2LyndaInOregon
OCTOBER READS
Ten books this month, and one DNF.
5 star - Being Mortal, Atul Gawande; The October Country, Ray Bradbury
4.5 star - I'm Just a Person, Tig Notaro; Aztec: The Goldsmith's Daughter, Tanya Landman
4 star - Stone Blind, Natalie Haynes; The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hughes, Taylor Jenkins Reid; The Newcomer, Mary Kay Andrews
3.5 star - Lady, ACW Willingham (an LTER); My What If Year, Alisha Fernandez Miranda
3 star - All By Myself, Alone, Mary Higgins Clark
DNF - Say Nothing, Patrick Keefe
For whatever reason, "Lady" isn't linking correctly in the Touchstones, and the nonfiction "Say Nothing", which is about The Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1970s is coming up as "Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog!"" by Jerome K. Jerome. Must be ghosts & goblins in the system today!
Ten books this month, and one DNF.
5 star - Being Mortal, Atul Gawande; The October Country, Ray Bradbury
4.5 star - I'm Just a Person, Tig Notaro; Aztec: The Goldsmith's Daughter, Tanya Landman
4 star - Stone Blind, Natalie Haynes; The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hughes, Taylor Jenkins Reid; The Newcomer, Mary Kay Andrews
3.5 star - Lady, ACW Willingham (an LTER); My What If Year, Alisha Fernandez Miranda
3 star - All By Myself, Alone, Mary Higgins Clark
DNF - Say Nothing, Patrick Keefe
For whatever reason, "Lady" isn't linking correctly in the Touchstones, and the nonfiction "Say Nothing", which is about The Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1970s is coming up as "Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog!"" by Jerome K. Jerome. Must be ghosts & goblins in the system today!
3PaulCranswick
Happy new thread Lynda.
5figsfromthistle
Happy new thread!
7LyndaInOregon
#101 - Alice Pemberton's Bureau of Scientific Inquiry, George Allen Miller
3 stars - LTER
This second entry in the McGilliverse carries forth the manic energy and wildly original galactic civilizations from Book One, but it goes on just a tad too long. (Some parties outlive their fun factor long before all the bean dip is gone.) There’s an obvious setup for Book Three, but most readers will require considerable recovery time before plunging into that one.
Fans of Douglas Addams and Terry Pratchett will probably get more enjoyment out of this than readers of classic s-f or fantasy.
Full review is over here, if you're sufficiently caffeinated to keep up.
3 stars - LTER
This second entry in the McGilliverse carries forth the manic energy and wildly original galactic civilizations from Book One, but it goes on just a tad too long. (Some parties outlive their fun factor long before all the bean dip is gone.) There’s an obvious setup for Book Three, but most readers will require considerable recovery time before plunging into that one.
Fans of Douglas Addams and Terry Pratchett will probably get more enjoyment out of this than readers of classic s-f or fantasy.
Full review is over here, if you're sufficiently caffeinated to keep up.
8LyndaInOregon
#102 - I Know a Secret, Tess Gerritsen
4 stars
Part of the Rizzoli & Isles series, but stands well alone. This time the detective and ME pair are on the hunt for a serial killer, homing in on the fact that the victims are mutilated in very specific (and gruesome) ways, but only after their death. Lots of layers here, and the observant reader will pick up a major hint about halfway through, but probably won't see the whole picture until Gerritsen is ready to reveal it.
4 stars
Part of the Rizzoli & Isles series, but stands well alone. This time the detective and ME pair are on the hunt for a serial killer, homing in on the fact that the victims are mutilated in very specific (and gruesome) ways, but only after their death. Lots of layers here, and the observant reader will pick up a major hint about halfway through, but probably won't see the whole picture until Gerritsen is ready to reveal it.
9LyndaInOregon
#103 - An Honest Man, Michael Koryta
4 stars
Group Read
Tightly plotted and fast-paced mystery/suspense novel featuring a man with a past and a remote island with no future. Lots of questions here about the nature of truth. Good book.
