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.