May Reading Wrap Up

 

May Reading Wrap Up

In May I made progress on reading from my physical shelves although I did give up some reading time to binge Grey's Anatomy.  I watched the first episode and fell in like and have been watching it ever since. I only have to cover my eyes when the surgeons are slicing into people. LOL!

I read seven books of which five were physical and two were ebooks. Progress! The longest book was The Belle of Belgrave square at 421 pages and the shortest was Rendezvou with Rama at 304. No chunky books this month. 

My bedtime reads included John Scalzi's Old Man's War, the first book in a science fiction series in which the elderly are recruited, taken off planet and their consciousness is transferred in young bodies to be solders. Interesting premise.  (318) ****

Second was a reread of Arthur C Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama in which space explorers and scientist board an alien space craft traveling through our solar system, 304)  ****

Third was Derek Paul's A Machine Divine: A Young Adult Steam Punk fantasy in which college studies get involved in politics, a secret society, science experiments, and a mad man running around gassing people, 377) ****

Next was Blake Crouch's Dark Matter, a science fiction, time travel, multiverse type of story in which a man gets kidnapped and the kidnapper assumes his life. 352) ****

Our 52 Books Author of the month was Peng Shepherd and read The Cartographers. A mystery thriller, full of magical realism which had a good premise but meh delivery, 392) ***

The two ebooks I read were 

Nalini Singh's Archangel's Lineage, in the sixteenth Guild Hunter urban fantasy/romance in which Raphael and Elana and the rest of the angels have to fight to save the world on brink of destruction due to ancestors, plus Elena deals with her father's heart attack, 398, e) *****

And Mimi Matthews' historical romance, The Belle of Belgrave Square about a bookworm and ex military hero with secrets of his own, 421, E) ****

April Reading Wrap Up

 

April Reading Wrap Up

Read nine books this month of which three were physical and the rest eBooks which meant slow progress with clearing my shelves.  The longest was David Brin's Earth at 704 pages and the shortest was Trisha Das's Never Meant to stay at 280 pages.  

I discovered reading science fiction / fantasy in physical book format at bedtime for some weird reason gives my brain something to think about and puts me to sleep. 

My bedtime read was David Brin's science fiction adventure - Earth - which I had read way back when it first came out so didn't remember much at all. Environmental scientific experimentation, an artificial black hole in the center of the earth caused by aliens, and all about survival.  (704) ****

Next I jumped into Christopher Paolini's 5th book in the Inheritance Cycle - Murtagh: Murtagh and his dragon /thorn are outcast, or so it seems, and jump from one fire into another in their adventures searching for a murderous witch. (688) ****

Continuing with the space theme during the daytime, read Elizabeth Bear's 2nd book in her White Space duology - Machine - all about space alien doctors, shipminds, mystery, deceit, trust, life, 495, e) ****

Then Naomi Novik's first book in her Temeraire series - His Majesty's Dragon, all about Captain Laurance who reluctantly bonded with the dragon Temeraire during the Napoleonic war and grew to love and trust him above all else.  May read the rest of the series at some point.  (384, 3) ***** 

Themes of grief pervaded my next few reads with 

Trisha Das's Never Meant to Stay, was set in Delhi, and all about Indian culture with a photographer who discovers  love, grief, family, and finding yourself,  280, e) ****

Then Namrata Patel's Candid Life of Meena Dave, set in Boston's back bay, all about an Indian  photographer who inherited part of Victorian brownstone apartment, amidst secrets, love, and searching for identity. (312, e)****

I just had to reread Julia Quinn's Romancing Mr. Bridgerton (480, e) before the netflix series, and dipped into Nora Roberts / J. D. Robb's Remember When / Big Jack which was # 17.5 in the In death series. (336)

March Reading Wrap Up

 

March passed way too quickly. I read ten books this month with Mark Helprin's In Sunlight and In Shadow the longest at 705 pages and Charles De Lint's The Mystery of Grace the shortest at 269 pages.  I made progress reading my physical shelves with only one being an ebook. 