4 stars
Group Read
Tightly plotted and fast-paced mystery/suspense novel featuring a man with a past and a remote island with no future. Lots of questions here about the nature of truth. Good book.
10LyndaInOregon
#104 - Carpe Jugulum, Terry Pratchett
3.5 stars
Group Read
Holding off on detailed discussion of this, as it has its own thread over in the Discworld Group Read group.
11LyndaInOregon
#105 - A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity, Richard Webster
3 stars
LTER
Jack Mears, ex-con, petty crook, and small-time drug dealer, is currently on his uppers, hanging around a café in Toulouse and waiting for his former partner to show up with the ten thousand Euros he’s currently owed. But as the days go by and the partner continues to be a no-show, he becomes increasingly worried about his prospects.
Until he’s approached by a mysterious stranger who offers him a “once in a lifetime opportunity” that will net him a great deal of money in a very short time, for a very simple task. Yes, indeed.
The offer sets off a bizarre road trip across France, and Jack quickly realizes that he may have gotten in way over his head. Whether he can survive the trip and its aftermath form the plot of this tightly-written novella.
Webster does an acceptable job of ratcheting up the weirdness level, feeding out just enough information about Jack’s employer so that the Big Reveal shouldn’t come as any surprise. There are still some shivers along the way, capped by a very real moral choice for a man who has never had to consider his past – or future – in just the way Jack will have to.
3 stars
LTER
Jack Mears, ex-con, petty crook, and small-time drug dealer, is currently on his uppers, hanging around a café in Toulouse and waiting for his former partner to show up with the ten thousand Euros he’s currently owed. But as the days go by and the partner continues to be a no-show, he becomes increasingly worried about his prospects.
Until he’s approached by a mysterious stranger who offers him a “once in a lifetime opportunity” that will net him a great deal of money in a very short time, for a very simple task. Yes, indeed.
The offer sets off a bizarre road trip across France, and Jack quickly realizes that he may have gotten in way over his head. Whether he can survive the trip and its aftermath form the plot of this tightly-written novella.
Webster does an acceptable job of ratcheting up the weirdness level, feeding out just enough information about Jack’s employer so that the Big Reveal shouldn’t come as any surprise. There are still some shivers along the way, capped by a very real moral choice for a man who has never had to consider his past – or future – in just the way Jack will have to.
12LyndaInOregon
#106 - The Two Worlds of Helen Duncan, Gena Brealey
3 stars
This is a composite rating. I almost DNFd this thing, but the last section picked up.
If you were asked when the last witchcraft trial was held in England, chances are high that your answer would be off by a couple of centuries. Though the Witchcraft Act of 1735 was seldom invoked, prosecutors dragged it out and dusted it off to bring charges against a Scotswoman called Helen Duncan in 1944.
Duncan’s daughter, Gena Duncan Brealey, has written her mother’s story mostly from a family biography point of view. To be as kind as possible about it, this is not great literature. Brealey obviously believes that her mother was truly able to serve as a conduit between two worlds, and the first two-thirds of the book is largely a catalogue of events in Duncan’s personal and professional life. It is, frankly, something of a drag to get through.
It's only in the last portion of the book, which examines Duncan’s trial under an archaic and seldom-invoked law, that the story becomes compelling. Bizarre, but compelling.
3 stars
This is a composite rating. I almost DNFd this thing, but the last section picked up.
If you were asked when the last witchcraft trial was held in England, chances are high that your answer would be off by a couple of centuries. Though the Witchcraft Act of 1735 was seldom invoked, prosecutors dragged it out and dusted it off to bring charges against a Scotswoman called Helen Duncan in 1944.
