writing is mostly exposition, not a lot of dialogue. The inner thoughts of these people are repetitive and somewhat hard to grasp at times. They seem to not think clearly but are smart, they don’t understand love or many feelings. They often are outside of themselves, it is all strange.
None of the characters are likable, their behavior unpredictable. Jules starts out as one destined to always be in trouble with the law. Maureen maybe unstable, being crazy is brought up a lot. Not just with her, it started with Loretta’s mother. People come in and out of their lives.

The language and mores of the book don’t fit with the times of today. It is a bit shocking at moments, but it’s a 50 year old book. It isn’t a pleasant book by any means, yet you want to find out what will happen to these people. I’m not sure I’m satisfied, there’s shifts in the book and the afterward the biggest shocker in my approach to the whole work.

The author’s note at the beginning frames this book as a semi-fictional book, taken from the life of a student she had one semester. The woman felt compelled to tell Oates her life story and this book is the result. Well, this too is a fiction, but I didn’t know that while reading and thinking about the book.

This was the first book by Joyce Carol Oates I’ve read, perhaps not the best place to start. I’m interested in other books of this "Wonderland" quartet, although all older and perhaps her later books are more enjoyable?

Review 405: Factory Girls

Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book takes place in Ireland, the summer of 1994, during the time of the troubles. The Protestants and Catholics do not mix, instead they bomb each other.

Maeve and her two friends get a job for the summer at a shirt factory while awaiting their exam results. Getting good marks means they can leave this small town, go across the water to university.

The shirt factory is unusual as both groups work side by side. Maeve had never been around ‘Prods’ before and finds they are just like them. However, with so many killings between them, it’s hard to know how they can truly be desegregated.

Several times in the book we get Maeve’s memories, of her first riot, bombings she’s been near, or heard about nearby. It is something that is personal in everyone’s lives. Now, there are boyfriends, possibly, the manager of the factory, and saving money while waiting for those results. Yet, the job is the center of the book.

Maeve and Caroline get an apartment together, right across the way from the factory gates. The three’s friendships change during this summer, an end of an era for them.

Maeve is a brave, outspoken girl, she is a strong character born out of the bomb debris. The book feels a bit course at times, which fits the time, location and the character.

A strong book with a bit of humor to it as well.