A few friends suggested this book as a young adult read, and when my brother offered to lend it to me, I couldn’t refuse. I thought this JUST might be the thing to jump start another wave of fiction reading, as I have been focused on non fiction for a while. Sadly, no. This book did not meet expectations. Read More »
I Read a Lot of Books
I read a lot of books. Sometimes I review them.
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
So we’ve finally come to the last installment of The Hunger Games Series. Straight off, I was disappointed. The story was not compelling in its entirety, nor was Katniss very likable, coherent, or believable in this last book. There are scenes within the book that I thought lived up to the promise of the original idea, but I found Collins using some pretty cheap literary devises to move time along quickly. Read More »
Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard
I am always a bit skeptical when I pick up a book that someone AND someone else wrote. I get vicious flashbacks to university where I had to write papers in a group. Trying to fit your own writing style with the writing style of someone else… well, lets just say I hated writing papers in a group or as a pair. I don’t know how two people organize one set of thoughts, which is one of the problems with this non-fiction. Read More »
Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer
My love of Georgette Heyer is no secret, but the more of her mysteries I read, the more disappointed I become. Read More »
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
I am not sure whether I actually enjoyed this book. Probably not a good sign since I have already finished it but, you see, I find myself torn. I feel biographies should be written about people that DO something, people worth learning about. The circumstances portrayed in this non fiction are certainly tragic, but I am not sure if they merit a novel. I am also not sold on Krakauer’s writing style. Read More »
Welcome to My World by Johnny Weir
First, I think I should let you know that I got this book for free… as a joke. When Borders went out of business (moment of silence), they gave a bunch of books that they couldn’t offload at a 90% mark down to my brother’s place of work. He came over once while I wasn’t home and hid them all over my bookshelves. The joke is on him because I will read anything! Read More »
My Two Chinas: The Memoir of a Chinese Counterrevolutionary by Baiqiao Tang with Damon DiMarco
There were so many great aspects to this book, but other aspects left me flat. When I read an autobiography, I expect a person to relate the events of their life with a level of passion or interest, and why not? Most people enjoy talking about themselves. My Two Chinas could have been written by a stranger, some of the episodes in the book were retold with such a lack of passion that I wouldn’t have believed, except for the use of the first person, that Biagiao Tang wrote this about himself. Read More »
Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant, a Playwright, and a Spy Saved the American Revolution by Joel Richard Paul
I know some people don’t like non fiction. They get bogged down in the dates and the details, and if it doesn’t pertain to their immediate circumstances… they just don’t care. I am not one of those people. I LOVE non fiction. I like obscure settings, and obscure people. The older, the better. Sadly, Unlikely Allies seemed to be history light. Read More »
The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
This book begs the question, should Shakespeare enthusiasts be allowed to write novels? I am not sure they should. I get it, he was a playwright, he was witty, he was innovative… but people, it’s been a long time, we can move forward. But no, Brown, lets her love of Shakespeare flow in this novel. Read More »
The Victoria Vanishes by Christopher Fowler
This novel is the second in A Peculiar Crimes Unit series. If you recall the first book received decent marks, and I was interested in the sequel. Unfortunately, the sequel isn’t as good as the first book. Again we find Arthur Briant and John May in the midst of a possible unit shutdown as Bryant decides it is time to retire. Before retirement can happen, one last case must be solved. Read More »
Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes
Oh, Julian… why did the book have to end that way? Why? Wait, I feel I am spoiling this review by letting my feelings overcome me. Let us start at the beginning. I have long had a love for Mr. Fellowes (which is why I feel I can call him Julian). Read More »
Tried By War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander In Chief by James M. McPherson
In modern parlance I would consider myself ‘a fan’ of Lincoln. From the many biographies I’ve read, to the bajillion hour Ken Burns Civil War Documentary that my nocturnal newborn and I watched, Lincoln stands out as an all around good guy. More importantly, he wasn’t a hypocrite which in these days of political intrigue and outrage, is a pretty amazing fact. The only problem with Lincoln is the in flux of information about the man. Read More »