Duncan’s daughter, Gena Duncan Brealey, has written her mother’s story mostly from a family biography point of view. To be as kind as possible about it, this is not great literature. Brealey obviously believes that her mother was truly able to serve as a conduit between two worlds, and the first two-thirds of the book is largely a catalogue of events in Duncan’s personal and professional life. It is, frankly, something of a drag to get through.
It's only in the last portion of the book, which examines Duncan’s trial under an archaic and seldom-invoked law, that the story becomes compelling. Bizarre, but compelling.
13LyndaInOregon
#107 - The Good Sister, Sally Hepworth
4 stars
Compelling read about adult twins that becomes increasingly complex as it examines the many layers of their relationship.
4 stars
Compelling read about adult twins that becomes increasingly complex as it examines the many layers of their relationship.
14Whisper1
Hi Friend
I'm stopping by now to see what good books you are reading. I'm adding
The Good Sister, A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity, An Honest Man, and I Know A Secret. As always, your reviews are incredibly well written.
You've read some good books thus far this month. I'm sorry to be out of touch. Working with my neighbor/friend Andres on some minor and major projects around the house takes a lot of time, but the outcome is well worth it.
Yesterday, together, we took down all sixteen vents throughout the house, washed them in soapy hot water, and cleaned the dirt that was in the space that held them to the back of the wall. I'm hoping this nets better breathing for Kayla, Meow the cat, and me.
The next project before Christmas will be painting the kitchen walls yellow and all woodwork white.
Then, in the new year, I hope to replace each sink cabinet in the three bathrooms. And, new lighting above the cabinets.
I hope you and John are well.
I'm stopping by now to see what good books you are reading. I'm adding
The Good Sister, A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity, An Honest Man, and I Know A Secret. As always, your reviews are incredibly well written.
You've read some good books thus far this month. I'm sorry to be out of touch. Working with my neighbor/friend Andres on some minor and major projects around the house takes a lot of time, but the outcome is well worth it.
Yesterday, together, we took down all sixteen vents throughout the house, washed them in soapy hot water, and cleaned the dirt that was in the space that held them to the back of the wall. I'm hoping this nets better breathing for Kayla, Meow the cat, and me.
The next project before Christmas will be painting the kitchen walls yellow and all woodwork white.
Then, in the new year, I hope to replace each sink cabinet in the three bathrooms. And, new lighting above the cabinets.
I hope you and John are well.
15LyndaInOregon
#108 - Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears, edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling
4 stars
This is one of a series of fairy stories and folk tales re-imagined by contemporary writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Authors of the 22 short pieces in this volume include Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, Jane Yolen, and others.
There's really not a loser in the bunch, though some are more compelling than others. I think my favorites were "The Fox Wife" by Ellen Steiber, and "The Emperor Who Had Nevers Seen a Dragon", by John Brunner.
4 stars
This is one of a series of fairy stories and folk tales re-imagined by contemporary writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Authors of the 22 short pieces in this volume include Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, Jane Yolen, and others.
There's really not a loser in the bunch, though some are more compelling than others. I think my favorites were "The Fox Wife" by Ellen Steiber, and "The Emperor Who Had Nevers Seen a Dragon", by John Brunner.
16LyndaInOregon
November Books
Kind of a short list this month -- seven read and one DNF, partially because I ended the month 50 pages short of a 526-page behemoth I'll post about later. And while there were some interesting reads this month, nothing super-terrific rose above the crowd.
4.5 Stars each to
-An Honest Man, by Michael Koryta
-I Know a Secret, by Tess Gerritsen
-The Good Sister, by Sally Hepworth
Oddly enough, these were all thriller / suspense novels. Perhaps it has something to do with the time change and the fact that most of my waking life is now spent in darkness??
4 Stars to Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears, edited by Ellen Datlow. This collection of short stories takes a contemporary look at classic fairy tales.
3.5 Stars Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett. This group read was fun, but it doesn't really approach Pratchett's best work.
