Disclaimer: I’m beginning to feel like the titles have very little to do with what is actually happening in the book. I picture Evanovich in her office thinking, “Okay, we’re on four… hmmm… I got it, Four to Score!” though what it means she hasn’t the vaguest idea. That being said, I genuinely liked Four to Score. I think it is my actual favorite in the series thus far. Read More »
I Read a Lot of Books
I read a lot of books. Sometimes I review them.
Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich
So, spoiler alert (not really), I read six of these books in quick succession as I prepared for the birth of my third child. I needed some light bubble gum reading to feel like I was getting something accomplished and I can crack two of these books out in a day. So be prepared for lots of Evanovich reviews in the future. Also be prepared for me to start enjoying them marginally less. I find this series should not be devoured whole, as it were, but nibbled in bites here and there. I find I appreciate the individual books more that way.
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The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop: A Memoir, a History by Lewis Buzbee
I like books about reading. And books about books. And books about loving books… Buzbee’s book about bookstores was right up my alley. I think all book lovers can relate to the themes he touches on, and as he takes his little walk down memory lane, a lot of what Buzbee remembers will be familiar. Read More »
The Devil’s Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century by Harold Schechter
Finally, a delightful non fiction about murder… just what you were all hoping for, I am sure. This book follows the poisoning murders of two people and the subsequent trials of Roland Molineux in the late 1800s.
The Big Ditch: How America Took, Built, Ran, and Ultimately Gave Away the Panama Canal by Noel Maurer and Carlos Yu
Finally! An academically written book about a historical event from an economics perspective! I have been hoping to read something of this nature for a while now and happily my kindly husband obliged with this little birthday gift. Maurer and Yu have all the academic credentials one could hope for which lead me to worry that the writing would be dry, it wasn’t. Read More »
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides
I have a fascination with arctic (or antarctic) adventure biographies. It isn’t exactly that I wish I was born in a different time, I love my modern conveniences, but I have a great admiration for those who dared to venture out and discover the world that we know today. I’d heard a little about the USS Jeannette’s turbulent journey, but not enough to make the book uninteresting. Also, not enough to spoil the ending. Read More »
The Clinic by Jonathan Kellerman
This was another free book from my brother’s bargain book hunting. I’d just read one of Kellerman’s wife’s books and decided I should decide who was the better writer. I hadn’t been terribly impressed with Faye Kellerman’s book, but Jonathan Kellerman had an interesting spin on the suspense novel. Read More »
The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley
I have been a vocal fan of the Flavia de Luce novels since I read the first. I’ve been deeply invested in the mystery and watching the characters unfold, but I must say this last book was challenging to me. Not because it wasn’t well written. Not because Flavia didn’t get up to her usual mischief. Not because some questions weren’t finally answered. What I found disconcerting was that I am not sure I like where the series is going. Read More »
Critical Conditions by Stephen White
I’ve never read anything that Stephen White had written before. This little gem came into my hands via my brother who got a bin full of books for me from some sort of heavily discounted sale. This isn’t a book I would have selected to read on my own, but I was pleasantly surprised with the results. White’s series follows Alan Gregory a clinical psychologist who gets involved in all sorts of bizarre criminal cases/situations. Read More »
The Battle for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi
The third and final book in the WondLa trilogy was a sweet little read. Though much was predictable, clearly Eva Nine is going to triumph, but it was an interesting journey. Read More »
The Shadow Thieves: The Cronus Chronicles Book One by Anne Ursu
When I first started this book I was unsure of whether I liked it, or not. The whimsical narrative style seemed a little too cutesy for my personal taste, but when I was young I had an interest in Greek and Roman mythology. Read More »
The Quality of Mercy by Barry Unsworth
I was unaware that this book was the highly anticipated sequel to Sacred Hunger. It only took 12 years to follow-up so I am sure fans of the original book might differ from me in their opinions of the book. Sacred Hunger follows a slave ship and talks a lot about greed, apparently. Well, at least if wikipedia is to be believed. Read More »
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver
I seem to be burning through these fiction selections that my younger brother got for me. Pigs in Heaven is not a book that would have appealed to me, or that I would have chosen on my own. But as a free book, what a nice addition. A note, this is actually not the first book in a series of books about a lot of the same people so… proceed with caution. Read More »
Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
I am surprised that I’d never heard of this book before I read it. It won some awards and sold well, but the first time I saw it was when my little brother dropped of a bin full of books he’d purchased for me at one of those bookstores going out of business sales. Read More »
You Were Always Mom’s Favorite! Sisters in Conversation Throughout Their Lives by Deborah Tannen
I wanted to read this book from the moment I read a review on NPR.com. I don’t have sisters, but I have always been fascinated with the dynamic. Having come from a home with three brothers and moving into an all girls apartment in college, I could tell you stories of culture shock! Read More »
