The Magic of Friendship Snow by Andi Cann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a cute picture book for winter. The pictures are lovely and the story was sweet. I think my only problem was how the girl could give the snowman to her human friend when it wasn’t winter. But maybe I missed something. I read it just before bed and I was so sleepy. But nice to read that story of learning to be a friend.
The Hierophant’s Daughter by M.F. Sullivan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
Confusion mixed with action. I kept reading past understanding what was going on. I blamed using text-to-speech as often I am not sure what is going on in books. I miss the cues of a new chapter and who it is dedicated to. Or misinterpret what is it all about. So I’ll own what I didn’t get.
If a book is confusing I often keep reading and the context will bring me up to date. Or I will give it up. This book had enough action that I thought I’d stick it through. I got into it enough to care about the main character but I just didn’t understand the rules of the game as the main character seemed confused about it all, too. For the confusion, I’m rating it one star.
I’m grateful to NetGalley to have the chance to read it. It just wasn’t for me.
Oh, hey, I think I’ll move this up to three stars. I just remembered how diverse the characters were, the main character grieving her wife was maybe what pulled me in and made me care.
The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye by Robert Kirkman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
My son loaned me his copy of the paper book. He knew I was into The Walking Dead television show.
Zombies are dumb and they barely shuffle along. I am not into zombies or horror in the way that tries to scare you, tries to make you jump, tries to get your heart beating faster, tries to make you cling to the person next to you. (Okay, that last one can be fun, but I don’t need that kind of encouragement!)
What I am into, with all science fiction and fantasy, is how we can be better as humans, how to improve our lives in general and individually. How we could ruin our lives if we don’t listen to sci-fi/fantasy warnings as a society and as science itself.
So for me, The Walking Dead is the best example of what we all need to see. First of all the diversity of people in the books and show are realistic. There are as many men as there are women. There are all kinds of people. And though the story has a man as the main character, Kirkman makes sure that all the people are still fighting old fights as they get together or find themselves alone. One of the first scenes at the camp are women doing laundry. These issues get drawn and challenge themselves. As the women are taught to help keep the camp safe they see they can all take turns taking care of their own clothes and hygiene. Children will have to be taken care of by everyone as they are the future. Thereby those in camp teach each other what they know so all jobs are interchangeable.
In the television show, we’ve seen Maggie and Michone taking over as the heads of their communities. Of course, this is only book number one. So it is still about Rick. I think Robert Kirkman tried to make sure anyone, male or female, could relate to Rick, waking in the middle of a Zombie Apocalypse.
Introduced in this first book is how hard it is to get everyone on the same page. Is it better to stay and hope help comes? Or is it better to go and find a safer place and assume help is ourselves? Robert shows us how the lowly pizza delivery guy is the one to save the life of the so-called hero. That’s putting to the world that the idea that all people have worth and all could be the hero we need. Respect in The Walking Dead is the lesson we have to learn before some survival drama comes into our lives as a whole.
As for the difference between the books and the show, I think I like the show better so far, but as I move into the next book I will want to keep revising that. Comic books are different than non-illustrated books in that the emotions can be drawn on. But these can be misinterpreted. If this were a purely written book, we might have gone into Rick’s mind to hear his thinking about his wife being with his best friend.
The comparison is like oranges and apples. The fruit is there to glean the same intentions, the textures differ. By the way, I love the artwork. And as I’m finishing my NaNoWriMo today or tomorrow, I’m wondering how fun it might be to try and make it into a comic book/graphic novel.
I hope my review may change the minds about this story. It isn’t a zombie story. It’s a people story.
The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Do I say “Research?” It is due to the fact that I am writing a fictional ‘zombie’ book for NaNoWriMo that I picked up the Kindle and Audible versions of this book. My zombies are merely sick people. I am not a medical person so I needed some input on how it all starts and how contagious it all is. As it turns out it isn’t as bad as Ebola, but the gore of my book might evolve due to this book.
Meanwhile, this is a book I put off for decades. I remember a guy named Jason at the school I worked at that came up to me with the paperback. He was so excited about it. But the more he talked the squirmier I got. “And it’s a true story!” He exclaimed. I started watching shows like Outbreak. We saw it in the theater. Remember that sneeze? I nearly ran out of there when someone coughed.
I grew–good or bad, I guess that’s for others to judge. But lately, I can watch a disaster movie, or The Walking Dead and notice only the social reaction to the monsters or the disease or the overwhelming snow. So I thought I could now face this book.