Our 52 books author of the month was Rebecca Yarros and I dove into what I consider a five star read of the Empryean series.    I really enjoyed the first two book and now have to wait until the beginning of next year for the third book. Which is fine since I get to read it all over again.  Fourth Wing (498 pages) is a fantasy romance with dragons and gut wrenching bad good guys and bad guys. The cadets have to master a parapet to join or fall to their deaths.  Each challenge becomes a matter of life or death, no inbetween.  In Iron Flame, (640 pages) the cadets to go war and have to deal with deception and challenges and the story is full of twists and turns.  

I got an early start on our April 52 books author of the month Bonnie Garmus  in Lessons in Chemistry.  A woman scientist and single mother in the 50's has to battle and deal with male  colleagues who treat her badly and lie and deceive her. The work culture was very misogynistic at that time. In the process she finds love and passion as well as loss.  ****

I finished the fifth book in Ben Aaronvitch's Rivers of London series with Foxglove Summer in which two girls from Heresfordshire go missing and one of them gets replaced with a changelings.  There is also a nasty unicorn involved.  ****

Faith Hunter's 6th book in the Soulwood series, Rift in the Soul came out in which Nell has to deal with more vampires, the vampire tree, gifts from nature, while preparing to marry Occam.  ****

Finally read Curse of Salem (304 pages), the 20th book in Kay Hooper's Bishop/Special paranormal crimes series,  about the five people in the leading families of Salem dying under mysterious circumstances, while lead character tried to figure out if her gift was a talent or a curse.  ****  

Reread Charles De Lint's The Mystery of Grace for one of my M reads in which a dead woman was caught by a witch in limbo and she had to figure out how to get back to the land of the living or move on to Heaven. ****

I looked forward to reading Mark Helprin's In Sunlight and In Shadow since I thoroughly enjoyed The Winter's Tale and Soldier of the Great War, but was disappointed by the story line. A historical romance novel set just after WWII in New York city in which the lead character decides vigilante justice against the mob was the best way go and it ends up all wrong.  **

Helprin's novel set a theme for the next two books which went down the same path. 

Jessica Strawser's The Last Caretaker  started out with good intentions then went down the wrong path in dealing with domestic violence, vigilante justice and solving problems without  the authorities. ** meh

And Leslie Wolfe's The Surgeon when a cardiac patient died under mysterious circumstances and the lead characters were involved in abuse, adultery, blackmail, and decided vigilante justice without the police was the best solution. ** meh

Going into April reading two chunky books David Brin's Earth and Christopher Paolini's Murtagh.

Book Review: In Sunlight and In Shadow by Mark Helprin

 

I just finished reading Mark Helprin's In Sunlight and In Shadow, a chunky book of 700 pages. A love story, a war story, a story of wealth, a story of New York after WWII.  

"Of the widest scope – from the air over Sicily to the heat-and-color-saturated Sacramento Valley; the Bay of Biscay to the sea off Maine; the steel mills of Gary, Indiana to the beaches of Amagansett; London in the blitz; the invasion of Normandy; and a single shell gliding across an American lake in August; from the luminous houses of the wealthy to the pounding of the boards beneath a Broadway chorus line – this is yet, first, and foremost a love story, but also a hymn to New York of the period when one great age elided into the other that we call our own. Rich in language and classical allusion, it is true to the mottoes at its outset: the Dantean “Amor mi mosse, che me fa parlare,” “Love moved me, and made me speak,” and to the lines of Lucretius that describe Catherine’s extraordinary representation of the powers, beauties, and graces of womanhood – “Nothing comes forth into the shores of light, or is glad or lovely without you.”

I am so mad right now. No happily ever after. No riding into the sunset. No walking hand in hand with the love of his life for the rest of his life. Harry chose and he chose wrong. It reminded me of the Suitable Boy in which the girl chose the wrong boy and I wanted to throw the book across the room.