3 Stars each to
-Alice Pemberton's Bureau of Scientific Inquiry, by George Allen Miller, an LTER that continues the high-energy science-fiction/fantasy universe begun in Eugene J. McGillicuddy's Alien Detective Agency (also an LTER, from last year).
-The Two Worlds of Helen Duncan, by Gena Brealey, an uneven but fascinating biography of the last person to be tried under Great Britain's 1735 Witchcraft laws -- in 1944.
And a DNF to All That She Carried, by Tiya Miles. I may have given up on this one too early, but the first hundred pages or so were repetitive and seemed to be trying to build a study of the history of enslaved black families on a very fragile foundation.
Kind of a short list this month -- seven read and one DNF, partially because I ended the month 50 pages short of a 526-page behemoth I'll post about later. And while there were some interesting reads this month, nothing super-terrific rose above the crowd.
4.5 Stars each to
-An Honest Man, by Michael Koryta
-I Know a Secret, by Tess Gerritsen
-The Good Sister, by Sally Hepworth
Oddly enough, these were all thriller / suspense novels. Perhaps it has something to do with the time change and the fact that most of my waking life is now spent in darkness??
4 Stars to Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears, edited by Ellen Datlow. This collection of short stories takes a contemporary look at classic fairy tales.
3.5 Stars Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett. This group read was fun, but it doesn't really approach Pratchett's best work.
3 Stars each to
-Alice Pemberton's Bureau of Scientific Inquiry, by George Allen Miller, an LTER that continues the high-energy science-fiction/fantasy universe begun in Eugene J. McGillicuddy's Alien Detective Agency (also an LTER, from last year).
-The Two Worlds of Helen Duncan, by Gena Brealey, an uneven but fascinating biography of the last person to be tried under Great Britain's 1735 Witchcraft laws -- in 1944.
And a DNF to All That She Carried, by Tiya Miles. I may have given up on this one too early, but the first hundred pages or so were repetitive and seemed to be trying to build a study of the history of enslaved black families on a very fragile foundation.
17LyndaInOregon
#109 - Men to Match My Mountains, Irving Stone
4 stars
This is the doorstop that consumed about a week's worth of my November reading. It's a whopper in scope, too, covering the exploration and settlement of what are now the states of California, Utah, Nevada, and Colorado. If you're at all interested in a boots-on-the-ground history of the region, this is worth the investment of your time. Full review is over here, if you're interested.
4 stars
This is the doorstop that consumed about a week's worth of my November reading. It's a whopper in scope, too, covering the exploration and settlement of what are now the states of California, Utah, Nevada, and Colorado. If you're at all interested in a boots-on-the-ground history of the region, this is worth the investment of your time. Full review is over here, if you're interested.
18LyndaInOregon
#110 - Tell the Machine Goodnight, Kate Williams
3 stars
This quirky little novel sets up a plethora of interesting subplots … and then just sort of wanders away to let them to play out on their own somewhere off the page. Anorexia, cyber-bullying, toxic celebrity, childhood trauma, breakups and beginnings of relationships, corporate espionage and the Silicon Valley mindset – they’re all here, but none are developed in any depth, let alone resolved. Kind of like life, actually.
Find my full review at this link.
3 stars
This quirky little novel sets up a plethora of interesting subplots … and then just sort of wanders away to let them to play out on their own somewhere off the page. Anorexia, cyber-bullying, toxic celebrity, childhood trauma, breakups and beginnings of relationships, corporate espionage and the Silicon Valley mindset – they’re all here, but none are developed in any depth, let alone resolved. Kind of like life, actually.
Find my full review at this link.
19elorin
>16 LyndaInOregon: I'm curious what you consider to be Pratchett's best work? Would it be in Discworld or outside of the Disc?
20LyndaInOregon
>19 elorin: I can only name *my* favorites and wouldn't presume to name a "best". Top three for me ...