Pirates of Barbary: Corsairs, Conquests, and Captivity in the 17th-Century Mediterranean by Adrian Tinniswood
The Economist said this was a novel about how a biography and social history can ‘work magnificently together’. No, no, no, Economist. No. Social history can NEVER work with biography. That is the law. When you try to view the actions of a bunch of Barbary Pirates through the lenses of a social or political theology (if you will) of the 21rst Century… well, you are going to get someone’s ideological crusade. Adrian Tinniswood would have done well to stick with writing about country homes. Read More »
Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples’ Organized Crime System by Roberto Saviano
According to the cover, this ‘novel’ is now an award-winning film. I have a hard time believing they could make a film from the contents of Saviano’s novel. It isn’t a story so much as an expose that has no actual narrative. Though I found it interesting, highly interesting, it would be better served for a magazine article, and not a book. Read More »
Don’t Mind if I Do by George Hamilton and William Stadiem
Why did I want to read about the life of the darkly tanned old Hollywood lothario? Why, not? And that pretty much sums up George Hamilton’s philosophy on life, at least according to himself. Before picking up this book I knew very little about George Hamilton. After reading it, I don’t necessarily feel like he is an old friend, but it was a fun read. Read More »
The Vikings: A History by Robert Ferguson
This book took me forever to read, and I am not a slow reader. One of its chief problems is clear lack of thesis or theme. It follows the vikings throughout what we consider the viking age. Though most books follow the conquest of Great Britain, and possibly the new world–this novel followed the viking’s conquest of every place at every time. Read More »
American Priestess: The Extraordinary Story of Anna Spafford and the American Colony in Jerusalem by Jane Fletcher Geniesse
When I picked out this book highly discounted I knew nothing about the American Colony. It sounded vaguely familiar, almost as though in my internet ramblings, I’d stumbled across a wikipedia article… but after having read the history, I am certain that I’d never known about the group that went to Jerusalem to await the second coming. The book chronicles the life of Anna Spafford who would transform from a poor Norwegian Immigrant to a powerful ‘religious’ leader in Jerusalem. Read More »
Postcards from a Dead Girl by Kirk Farber
I’ve read a few books in my time that leave me confused, not knowing whether I liked the book or didn’t like it. This is one of those books. Read More »
Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade by Patrick Dennis
This is one of the few novels that I read after seeing the movie. A roommate persuaded me to see the old movie full of technicolor hijinks but I didn’t seem to remember much of the novel when I read the book. Auntie Mame was written by Edward Everett Tanner III under the pseudonym Patrick Dennis. Read More »
What Am I Doing Here by Bruce Chatwin
Ah, Bruce… I think I am done with you. Maybe it was wrong to read three separate Bruce Chatwin books in a two week period, but I couldn’t help it. They were loaners from my uncle who needed them back in a hurry. Unlike other travel memoirs What Am I doing Here is a series of essays. They follow no general pattern that I could discern. Read More »
The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
Another travel memoir, but this time with a thesis, that all men are born to wander as it is their natural state. Bruce Chatwin writes of his travels to Australia to learn more about the songlines. It appears that Mr. Chatwin did his homework before he goes, because those he come into contact with seem impressed by his knowledge about the culture. In a later book I read that one of the reviewers called the book unbelievably pretentious, and I agree. Read More »
Lions of Medina: The Marines of Charlie Company and Their Brotherhood of Valor by Doyle D. Glass
I tried, and I tried, and I tried to determine what special interest, authority, or expertise prompted Mr. Glass to write about the soldiers of Vietnam, and I could find none. Glass’s lack of scope made the book disjointed. Glass’s self stated reason for writing about the men of Medina (other than it would have a less competitive market than a WWII book) was to give credit to the soldiers of Vietnam to whom history has given very little. Read More »
Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks
I saw this book in the hands of my nine year old cousin-in-law once removed, and was intrigued, but as I began reading, my intrigue evolved into boredom. Evil Genius isn’t awful… it is just bland. It doesn’t help that better books with young, male, adventurous, protagonists like Artemis Fowl and Percy Jackson were written prior to Cadel Piggot’s entrance into the young adult fiction world. Read More »