Category: Books



Seed to Harvest: The Complete Patternist Series (Patternist, #1-4)Seed to Harvest: The Complete Patternist Series by Octavia E. Butler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have loved other books by Octavia E. Butler, but this set of four books just didn’t do it for me. I couldn’t figure out the characters, who was who. Maybe it was because I had to listen to it on text-to-speech, though I did try to follow with my eyes. Still, I did stay with it. A lot of times if something doesn’t make sense it comes together in the end. But I didn’t find that. I found four different stories about similar things.

But don’t take my word for it. Others have loved these books so maybe it is just me and this time in my life. Heck, toothache from infection, smoky-hot summer, Covid19, and its craziness could have flavored how I took the books in. So maybe I’ll read them again later. I see that many people read these in publication order rather than chronological and get a lot more out of all of this combo. Ms. Butler writes well and keeps the reader interested, even when the story itself doesn’t go in the flow I think it should.

Try it. You might like it!

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The Walking Dead, Vol. 12: Life Among ThemThe Walking Dead, Vol. 12: Life Among Them by Robert Kirkman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

To continue my COVID19, hot, smoky summer, toothache/fever distraction I lit into number 12 of The Walking Dead. Life Among Them

Again, the artwork and story were fantastic! Again, the ability to enlarge each frame by way of Kindle Fire/tablet was a miracle to me.

And though we have arrived at the same destination, Alexandria, some characters have changed from the book to the television series. Both versions are well done and believable. I think the TV version even more diverse than the books, though it is obvious that Robert Kirkman tried to be inclusive. Maybe it is just the natural flow of history that the one that came out later has been made more accepting of all. Including the good and bad aspects of humanity.

Ah! Safe! The scariest feeling to those who have lived with trauma for a while. Who can trust it? But our road travelers are weary. Please, just let us rest. But the dangers are higher than out on the road. People are scarier than zombies! Anyone with a touch of social anxiety knows that!

Anyway, kudos for another great issue!

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The Walking Dead, Vol. 11: Fear the HuntersThe Walking Dead, Vol. 11: Fear the Hunters by Robert Kirkman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In this hot, smoky summer of 2020 with COVID19, masks, and distancing, my personal issue being an infected tooth that caused headaches, earaches, and fevers which started in March but I couldn’t get an appointment until August, I needed distractions. Why not some Walking Dead? It was how I felt.

I love comparing the television show with the comics. So different yet carrying the same basic story. The actors, characters changed or exchanged to make the show, I think, better. But I might have thought differently had I read the books first.

Cannibalism and ‘look at the flowers’ are combined here. Even the Dale story has lasted far longer and so different than the show.

For people that don’t have vision issues, the paperback would be a nice addition to the collection. For me, I just can’t read the small print. And the Kindle version offers the feature where you can read frame by frame and enlarge it on the Fire or tablet to see all the fine artwork. And I love the combination that this series gives the reader.

I can see why a TV series needed to be made as the book couldn’t contain all the bits that needed to be shared. A picture being worth a thousand words, more pictures were needed, even when the artist and author had done their best, there was more story to tell.

Yes, I’m addicted to both versions of TWD!

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This is my second reading of the first book of this box-set Find my first review here.

This reading, I was surprised at how current this dystopian story feels. It was only a year ago that I read the first book. Yet now, this seems so scarily close. The author died in 2009, so it was before all of this. How prescient!

As I mentioned in the previous review, I didn’t know what happened after the end of the first book. The second fills in the holes of what happened with the daughter.

At the same time, I wasn’t happy with how the story goes back and forth in person and times, beginning with that second book. I think it is more noticeable when you listen to your books on text-to-speech. I think my eyes might have noticed subtle changes. But that was such a little thing that it didn’t lower my rating.

I cried at the end of the book. I felt I wanted more. I wanted to be with Lauren and everyone in the story longer. The author was excellent in how she created a religion and gave us the ways it grew. How she drew the reader in to know the main character so profoundly was amazing. Now I want to read all her books! I am a fan!!!!


Ready Player OneReady Player One by Ernest Cline
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! I want to thank my friend Tania for highly recommending this to me. I read it with text-to-speech and I just couldn’t stop reading it. I think it will be even more fun on Audible where Wil Wheaton is the narrator, so I plan to order it next month and reread again soon.

I already miss being in the cyber world with Wade. This book isn’t for my generation. It is for my offspring’s generation. The list of games and early computers, the list of movies and music brings excitement for me vicariously mostly because I remember my children getting so excited about their games. Sure I was lucky to learn as I watched them absorb computereze. Commadore64 and Tandy Sensation were my first chances to go beyond snail mail and long-distance. I wrote to a friend on the BBs. Met many more online friends. My kids played game systems. This book brings the 80s and 90s back with a huge adventure!

If you get the chance read the book!

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The Space Between (Outlander, #7.5)The Space Between by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

That was fun. But so far from as long as I wanted. I don’t like short stories. I love a chance to get to know characters deeply. And though we met a couple of these earlier I wanted a lot more to their story. Even the newish ones I wanted to know deeper than given here.