The Light Fantastic, which is the very first Pratchett I ever read, was such a wonderful introduction to his universe, and planted so many of the pillars on which Discworld was built: Death, Cohen the Barbarian, the Sentient Luggage, Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibble, Unseen University, Ankh-Morpork, and more. I couldn't read it in public, because I think there was at least one laugh-out-loud moment on every page.
Soul Music, for its outrageous puns.
Pyramids, which is due for a re-read.
What are your favorites?
The Light Fantastic, which is the very first Pratchett I ever read, was such a wonderful introduction to his universe, and planted so many of the pillars on which Discworld was built: Death, Cohen the Barbarian, the Sentient Luggage, Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibble, Unseen University, Ankh-Morpork, and more. I couldn't read it in public, because I think there was at least one laugh-out-loud moment on every page.
Soul Music, for its outrageous puns.
Pyramids, which is due for a re-read.
What are your favorites?
21Whisper1
Lynda, I've added Men to Match My Mountains by Irving Stone
As always, your reviews are stellar. I first knew of you from reading one of your reviews. I reached out to you and you joined our group.
I want to say that I am so very glad that you are a part of this group. I'm excited to learn what you will read in 2025.
As always, your reviews are stellar. I first knew of you from reading one of your reviews. I reached out to you and you joined our group.
I want to say that I am so very glad that you are a part of this group. I'm excited to learn what you will read in 2025.
22elorin
>20 LyndaInOregon: My favorite Discworld books are Small Gods, Pyramids, and I think Guards, Guards. I really love the Nac Mac Feegle, so The Wee Free Men is close. There's so much to love, it's hard to pick favorites. But I have favorite characters, too - Susan, the Luggage, Rincewind, Vimes.
I just finished a reread of all the Discworld books and I am filled with joy that they were part of my life growing up.
I just finished a reread of all the Discworld books and I am filled with joy that they were part of my life growing up.
23LyndaInOregon
#111 - Dr. Benjamin Rush: The Founding Father Who Healed a Wounded Nation, Harlow Giles Unger
4 stars
Full disclosure – according to the family genealogist, Benjamin Rush was an ancestor (great-great-great-great grandfather on my mother’s side). Without that apparent connection, it’s doubtful that I would ever have heard of him, let alone been interested in reading this biography. Turns out he was a man of apparently limitless energy, considerable accomplishment, and (if one reads between the lines) capable of being a tremendous pain in the ass.
If you're interested, the rest of the review is here.
4 stars
Full disclosure – according to the family genealogist, Benjamin Rush was an ancestor (great-great-great-great grandfather on my mother’s side). Without that apparent connection, it’s doubtful that I would ever have heard of him, let alone been interested in reading this biography. Turns out he was a man of apparently limitless energy, considerable accomplishment, and (if one reads between the lines) capable of being a tremendous pain in the ass.
If you're interested, the rest of the review is here.
24LyndaInOregon
#112 - Division Street: America, Studs Terkel
2024 release, new introductory material by Mary Schmich
3.5 stars - LTER
Re-issue of Studs Terkel's definitive 1967 oral history, composed of 70 interviews with random residents of Chicago. Some of it drags a bit, and there are limitations of the time and place in the voices he chose, but it remains a snapshot of a moment in time whose attitudes and ideas still resonate within our culture.
Full Review linky.
2024 release, new introductory material by Mary Schmich
3.5 stars - LTER
Re-issue of Studs Terkel's definitive 1967 oral history, composed of 70 interviews with random residents of Chicago. Some of it drags a bit, and there are limitations of the time and place in the voices he chose, but it remains a snapshot of a moment in time whose attitudes and ideas still resonate within our culture.
Full Review linky.
25LyndaInOregon
#113 - The Spellman Files, Lisa Lutz
4 stars
Fun but exhausting romp centered on a family-run private investigation firm where most of the activity seems to be spying on one another. First of a series, but I probably won't go out of my way to chase down of the other entries.
