Review 518: Ambrose Bierce and the Ace of Shoots

Ambrose Bierce and the Ace of Shoots by Oakley Hall
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars



Having read quite a bit of Ambrose Bierce’s The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary this title seemed interesting to me. Some years ago, I picked it up at deeply discounted used book sale at my local bookstore, that it was practically free. As my usual method, didn’t know what to expect with this book.

First off, it’s a series of titles and this one is not the first, it’s the fifth. So the main characters are perhaps more developed in earlier books of the series. I expected Ambrose Bierce to be the main character, but he wasn’t. Not sure if it’s that way in the series, or just this book. Instead the narrator is Tom Redmond, a journalist for the newspaper Examiner in San Francisco. Bierce also writes for the newspaper a column called "Prattle". They are friends, Bierce does come up in the story, but he’s more of a side-kick in this book. Of course, this is a fictional Bierce modeled from the real person.

Both are sometimes detectives and for this book they are summoned to a case of a murder. During a parade for the Colonel Studely Wild West Show the colonel himself is shot dead. High on the list of suspects is Oswald “Oz” Bird, train robber and recently out of jail for the shootings in Hungry Valley. His ex-wife Dora Pratt is the Ace of Shoots in the Wild West Show and Studley had taken her under his wing. Bird doesn’t consider the divorce to be valid and so has a vendetta against Studley.

The writing was good. The book has a historical feel as this takes place in 1892. Really liked how each chapter began with an entry out of the Devil’s Dictionary.

While the book was enjoyable enough, it wasn’t something I was floored by and want to search other the other books in the series.

Review 517: Shred Sisters

Shred Sisters by Betsy Lerner
My rating: 3.75 of 5 stars

This is a family novel about trying to live with a family member with mental health issues. It’s also about the younger sister trying to cope with having an older sister Olivia, or Ollie, take the parents attention. Amy Shred is four years younger, and gets bullied at school. She doesn’t have friends, but instead she is the perfect student. Amy does better after she convinced her parents to send her to a private school for high school. By now, Ollie is spending her first stint in a mental hospital, avoiding jail for stealing a fur coat and silver spoon worth $60,000.

The story is told through Amy, first in their youth, then young adult days going into her thirties. Days before she leaves for college her parent announce their divorce. By this time Ollie was running around somewhere in the country. The all make a pact to call one or another if she turns up. The dad has money and makes more excuses for Ollie’s behavior, so that is who she turns to the most. He doesn't tell the others, usually.

The book plainly shows how difficult it is for the family members to cope with someone with a mental illness, particularly if there isn’t a medication that helps. Or maybe there is a medication, but they don’t like taking it. And each person is affected in a different way.

Review 516: Old Filth

Old Filth by Jane Gardam
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I made a mistake with this book. Typically I do look into the summary before purchasing a book but try to avoid too much of that when about to read a book I own, as I don’t want any spoilers. Often this means the book ends up being something completely different than what I expected. That’s what happened with this book.

I listened to the audiobook and started it, briefly some time ago and based on not knowing with the book was about and the opening, I though this was a MI5 – spy type book. And it put me off the book for a while. Like I said, I was very wrong about that.

What we have instead is a man well into retirement from the law. Sir Edward Feathers and his wife lived in Hong Kong where he became a judge and had an astounding career, made really good money, and impressed many people. They retired back in England in the Donheads, in Dorset. He is fairly secluded to where being his age, most people believe he already died. Unfortunately, his wife had recently suddenly died.

The book is told in current time and with most of it in reminiscences of his past, of his whole life. And this is how we come to understand this character.

It’s a well written book, much better than what I expected. However it is the first book of a trilogy. His wife is the main point of view for the second book, and since her life and very little is really in this one, I’m curious. I may read that. Maybe. I have so many other books already waiting.

Review 515: Rejection

Rejection: Fiction by Tony Tulathimutte
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Not a book for me. Can I say I reject this?

Really don't like the style of post-modern/meta books, which this book falls into that category. If I'd known wouldn't have tried.

Review 514: Field Notes from a Hidden City

Field Notes from a Hidden City: An Urban Nature Diary by Esther Woolfson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Quite enjoyed this book about urban nature. The book is more or less in a diary form, with dated entries and contains longer essays as well. Starting off with Snow, to Midwinter, and ending with Into Autumn. The weather is mentioned quite frequently, a main topic. The author lives in Aberdeen, Scotland and weather there can be quite severe and stark.

One striking passage was the description of taking a walk during some strong gale force winds. Not sure why she was out while winds were that strong, maybe it happened suddenly while already out walking.

However, the main discussions in the book are about the small animals around her garden and what is seen when out in the city. These are mostly birds, but a few other small creatures are discussed, such as the squirrels, red and grey. Long essays were devoted to these along slugs and spiders. The compassion for these living beings and their purpose provide a different way of looking at what is typically something grossed out by or frightened about.

Woolfson has had pets in her home, or maybe calling them pets is not quite the right term, but she houses animals that most would not, such as crows and rats, although pet rats are perhaps more common than a crow. Her children had some pets, and as they left the house the pets typically stayed behind.

Her garden is set up to help and encourage the local wildlife, mostly birds, but also encourages other small animals. She feeds the wild birds and helps with providing nesting materials, also houses some a few doves. I did appreciate how the animals she mentioned were always provided with their scientific names. It helped as then one can look it up easily and find what they look like if one wanted a picture. The book contained a few line drawings between sections, which were a nice addition.

Review 513: The Space Race

The Space Race: The Story of Human's Greatest Adventure by Colin Brake, Patrick Chapman and Richard Kurti
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

 This was a full-production audiobook, blending history and fiction to tell the story of humans and their progress going to space. It is firmly focused on the United States with Russia as the adversary, while in the end being a joint contributor to the International Space Station.

I enjoyed the historical aspect, not so much the fictional portion. It felt displaced and bit hokey to include that. I understand what the authors were trying to do, show where we may go in the far future, but still felt oddly placed with the rest of the book.

Kate Mulgrew was the main narrator and her role was much like a documentary tv show. There were numerous interviews with a multitude of people and voice actors for roles of people who could not be interviewed, such as past presidents or astronauts or scientists who have since died.

Each chapter focused on a specific part of the space history, generally starting with the race to get to the moon. The final chapters dealt with the International Space Station and plans for the future, such as going to Mars. However, this book is already a bit dated as private space ventures were not mentioned other than foreseeing what could happen in the future. Also, nothing was mentioned about Artemis, the plan of the United States returning to the moon, nor any of the other countries who have since gone to the moon. So the book isn’t fully encompassing of human-space ventures.

This was not a quick read for me, as I listened to it off and only mostly when going on road trips. It ended up taking about a year doing it this way. I finally decided to just finish the last bit, not on a road trip. It’s the type of book that it doesn’t matter too much of there are long delays between chapters. 

Review 512: The Death and Life of Dominick Davidner

The Death and Life of Dominick Davidner by Shawn Inmon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Third book in the series Middle Falls time travel, where the main character starts their life over after a premature death and wakes up sometime as a child. The main character here, Dominick Davidner, wakes up as a nine-year old. Unfortunately, this character was not as interesting as the previous two books main characters.

There’s an occurrence of repetition of scenes from the previous book, which made the book somewhat boring. After that section the book improved slightly. The main character is obsessed with the woman who was his wife in his first life, and thinks he cannot start living begins until they are married.

The lack of character development and growth in this book made it the weakest of the first three books. Which in turn, has me reconsider going any further in the series. There was a tease, near the end of the book about the overall world and this other dimension, that was slightly intriguing. So maybe. Going to wait awhile see if my curiosity develops further.