My Two Blessings

  2025 Books Completed  January  Arthur Ransome - Swallows and Amazons  (351) **** Ursula Le Guin - The Dispossessed (387) **** Steve Berry  - The Emperor's Tomb  (436)  **** S.A. Chakraborty - The Kingdom of Copper  (625) **** Heather Webber - At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities -  (320) **** Alan Dean Foster - Icerigger  (320) **** Haruki Murakami - The City and Its Uncertain Walls (445) ** Rebecca Yarros - Onyx Storm (527) ***** February  Michiko Aoyama - What You Are Looking For is in the Library ( 300) ****  Travis Baldree - Bookshops and Bonedust (336)  ****  J.D. Robb - Bonded in Death (359)  *****  Emma Grey - The Last Love Note (355) *****  John Scalzi - Starter Villain (264)  ****  David Nichols - You are Here (355) ****  Kristin Hannah - Comfort and Joy (272)  ****  Lucy Gilmore - The Lonely Hearts Book Club (353) ***** March Paula Munier - Home at Night (338) *** Julia...

  Happy holidays out there, folks.  Remember Deadpool? Merc with A Mouth? Ryan Reynolds' top movie role? Sorta the Austin Powers of Marvel but R-rated? Who can forget him and his amazing first movie in 2016? Today, we're here to discuss his 2018 sequel, Deadpool 2. And, after that, no more Deadpool because I don't like Deadpool anymore. HA! KIDDING! There is no way I don't love Deadpool, you can't fall outta love with Marvel's most iconic folks. Anyways, so what is the story all about? A while has passed since Wade "Deadpool" Wilson saved his fiancée Vanessa and killed Ajax aka Francis and the merc is killing bad guys. One night, he comes home to the girl of his dreams and plan to start a family, only for a criminal to come in and kill Vanessa despite Wade's efforts. Vanessa's death badly impacts Mr. Pool and he attempts to join her in the afterlife, but he can't die. After trying to blow himself up, Deadpool winds up at the X-Mansion when ...

  He is vengeance. He is the night. He is Batman. For decades across many comics, the caped crusader has fought injustice in Gotham and mesmerized many readers. However, his comic roots are not the only area where to find Batman. In the 1960s, a campy version of the Dark Knight, played by Adam West, graced the small screen alongside Burt Ward's Robin at a time when comic book adventures of superheroes in DC were more goofy after a big scare in the 1950s. In the 1980s, Batman returned to his darker roots and in 1989, the world saw Michael Keaton's Batman. After the success of Tim Burton's movie, a sequel dropped in the early 90s. And it was in the 90s when a new Batman arose, starting a new era for DC on TV. But even though the DC Animated Universe wasn't fully established until crossover events came up and the Justice League aired, this was the beginning of Batman the Animated Series, starring the late Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Starting in early September of 1...

  For many decades, the team at Marvel Comics have created many iconic characters that have been viewed highly by fans in the pop culture community, from Spider-Man to Captain America to Iron Man. However, one character in the cast of the mutant team -The X-Men- has proven to be the most popular of all Marvel heroes; Wolverine aka Logan aka James Howlette aka Weapon X. In the early 2000s, 20th Century Fox, with the rights to the X-Men characters, produced and released the first X-Men film, which starred Australian actor Hugh Jackman as Wolverine alongside Patrick Stewart as Professor X and James Marsden as Cyclops. Once again, out of all the heroes of the X-Men and other Marvel legends, Wolverine was popular and, in 2009, Fox released X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which focused on Logan. The film failed. A few years later in 2013, Fox released another Wolverine-focused movie directed by James Mangold and was somewhat more successful than its predecessor. However, there was one issue wh...

Robin Hobb’s Assassins Apprentice #1 in the Farseer Trilogy (438) was excellent. Hobb’s writing is really good and flows. Her world building, empathy, and emotions are so well done, you’d think you were watching a movie. Looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy and explore more books in that world.  5 Stars Andrew and Lee Child's In Too Deep, #29  in the  Jack Reacher series (224) was unfortunately a miss with me.  I’m sad to say Andrews’s writing isn’t up to par with his father, so I won’t be continuing the series from here. I’ll have to go back and read earlier novels in the series because I missed a bunch.  This always happens, same as with Tom Clancy and other writers who let others take over their series. They are subpar and I can tell the difference in the writing styles.  2 Stars Fredrik Backman’s Britt Marie was Here (324) was a very moving story.  She’d  lived her life for some one else and lost herself in the process.  S...

  I did a lot of reading during October and recovering from gall bladder surgery.  Quite a mixture of scary, thrilling, mysterious, with some lighthearted moments thrown in. My October Spooktacular Wrap Up: The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks was a fascinating close room take of what happens when the unthinkable does.  5 stars Dying to Meet You by Sarina Bowen was full of mystery and secrets and bad guys and what happens when your ex husband appears after 15 years.  4 Stars New Dragon City by Mari Mancusi which was a great middle grade story about survival, lore, hate, acceptance, and resilience. Lots of dragons involved. 4 Stars The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown which was a scary good book about a woman who stumbles upon a door created by the Book of Doors which opens a world of travel, lying, killers, time loops, and all kinds of trouble.  5 stars The Forest of Lost Souls by Dean Koontz – a megalomaniac, a criminal depute, sha...

  For September, I ready 6 books for a total of 2233 pages in which 2 were new to me authors  1) Every Summer After by Carly Fortune:  304 pages   3 stars  "“I fell in love with you when I was thirteen, and I never stopped. You’re it for me.” Sam closes his eyes for three long seconds, and when he opens them, they are glittering pools under a starry sky.” 2) The Book that Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence:  559 pages   3 Stars “All of us steal our lives. A little here, a little there. Some of it given, most of it taken. We wear ourselves like a coat of many patches, fraying at the edges, in constant repair. While we shore up one belief, we let go another. We are the stories we tell to ourselves. Nothing more.” 3) Neuromancer by William Gibson  304 pages   4 Stars “His teeth sang in their individual sockets like tuning forks, each one pitch-perfect and clear as ethanol.” 4)  Bel Canto by Ann Patchett  318 pages  ...