Remember the Comte de Saint-Germain and Maitre Raymond? They’re back. I could do without the Comte. Maybe he is redeemable. But Raymond has some surprises.

Jamie’s nephew Michael, and his stepdaughter Joanie (Laoghaire’s daughter) appeared in this story also.

Either way, I would love to see a lot more of their life stories.

The most important concept, to me, was the possibility of time-travel into the future. Please bring this into a Gabaldon-size novel.

I want MORE!

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Lord John and the Hand of Devils (Lord John Grey, #0.5, #1.5, #2.5)Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I couldn’t leave the world of Outlander. This little book kept me involved for a couple more nights.

Short stories are not my cup of tea. Still, the three stories included kept my interest until the end.

Jeff Woodman, the narrator, held his own covering the characters and most especially our Lord John.

Diana Gabaldon’s wonderful writing and wit show throughout this book. And it did keep me in the Outlander world, sans time travel.

It is worth the read.

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Independence Day: Crucible: The Official PrequelIndependence Day: Crucible: The Official Prequel by Greg Keyes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Okay. Not my favorite book. But it certainly filled the bill for missing information.

We watched, as usual, Independence Day on, yep, July fourth. I wanted to watch our DVD but the machine ate the DVD. Luckily, the show was on Live TV. We recorded so we could watch when we could get together as a group at the same time. We, also, recorded ID Resurgence. Getting all four of us in the same room at the same time is rare. So we barely got ID finished on 7/4. IDR happened on the fifth.

We’d seen Resurgence before and were unimpressed. This time we seemed to be more into the identifying stars and characters from before. That’s when we noticed that there were characters that seemed to be important but were unknown to us.

My husband watches shows with Google ready. It was when I asked him who is that and why are they supposed to be important? I don’t remember them from ID.

This book is the missing piece. Though it isn’t exciting enough to have a movie of its own, without it Resurge keeps you wondering. Maybe this should have been a series of three one hour shows? At any rate, this helped make the final show make more sense.

On the other hand, I am no more interested to rewatch Resurgence now that I know what I do. And it seems this could have the possibility of another movie or two as we learn more about aliens of all kinds and the hope of global cooperation.

So, it’s worth the read.

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Written in My Own Heart's Blood (Outlander, #8)Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thought that book 7, Echo In The Bone, was my favorite of the Outlander books. Nope. Written in My Own Heart’s Blood wins. It was fantastic!

Regardless of the time the characters land in they all grow and help us learn the rules of Gabaldon’s Time Travel.

What can I tell you that won’t spoil it for you?

As usual, there is a lot of research evident in the reading and as one supposes, there are instances of poetic license, which Diana Gabaldon admits that she has it framed on her wall.

The most exciting part of the book is as Breanna talks about Doctor Who in a chapter called, Thank You For The Fish. (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy). Now I really wish I had a TARDIS so I could play in all three universes.

And I wish I could move on to book 9 but my Audible credits don’t come until the middle of the month. A quick note about why I read by Audible most often now. Actual reading is impossible for my eyes. It seems a tracking issue. So I use a lot of Kindle Text-to-Speech. Though TTS works well for most books when there are other languages involved I want to hear the words pronounced correctly. Davina Porter is able to range the language barriers and character ages and sexes with apparent ease. I love listening to her.

If you get the chance, the books are as good if not better than the shows, and the Audible versions are the best of all the worlds. Enjoy!

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An Echo in the Bone (Outlander, #7)An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book may be my favorite of all the Outlanders. Maybe because of how I chose to read it nearly 24/7. After all, I had reached the skinny-mini underbelly of all streamings–teen or young people who look like Barbie Dolls going through the samo-samo life issues. Give me some older adults, women of all shapes and colors, real people, not Hollywood-mothers, whores, or weaklings. Not enough streaming of strong women holding up half the world. So back to reading the only way I could. Audible.

Also, I was making scrubbies and washcloths while listening. That helped me ‘hear’ better.

By constant reading, I could stay in the story better. And family members came and listened with me on occasion. So it wasn’t a lonely process.

At any rate, I loved watching the cast of the characters struggle with life and time travel issues and historical moments. I especially loved the parts about Brianna and Roger at Lallybroch recovering letters from Claire and Jamie. And though I used to find Willy obnoxious, I think I clicked with him this time. And I grew more in love with John Grey. How nice to see good, honest, quality men portrayed.

I tried to find something else to read last night as my bedtime read but couldn’t resist looking for more Outlander. Now I am listening to book 8, Written In My Own Heart’s Blood.

Time to lower my reading goal as I seem stuck in tome reading. I love it! I hope you get the chance to read these. Oh, and Davina Porter does so many voices so well. I still wish for more actual actors for sometimes Bri and Claire sound the same, and all the children sound the same, and Roger, even with his sore throat, sounds like other men. Still, for one person covering so many people, Davina is fantastic!

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