I invested in the story, in the characters, in the setting, in the words so elegant and lengthy. I loved the descriptions, the discussions, the points to ponder. Then got thrown under the bus. I ranted and raved to my husband who reminded of a horrible book he bought me once that was supposedly a love story but told the history of every single character and every single place as it was introduced and even included the history of golf. An inside joke us since hubby is very verbose. Why explain it simply when you can tell the history of golf. And the dang book had it. But I read it because he bought it for me.

But I defended In Sunlight and In Shadow because I loved the writing. I loved A Winter’s Tale. I loved The Soldier of the Great War. I was sure I’d love ISaiS.  

Call it arrogance, ignorance, ego, sacrifice, a miscarriage of justice, pride, or whatever, but when Harry refuses to accept any assistance whatsoever in saving his business and decides to take on the mafia problem himself, he became a selfish fool. He let the mafia drive his business into the ground. He wasn’t a stupid man, yet he was. He made his choice and choose that over Catherine. Yeah for Catherine finally getting what she wanted and realizing she'd been seen, she'd been heard, and she could have a great singing career,  but she would have to do it without Harry. 

** for failing to live up to my expectations. 

January Reading Wrap Up

 

Since my buying ban  is in effect, I read 11 physical books and 9 ebooks for a total of 7690 pages which equals 248 pages a day.  I read during breakfast, lunch, while on the treadmill, and after dinner. We don't watch much television and reading is as necessary as breathing to me.  

The longest book was Aeronaut's Windlass and the shortest was the novella The Pale Dreamer.  My rating system is a mishmash of goodreads and others.  

5 star - Loved the author, and will read anything they publish. Loved the story line, loved the characters.  Couldn't put it down. Made me think. Will read it again. 

4 star - Liked the story.  Liked the characters. Reread 

3 star - Okay story. 

2 star - Meh - disappointed or irritated by characters, storyline, or author's writing. 

1 star - DNF - Not my cup of tea at all, didn't want to continue reading, waste of my time. 

Lyssa Kay Adams - Undercover Bromance  ***  Characters were juvenile for their age. (Men read romance, sexual harassment, justice, 348, e)

Sara Nisha Adams - The Reading List  **** New to me author and look forward to reading more. A story about friendship and grief. A teenage girl working in library for the summer and an elderly gentleman form a friendship over books. Someone, to be revealed later, left a list of books where three different people found them with the note “Just in case you need it” and each book turned out to relate to their life and help them, somehow, someway for the better. Although I’ve already read some of the books, now I want to read them all, keeping in mind the life lessons learned by the characters in the story. A goal for this year, or maybe next. We’ll see how it goes.  (Books, friendship, grief, 373)

Sarah Addison Allen - Other Birds  ***  Coming off of Garden Spells, Other Birds didn't tug on my emotion strings as much as the Waverley's. The characters were poignant, all experiencing abandonment or other issues which affected their lives. As they work through invisible pigeons, ghosts, neglect, grief, and loss, the characters come together to form a family. I'll have to read it again when I can appreciate the story and not compare it to another book.     (Magical realism, South Carolina, Grief, romance, birds, 290)

Marie Brennan - Tropic of Serpents #2 Lady Trent *****  Lady Trent is fascinating and enjoyed the world building and the science and her efforts to discover all she could about dragons. Whether she is navigating the male centric Victorian society to learning from the Moulish natives of Eriga, she puts her all into it. From assimilating into the culture of the palace to living with the native Indians in the swamp land of Green Hell. I love how the Moulish force her to face herself when they make her go through a purification right when she has a string of bad luck and how the guardian of the eggs puts her to the test. And her strength and ingenuity in her test to prove to Yeyuama she could be trusted to protect the dragon eggs. She is continually learning and may stumble, but she'll get right back up again, and forge onward. (Historical Fantasy, Victorian, Dragons, Green Hell, Natives, 331)