V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton
Another Kinsey Millhone mystery and the series is winding down. It seems that Grafton has decided to stick with telling the narrative from various points of view. I enjoy this, as sometime Kinsey is a bit too cute a narrator for my taste. Read More »
U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton
In this installment in the Alphabet Series, Kinsey Millhone gets roped into investigating a possible body dump that happened twenty years ago. Michael Sutton shows up at Kinsey’s office and begs her to investigate a cold case kidnapping/murder. He claims that he has had triggered memories and Kinsey believes him until she realizes Michael Sutton is a highly impressionable young man who once accused his father of sexual abuse, then recanted, but not before destroying his entire family. So Sutton isn’t the most reliable source. Read More »
The Butterfly Mosque by G. Willow Wilson
This book came highly recommended, by someone whose opinion I trust. That in and of itself can be dangerous. It is hard to read a book that has been talked up so much because I want something amazing. Well, The Butterfly Mosque wasn’t amazing, but it was certainly good. Read More »
The Importance of Being Seven by Alexander McCall Smith
This is the sixth installment in Smith’s 44 Scotland Street Series. I recommend reading these books as a series, and not as stand alone novels. I enjoyed this book immensely and particularly enjoyed Smith’s note to the reader at the beginning of the book. He speaks about the title, The Importance of Being Seven. Bertie, one of our main characters is almost seven. Smith tries to capture that feeling of wanting something very much (to be seven, in Bertie’s case) and not quite being there. Read More »
The Unbearable Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith
I have taken a significant amount of time off of the the 44 Scotland Street Series, not because I don’t love them, but because they are that particular brand of warm comfort that one remembers when one needs a nice little read that leave the reader feeling uplifted. If you are unfamiliar with the series, please ignore this review straight away and start at the beginning. You will thank me. Read More »
Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich
This is the second book in the Stephanie Plum series. One has to kind of feel for Stephanie as a heroine because she tries to be tough, but she just isn’t tough enough. Read More »
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Interrupted Tale by Maryrose Wood
It is no secret that I have been a fan of this series of books. Sadly, this is the fourth book meaning there are only two more to go. When I think about where these books could be taking me, I get excited, and that is exactly what books should do.
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Unseen Guest by Maryrose Wood
I’ve said it before, and I will say it again. These books are charming. I am really looking forward to reading them to my kids in a few years. One thing I enjoy about these books is that there is an underlying mystery that prevails through each book and the reader gets little bits and pieces each time. The reader gets just enough information to start making speculations that are either confirmed or debunked in subsequent books. Read More »
I Will Lead You Along: The Life of Henry B. Eyring by Robert I. Eaton and Henry J. Eyring
I always hesitate when I review religious books about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). It is difficult for me to separate my own religious beliefs and examine a text as a purely impartial reader. For example, as a member of the LDS church I read church texts and the scriptural cannon (Old Testament, New Testament King James’ Version, The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price) weekly, but I never review them as I consider them sacred. Read More »
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and The History of the World by Sam Kean
This is the second of Kean’s scientific narratives that I have read, and the first that he had published. Though I liked it less than The Violinists Thumb, it was still interesting and informative. Read More »
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart
The third installment in The Mysterious Benedict Society is every bit as fun, action-packed, and refreshing as the previous books in the series. I feel like I gush when I write about these books, but they are genuinely wonderful. Stewart’s style is both light and captivating. I find myself cheering audibly for our heroes and cringing whenever the villains get a leg up. I assure you, it is quite amusing to watch. Read More »
Speaking From Among the Bones by Alan Bradley
I truly enjoy reading Flavia de Luce novels. I can’t help it. Bradley manages to capture perfectly inconsistencies that radiate from 11/12 year old girls. He also captures a time that I find fascinating in English history.
Someone Could Get Hurt: A Memoir of Twenty-first-century Parenthood by Drew Magary
I’m a parent. I wasn’t always a parent. I find it hard, now, to remember what my life was like before I had all these irrational fears and before I spent my days worrying about things like potty training progress or which educational school of thought best fits my ideal of the type of people I would like to release into the world. Read More »
The Violinist’s Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam Kean
I first heard about this book on Radiolab, and yes, I immediately like most of what I hear about on Radiolab. Now, I am not fascinated by scientific details, generally speaking, so I probably would not have selected this book had I not heard some excerpts beforehand and that would have been a shame because this book was GREAT! Read More »
The Oxford Book of Modern Women’s Stories edited by Patricia Craig
I was skeptical when I initially got this for my birthday. What constitutes a Modern Women’s Story anyway? Happily, Patricia Craig explains what does it for her, and since she is the editor, thats what made it into the book. Read More »