Review: I Deliver Parcels in Beijing

I Deliver Parcels in Beijing by Hu Anyan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World

The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World by Tilar J. Mazzeo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a non-fiction book that reads like fiction. There were moments when I wondered if the author went too far in attempting to do this readability like a fictional book. Yet I did quite enjoy the book.

It is sewn together by the true accounts of what happened. By genealogy, newspaper reports, diaries, ship logs and other documents. It is very well researched.

In 1857 Mary Ann Patten and her husband Captain Joshua Patten set sail from New York harbor on a trip to deliver goods around the world. The first destination port was San Francisco, and in a race with several other clipper ships in hopes of making it within 100 days. This was the second journey that Mary Ann joined her husband, impressing the crew on the first journey in her skills, healing injured or sick men as well as charting and using a sextant.

By the time they reached the most dangerous part of the journey to San Francisco, rounding the Cape Horn, the first mate was held in the brig. Captain Patten fell unconscious from lack of sleep and an illness that finally overtook him. And this was during a violent storm, one of the worst tempests in years. Despite being a woman, Mary Ann took over as captain to get them through this danger ensure they stayed on course.

This was an unheard of action. Mary Ann was just 19, pregnant and petite, which endeared her further in newspapers.

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Review: The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World

The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World by Tilar J. Mazzeo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was a non-fiction book that reads like fiction. There were moments when I wondered if the author went too far in attempting to do this readability like a fictional book. Yet I did quite enjoy the book.
It is sewn together by the true accounts of what happened. By genealogy, newspaper reports, diaries, ship logs and other documents. It is very well researched.
In 1857 Mary Ann Patten and her husband Captain Joshua Patten set sail from New York harbor on a trip to deliver goods around the world. The first destination port was San Francisco, and in a race with several other clipper ships in hopes of making it within 100 days. This was the second journey that Mary Ann joined her husband, impressing the crew on the first journey in her skills, healing injured or sick men as well as charting and using a sextant.
By the time they reached the most dangerous part of the journey to San Francisco, rounding the Cape Horn, the first mate was held in the brig. Captain Patten fell unconscious from lack of sleep and an illness that finally overtook him. And this was during a violent storm, one of the worst tempests in years. Despite being a woman, Mary Ann took over as captain to get them through this danger ensure they stayed on course.
This was an unheard of action. Mary Ann was just 19, pregnant and petite, which endeared her further in newspapers.



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Review: The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World

The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World by Tilar J. Mazzeo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

will be posting some notes soon, am so behind...

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Review: The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives

The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives by Theresa Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you ever wanted to know what it was like in a day of a nurse, this may be a good book to read. This nurse, Theresa Brown works in oncology hematology, which is blood cancers. They may also get patients with rare blood disorders as one of her patients in this book.

Theresa was professor at Tufts University with a doctorate in English and made the odd shift to becoming a nurse after having twins. She first thought about being a maternity nurse but challenging care is in the cancer wards.

This book covers just one day, one shift, beginning at home and ending back at home at the end of the day. There are all the minute details of what goes on throughout the day. For some people this level of minutia may be a little too much, but it was fine for me.

The book title says four patients, but in the end there really are five. One goes home and a new patient is admitted, actually she gets two new patients that day, and both were already known to her.

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Review: The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives

The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives by Theresa Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you ever wanted to know what it was like in a day of a nurse, this may be a good book to read. This nurse, Theresa Brown works in oncology hematology, which is blood cancers. They may also get patients with rare blood disorders as one of her patients in this book.

Theresa was professor at Tufts University with a doctorate in English and made the odd shift to becoming a nurse after having twins. She first thought about being a maternity nurse but challenging care is in the cancer wards.

This book covers just one day, one shift, beginning at home and ending back at home at the end of the day. There are all the minute details of what goes on throughout the day. For some people this level of minutia may be a little too much, but it was fine for me.

The book title says four patients, but in the end there really are five. One goes home and a new patient is admitted, actually she gets two new patients that day, and both were already known to her.



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Review: The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives

The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives by Theresa Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: Our Own Country

Our Own Country by Jodi Daynard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the second book of a trilogy, the first one being The Midwife's Revolt. I didn’t like this book as much as the first. It wasn’t as concerned with the American Revolution as the first book, for one. Also, for a large part of the book that repeated the actions as the first book really slowed this one down.

The point of view shifted here, as it is now of, Eliza Boylston. She is the sister-in-law of Lizzie, the main character in the first book. Eliza's story is more concerned with her personal relationship with a slave, John Watkins, and other domestic matters. She grows as a person, which is nice to see. And clearly has different views of enslaved people than her parents, or many at that time. Perhaps there are too much of modern feelings placed into Eliza than what you would find from a woman of her era.


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Review: Our Own Country

Our Own Country by Jodi Daynard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: Pick a Color

Pick a Color by Souvankham Thammavongsa
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was interested in reading this book as my sister-in-law is Vietnamese and her parents had owned a nail salon. So the book has a personal experience that ties into my sister-in-law, her family, and my visits to a salon with her.

