Here are the rules for JusJoJan: 1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan me…
Source: Just Jot It January 2017 Rules
Archive for December, 2016
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am so glad I was able to pick this up from my local electronic library, both the Kindle and the audio versions. I’m also glad I was able to purchase and read the first book in this series. It made this book easier to understand to know what happened before. But I think it might’ve been understandable to read it without the first book and still get it. Oh, how I miss Anne McCaffrey!
My favorite parts were the polydactyl cats who are proven to be the earliest space explorers landing in Egypt helping with the engineering of the pyramids, etc. With so many fingers and toes, and trained to use them in the ways humans use their fingers they were able to do far more than humans could.
This is my kind of space travel sci-fi getting to know other planets at the creatures. Getting to know the process of being in outer space for long periods of time. Done the way only Anne McCaffrey could.
If you get the chance please read these two books they may seem silly on the surface but they are deeper than they seem.
Bluewater Walkabout: Into Africa, Finding Healing Through Trauma by Tina Dreffin
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Just couldn’t get into this book. There were some adventures I enjoyed, but not the rest. Sorry, I couldn’t come up with more to say about the book. But maybe you’ll enjoy it more.
Everything Belongs to Us by Yoojin Grace Wuertz
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
NetGalley gave me this book to read and review. Thank you.
Maybe it’s the busyness of the holidays or my usual ADD, but I found this book confusing. I must’ve read the first six chapters 5 times. Once I was understanding whose point of view I was reading, I found the story engaging enough. In fact, I wanted to know what was happening to the characters. But…
The ending was dull, the ending was cheap, and I felt like I had wasted my time. I wanted to feel that the characters had achieved at least the title of the book. But it just left me flat.
That said, taking my ADD and the holidays into consideration, maybe you will love this book. And maybe I need to read it again someday.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
While perusing my local library system’s site of ebooks and audios I saw the second book in this series by one of my favorite authors, Anne McCaffrey. Well, I hate starting in the middle of a series so I bought the first one and the Audible version to go with it.
If you love cats and space travel adventures, this is the book for you. I thought it was going to be too much fluff, a childish book, a book about kitty cats. I was wrong. This gave a new perspective about cats and space travel.
I just happen to have a polydactyl black cat and I have wondered if, with the right training, all those toes could be used like our hands. Could she be a Barque cat? Could she fly a space ship? My husband and I spend our retired days trying to read our cats’ and new dog’s minds. Sometimes we think we know them pretty well. We provide the words to the bubbles over their heads. Just imagine if instead of watching the mice for entertainment if they could kill the space alien?
Anyway, this was fun and I didn’t stop between the two books and got right into book two. I have to admit to wishing there was more! R.I.P. Anne McCaffrey. I miss you!
Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World by Sy Montgomery
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was lucky enough to pick this up from my local library system through Overdrive. My friend, Cheryl, wrote an intriguing review that had me searching it out. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1…
I had hoped to read while listening but the ebook but it didn’t come to me in time. That was okay. It provided my background entertainment while I worked on the charity hats and dolls. The reader, Meredith Mitchell, kept me involved in the story of Temple Grandin’s life.
I have read other books about and by Ms. Grandin. Though this book is for young people, I found it more thorough than the others in covering the aspects of autism, living with it and knowing someone who has it. The author was able to bring this disorder to the understanding that a young person would need.
Something that I felt when reading this book and others about autism is that I think there are levels of this that many of us have. The sensitivities Temple had to scratchy clothing or loud noises or too many people or strong light I can relate to. The inability to connect to others, especially in a crowded room, I can understand, too. Knowing that Ms. Grandin found ways to make her disability work for her in her life gives us all inspiration to see how we can overcome our own problems.
Though this is for children, it is neither a short book nor pablum for babies. I felt there was a lot of depth to the stories told and much to learn for all of us. Please, seek it out and see how you like it.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I was having trouble getting into my local electronic library. I know now that it was due to the card expiring. But I decided to try Washoe County and got in with my old card. This Overdrive version came up and I thought, what the heck? Can’t go wrong with a Terry Pratchett. (R.I.P)
I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but I seem to be reading a lot of books that are centered in the late 1800s –early 1900s. (Victoria, The Diaries of Ethel Turner, The Woman Who Breathed Two Worlds, Out of the Past–sort of) so this fit right in. Mr. Pratchett brought into the story some very far-fetched concepts like how Dodger nearly gets a shave by the crazy Sweeny Todd and meets Queen Victoria etc. I don’t think what I just wrote is a spoiler as it is in the book blurb.
Anyway, since the only copy I could get was the audio version I spent a couple days catching up on projects while listening and occasionally laughing out loud. Though not as funny as other books by the same author this one is fun and the story one adventure after another. English humor is best!
I need to read more of his stuff like this. By the way, the narrator, Stephen Briggs, was fabulous!
The Woman Who Breathed Two Worlds by Selina Siak Chin Yoke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed reading this book. At first, I got mad at the ancient order of things where females were worthless and could only hope to marry well. But keep reading. The main character grows on you. By the end, I was crying for her. I’d say more but–spoilers!
I hope I can read the rest of the series.
The book is about seeing the world through another woman’s eyes as she grows through her life. I love reading about other cultures. Though we have many differences, the female experience is what we have in common. Some of that we humans need to work on, but some of it is unique to being a woman.
This version was courtesy of NetGalley. Thank you for letting me read this!
Darswords 
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