4 stars
Fun but exhausting romp centered on a family-run private investigation firm where most of the activity seems to be spying on one another. First of a series, but I probably won't go out of my way to chase down of the other entries.
26LyndaInOregon
Interesting article (link here) on how it is now "fashionable" to have books on display in your home. (Imagine that!)
Gee, it seems only yesterday that Marie Kondo was trying to tell us "nobody needs more than 6 books". Take that, Marie!
Gee, it seems only yesterday that Marie Kondo was trying to tell us "nobody needs more than 6 books". Take that, Marie!
27LyndaInOregon
#114 - Icy Sparks, Gwyn Hyman Rubio
3.5 stars
This novel about a child growing up in 1950s Appalachia with undiagnosed Tourette Syndrome is by turns compelling and clichéd. I picked it up off the freebie table at the local Senior Center and got it home before I realized it was an "Oprah Pick", which by and large is not a criteria I use for book selection. Its strong point, I think, is the sense of time and place Rubio creates.
3.5 stars
This novel about a child growing up in 1950s Appalachia with undiagnosed Tourette Syndrome is by turns compelling and clichéd. I picked it up off the freebie table at the local Senior Center and got it home before I realized it was an "Oprah Pick", which by and large is not a criteria I use for book selection. Its strong point, I think, is the sense of time and place Rubio creates.
28LyndaInOregon
#115 - The Boys, Ron & Clint Howard
3.5 stars
Interesting, breezy double-autobiography of Ron and Clint Howard, focusing mostly on their child-actor years and the way their parents functioned to support them. If this were made into a movie, it would come from Hallmark.
3.5 stars
Interesting, breezy double-autobiography of Ron and Clint Howard, focusing mostly on their child-actor years and the way their parents functioned to support them. If this were made into a movie, it would come from Hallmark.
29PaulCranswick
Thinking of you at this time, Lynda
31LyndaInOregon
>30 Whisper1: We have postponed Christmas until Saturday, hoping everyone will be feeling up to snuff by that point. There were an awful lot of grandmas jonesing for Kelby's First Christmas, but I guess it will be better late than never. The biggest downside is that Thumper has just about reached the end of his ability to leave all the pretty sparkly ribbons alone. He resisted for a long time (for a kitty), but I note that some of the parcels are beginning to look a bit nibbled upon.
32LyndaInOregon
#116 - Wild Ride, Crusie & Mayer
3 stars
This romance/fantasy mix is crammed with way too many characters, too many obvious "surprises", and too many subplots, all of which weigh down the pace. Along about page 200 or so, most readers will be saying "Will you please just get on with it?", especially since Crusie hasn't yet dropped in one of her patented hot-monkey-love sex scenes. (She does eventually yield, but it comes about 150 pages too late.)
3 stars
This romance/fantasy mix is crammed with way too many characters, too many obvious "surprises", and too many subplots, all of which weigh down the pace. Along about page 200 or so, most readers will be saying "Will you please just get on with it?", especially since Crusie hasn't yet dropped in one of her patented hot-monkey-love sex scenes. (She does eventually yield, but it comes about 150 pages too late.)
33LyndaInOregon
#117 - Pyramids, Terry Pratchett
5 stars
I had a wonderful time re-reading this, which is one of my favorite Pratchett works. Undeniably a Discworld novel, yet it breaks away from the Ankh-Morpork / Unseen University / Witches sub-universes and stands alone with its wry take on what happens when enough people begin believing in the gods they have invented.
My review, from 2020 when I originally read it, is here, but it's enough to know that this is Pratchett in his prime.
5 stars
I had a wonderful time re-reading this, which is one of my favorite Pratchett works. Undeniably a Discworld novel, yet it breaks away from the Ankh-Morpork / Unseen University / Witches sub-universes and stands alone with its wry take on what happens when enough people begin believing in the gods they have invented.
My review, from 2020 when I originally read it, is here, but it's enough to know that this is Pratchett in his prime.