Brendan Slocumb - Violin Conspiracy ****  A mystery thriller set in New York and Europe centered around the theft of Ray's Stradivarius. Ray grieves the loss of his violin and possibly the end of his music career, his life and struggles to get where he is presently is revealed in flashbacks of his greedy family, the racism he experiences, his joy of classical music, and the competitive nature of musicians.  (334, e)

R.F. Kuang - Babel: An Arcane History *****  Once I started reading, couldn't put it down. The etymology discussions, how the characters related to the world around them, how the characters grew in knowledge, the choices they made, some good, some bad, the heart wrenching decisions. All of it combined to create a story that made me think and how it related to today's world and why people do the things they do.  (Historical Fantasy, dystopian, oxford, etymology, racism, theme of the week - cliffhanger, 544, e)

Samantha Shannon - The Bone Season #1 / The Pale Dreamer novella  ****  A dystopian world in which magic thrives behind the scenes, but is persecuted by the world. Aliens has taken over an alternative oxford, allowed by the government as a deterrent to an even greater threat. The aliens serve as prison keepers for the magically inclined.  Dark despair pervades the entire story.  (Aliens, magic vs non magic, alternative Oxford, theme of the week  - dystopian, 480, e)

Jenny Colgan - The Bookshop on the Corner **** Charming story about a young woman who takes on the adventure of moving to a new place and starting a book mobile. (Scotland, UK, 368, e)

Ashley Poston  - The Dead Romantics  ****  Another charming story about a ghostwriter who falls in love with a ghost. (Books, ghostwriter, grief, crows, 368)

J.D. Robb - Random in Death #58 In Death series  *****  (Futuristic thriller, murder, police procedural, 368)

J.T. Ellison - Lie to Me *****  Finally dove into the story which lead to me reading every spare minute. Fast paced, psychological thriller and would have never guessed who caused Sutton's and Ethan's marriage to implode. They were both to blame, yet there was someone else hiding in the shadows pulling all their strings. Thrill ride of a story with so many twists and turns, it will make you dizzy.  (Psychological thriller, lots of twists and turns, 413)

Emily St. John Mandel - Sea of Tranquility  **  Unlike any time travel book I’ve read in which it seemed all nonsensical and flat.    (Post apocalyptic, time travel, Writer, covid, 272) 

Evie Woods - The Lost Bookshop  **** four characters, dual timelines, how the past affects the present, abusive relationships, what is real and what is not, learning to trust again.  (Magical realism, dual timelines historical and present, books, England, Ireland, USA,  444, e)

Sulari Gentill - The Woman in the Library ****  A mystery within a mystery set in Boston with so many twists and turns , the characters don't know who to trust. (Mystery thriller, Boston, murder, deceit, books, 292)

Haruki Murakami - Sputnik Sweetheart  *****  I love Murakami and he always leaves me with something to think about. This one more so than others. The same themes rewritten in a different way: Cats, music, love, loss, life. The ending isn't quite so clear cut or is it?    (Author of the month, magical realism, Japan, love lost, 224, e)

Rereads 

Jim Butcher - Aeronauts Windlass #1 Cinder Spires **** Reread before start Olympian Affair. Just as good the second time around. An epic fantasy involving magic and technology combined, airship battles, talking cats, strange characters, and etheric forces.  (Dusty reread, 781)

Jenna Black  - Dark Descendant ***  Reread while on treadmill involving demi gods, immortality, private eyes, and good versus evil.  Don't think I'll reread the rest of the series again. (336, e)

Karen Rose - Count to Ten  *** * Reread of a mystery thriller revolving around an arson investigator and a police detective.  (Mystery thriller, Chicago, Illinois, romance, murder, Theme of the week - Fire, 563)

Dean Koontz - Odd Thomas ****  Odd Thomas is a quirky character who sees dead people and tries to stop the bad guys.  (Supernatural thriller, 435, e)