This book was about a nail salon told from the point of view of the owner. The book really grabbed me in the beginning. But as the story went on, there were important aspects to her personally that were never revealed. I find it annoyed me, I wanted the backstory but was given only pieces. I don’t like all the ambiguity.

This lack of fully explaining the situation reminds me of a couple other short books I read this year. I’m one who likes more definitiveness. There were other aspects in the book that it wasn’t a total miss for me.

I will say, that hopefully people reading this book don’t feel like it confirms their suspicions about that the nail salon women are talking about you in their language. At least in my experience, that is not what is going on. It did add some humor to this fictional book, however.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book which was very well narrated. My enjoyment of this book was increased because I listened to the audio.


Thanks to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book. However, I listened to a published audiobook copy of the book.

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Review: 89 Words followed by Prague, A Disappearing Poem

89 Words followed by Prague, A Disappearing Poem by Milan Kundera
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an audiobook that should be listened to twice through. It is somewhat dense for audio listening, and may do better reading the words. However, that was the copy that I had and did not have the opportunity to listen through twice. The work is short enough that it can be read entirely in one day.

The introduction gives a very brief biography of Milan Kundera. The second section is the essay 89 Words. These are the words Kundera found important or significant, and often appear in his novels.
The last section is the essay/poem called: Prague, A Disappearing Poem. It does start out like poetry but ends up more similar to an essay. It discusses Prague and some of its history.

It was said this is a good introduction to Kundera’s works. I have read three of his books, although it was quite some time ago, they are not fresh in my memory. However, I believe one would do better having familiarity with Kundera’s novels. Often he refers to characters and situations located in his books and it would help to be acquainted with those.

Kundera speaks often about the words in his translations. Sometimes the translator gives a different word or phrase than what Kundera was trying to get across in his writings. Also, how some translations were done from another translation, and meaning there got distorted at times. Certainly this can be a problem with all translations.

Book rating: 3.5

Thanks to HarperAudio Adult, William Morrow and NetGalley for an advanced audio copy of this book.


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Review: 89 Words followed by Prague, A Disappearing Poem

89 Words followed by Prague, A Disappearing Poem by Milan Kundera
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

will be posting some notes soon, am so behind...

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Review: Pick a Color

Pick a Color by Souvankham Thammavongsa
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was interested in reading this book as my sister-in-law is Vietnamese and her parents had owned a nail salon. So the book has a personal experience that ties into my sister-in-law, her family, and my visits to a salon with her.

This book was about a nail salon told from the point of view of the owner. The book really grabbed me in the beginning. But as the story went on, there were important aspects to her personally that were never revealed. I find it annoyed me, I wanted the backstory but was given only pieces. I don’t like all the ambiguity.

This lack of fully explaining the situation reminds me of a couple other short books I read this year. I’m one who likes more definitiveness. There were other aspects in the book that it wasn’t a total miss for me.

I will say, that hopefully people reading this book don’t feel like it confirms their suspicions about that the nail salon women are talking about you in their language. At least in my experience, that is not what is going on. It did add some humor to this fictional book, however.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book which was very well narrated. My enjoyment of this book was increased because I listened to the audio.


Thanks to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book. However, I listened to a published audiobook copy of the book.



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Review: Pick a Color

Pick a Color by Souvankham Thammavongsa
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

will be posting some notes soon, am so behind...

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Review: The Midwife's Revolt

The Midwife's Revolt by Jodi Daynard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

will be posting some notes soon, am so behind...

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Review: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Instead of adding some notes about books I’ve read recently I went and read another one. This is a short book, a novella.

I won’t say much about this as so many others have done a great job, better than I could do…but one thing. I generally knew of the story going in, so the mystery of who was Mr. Hyde was already known. Yet I had the thought that this could be viewed as someone who becomes a meth addict, or drug addict of the chemical manufactured type.

Dr. Jekyll mixes up these chemicals, a white powder and some special salts, and he is transformed. In the story he is described as physically changed. There are some drugs where addicts become quite physically changed in appearance as well, thin, smaller, faces disfigured, and their personality changes as well, generally not for the better. Yet they do not usually go back to their old self, or perhaps only once they stop using, more or less. Perhaps not a perfect comparison but a thought of some similarities of today.

Happy to have finally read this classic. It's easily read in a day.

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Review: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Instead of writing some notes about the books I’ve read recently I went and read another one. Okay, this one is short, a novella, and better read around Halloween perhaps.

I won’t say much about this as so many others have done a great job, better than I could do…but one thing. I generally knew of the story going in, so the mystery of who was Mr. Hyde was already known. Yet I had the thought that this could be viewed as someone who becomes a meth addict, or drug addict of the chemical manufactured type.

Dr. Jekyll mixes up these chemicals, a white powder and some special salts, and he is transformed. In the story he is described as physically changed. There are some drugs where addicts become quite physically changed in appearance as well, thin, smaller, faces disfigured, and their personality changes as well, generally not for the better. Yet they do not usually go back to their old self, or perhaps only once they stop using, more or less. Perhaps not a perfect comparison but a thought of some similarities of today.

Happy to have finally read this classic. It's easily read in a day.


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Review: The Midwife's Revolt

The Midwife's Revolt by Jodi Daynard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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