2018 READING CHALLENGE
2018
READING
CHALLENGE
Archive for December, 2018
Wandering Koala rides The Phantom Coach comic 1 by Jeff Thomason
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Sorry, just couldn’t get into this one. Even when I finished, it wasn’t and I don’t feel like buying the next book.
The Boy Who Flew With Eagles by Ben Woodard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Overall, I loved this story. Having been on a female author/leading female character entertainment diet, I saw how female empty this book was. (My youth was spent on a diet fed to females by males).
Yes, the book spoke to sharing and caring for others on the planet, but it is entirely lacking female, except for the mother eagle. Even the boy had no mother or sisters. No human fem anywhere.
If, in fact, this kind of book was to help reluctant males to read, why do they go on and get better jobs and never get judged by what they wear or their size? If the males that read this kind of book were actually addressed, why is ecology poohed upon by the heavily male corporate and politicized world?
The overall lesson I learned from this book is that we have gentled males of their own responsibility for themselves and others to the point that if this book were about the female equivalent the boys wouldn’t have read it? How sad! Not only didn’t this story get the point across, but it also didn’t even embrace it, itself! Sharing and caring.
The minor truth was that father eagle flew away and gave the job to the mother eagle cause he couldn’t handle it!
No, I didn’t lose sight of the main objective of the book. It is marvelous that the boy got to learn how to fly and help the eagle family and eventually his own tribe. That is why the story got four stars. But the rest is lost for society.
Little monsters, it’s time to go to bed!: How to put little monsters to sleep with a toothbrush and dental floss by Olivia Longray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When my second oldest was a toddler he saw the commercial about how the tooth-monster can attack teeth that aren’t brushed. I never had to remind him to brush his teeth. That was an effective commercial for him. This book would have had the same effect for him and probably lots of children who might be reluctant to dental hygiene.
The pictures are delightful. The fantasy goes a bit too far but it just gives the readers more pictures to enjoy and there is plenty of room for discussion about tooth care.
The Alien Within: Book 2 of The Alien Chronicles by Robin Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I think I like this book better than the first one. There was a little more sanity and well thought out decisions made. Of course, there was a little teen angst but it seemed the major characters thought with true love and caring for the object of the love.
The author chose to go into the heads of the major characters to give the reader insight into their souls. I think I would have loved this book as a teen. I liked it a lot as an adult.
The ending came far too soon but at the appropriate time. I can’t wait to read the next book! I’d love to see the author take us to the cloud to meet the other aliens that were still in their own form and see how this Alien turned human affects their thoughts and ways of living.
50 Loom Knitted Stuffed Animal Pattern Collection by Scarlett Royale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is kept for its reference capabilities. I have not made every animal in the book. But I have made enough to know that I am happy to have the book.
One of the problems I have with the book is that sometimes the patterns can be confusing and there are a few errors. But the best part of this book is the links to the tutorials. They take you right to the YouTube teaching how to make what you want to make. My latest is the snowman, that looks so cute! And it had very little sewing.
I would like to someday get the paper version so I don’t have to be on the computer while making these little cuties. But in the meantime, this will do!
My Alien by Robin Martin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Though I have rated this three stars, I still went and bought the next book. I have to stay true to me and my feelings.
The first part of this book is a lot like The Host by Stephenie Meyer. Ugh! what a horrid book that was. So as this alien takes over this teen girl it feels just like that!
Then this turned into a YA. Yes, with all that angst! UGH! times two!
By this point, I was ready to throw the book away. But I couldn’t get my other book to load up. So I continued reading. Somewhere around the three-quarters mark, I somehow cared for a couple of the characters.
I didn’t like the ending, a bit of a cliff-hanger. But curiosity got the better of me. I want to see what happens.
If you liked The Host, you might love this book, too. If you love teen angst, this is right up your alley,
The Walking Dead, Vol. 2: Miles Behind Us by Robert Kirkman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I love two-parter, year-long Christmas gifts! You see I promised my adult son one Walking Dead paperback a month and promised myself the Kindle version for me. So I got number two at the beginning of this month as he already had book one.
I didn’t even bother trying to read the paper version. The font is too light. But I love the Kindle version. I can tap on any picture and enlarge it. Every aspect of the drawing is there, all the word clear. It makes me want to do a lot of comic books this way.
This particular volume takes us to the farm and Hershel and Maggie. It wasn’t as detailed as the episodes that we binged a few years ago. Yet it is fun to see how this story continued when it was fresh from Robert Kirkman’s imagination. I love how the show has tried to stay true and yet worked with Mr. Kirkman on new storylines to make a fantastic show about people dealing with survival.
Can’t wait for next month!
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I picked up the combo-version for four Mary Poppins books. I got the Audible for the book for whispersynch. But I wasn’t careful and found out that the Audible version was just for the first book.
I called Amazon and Audible about the problem that I couldn’t read the next books with Audible or text-to-speech. They made it right and took back the Audible and so I will continue reading with TTS. But I wanted to make sure that folks understood that the narrator was fantastic. She didn’t play Mr. Banks very well but Mary Poppins and the kids she acted out quite nicely.
I read all these books as a kid so it is fun to read them now with an adult (some find that hard to believe) point of view.
Hope others get the chance to read/listen to these books!
The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Yawn. Another gruff old rich guy who finds love. Bah Humbug!
The narrator, Richard Armitage, did a marvelous job of acting/reading this. It made a nice bedtime story. But mostly I was irritated that the story was about the mean guy finding love and not the children or their mother who worked so hard at making life loving and kind. Even the guy who instituted the children as hirelings would have made a better story. The rich old codger made me worry about the little girl he was so fascinated by. Sure it was ‘innocent’ still it was shudder-inducing for me.
Still, for a freebie from Audible, I guess I shouldn’t complain–much.
If you love the Dicken’s Carol garbage, you’ll love this.
Darswords 
You must be logged in to post a comment.