Reading happens at bedtime. Bet you can guess how this book blended into dreams. And since I listened as I read the Kindle with the Audible, that voice! Richard M. Davidson’s voice. What a deep bass and excellent for the genre! Creepy and authoritative! Wow!
What I learned is that my characters in my book were dressed properly to deal with their strains of disease. And I learned I never want to be anywhere near someone coughing! If I was a germaphobe before… well, let’s just say there isn’t enough hand sanitizer in the world for me!
Knowing this is nonfiction made this even more frightening. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago there was an Ebola scare. What a horrid disease! And this author did a poetic job of helping the reader to see it and feel it. If you haven’t read it yet, climb out of your hiding place and give it a try. Forewarned is forearmed as they say. Might as well get the Audible version to make it even more real. I will try to read more of his books now. Time for more vitamin C and Airborne!
The Hope Chest: A Novel by Viola Shipman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book was personal for me. I recently lost a dear cousin to ALS. It was through her mother that I got my antique hope chest. It was one of those dome-lidded train trunks. My grandfather and brother lined that hope chest with cedar and the lid with velvet. With all that family involved in this chest, how could I not fall into the thought processes of the day? Girls grow up and have families. They get married. Become someone else’s. That’s not all bad. (I’ve grown to accept that a hope chest could just be hope of growing up and having a place of your own, not put the hope into another person.) But I had a wonderful family full of aunts and uncles and double the grandparents. No matter how life at school or home was, there were other relatives of love I could rely on.
My hope chest aunt taught me to knit. All the cousins, girl cousins, learned to knit slippers. My other aunt taught me to crochet and sew. Mom didn’t have the patience for all that but having a fantastic extended family gave me hope and taught me what I think everyone should know. That you can love past differences. The uncle attached to that aunt, taught me how to tie my shoes. That uncle and the uncle attached to my crochet aunt, taught me that even if you disagree so much with ideas the rest of the family hold, everyone will still love you. Just disagree with you.
My brother, who helped my grandfather fix up that chest, was killed in a car accident. That grandfather died of Parkinson’s. Even that chest disappeared in the many moves of my life. But the love of that family is still there. My cousins and I see each other on FaceBook daily. It is the only reason I haven’t left social media. It is my new hope chest. It’s in my heart. And so is the cousin who isn’t with us anymore, at least not where we can see her.
This book brought all that up for me. Sure, in ways it is a little hokey. But it wasn’t a stupid romance novel. It was about people who love or learn to love and help each other. The writer wrote characters I could believe. The mom was a little too strict with the little girl, seemed she wouldn’t let her be a little girl. But there are people like that. The woman with ALS seemed a little too perfect, though in pain and having the disease. The husband was every woman’s dream husband, so maybe not so real. Even still, when a book can reach into your heart like this one did and you see and smell the garden and the lake and feel the love, that’s a good book. Bring your Kleenex.
Thank you, NetGalley for letting me read this gem!
Wretched Wicked by S.M. Reine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. I always love me a Sara Reine story. This is the first I was able to finish in one night.
Sadly, it wasn’t about my favorite characters. I know a lot of the reviewer LOVE Cesar Hawke and his boss, Fritz Friederling, they are not the highest on my list. Still, it was a good story and a fast review of Fritz’s life. He hasn’t had top billing in any of these stories. So for those who need a review, or those who want to start somewhere other than Six Moon Summer, hundreds of books ago for SM Reine (or so it seems–she is so prolific!) Wretched Wicked would be a good start.
I did enjoy seeing life from Fritz’s point of view. I think I understand him a lot better. Can’t wait for more from Ms. Reine. Glad I don’t really live in her universe, but happy to meet all who do!
Undead Drive-Thru by Rebecca Besser
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was on one of those Free Kindle Book offers and since it was in the genre I’m writing about, I thought I’d give it a try.
The story was short and darkish humor. It could have been a story that occurred at the start of The Walking Dead. I could almost see it in comic book form. I finished reading it in one night. It draws on the same psychic bent that poor Maggie’s dad, Hershel, had on the show, that the zombie is just a sick version of the loved one.
It was a fun short read. You might like it.
The Regrets of Cyrus Dodd by Bette Lee Crosby
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. Sorry, I’m so late in reviewing. I read it quite a while ago. Still, I remember it with fondness.
This is the fourth of this series and I never got book three. I hate reading things out of order. But the book sat on my Kindle shelf so long I decided to give it a try. I’m so glad I did. This was one of the best character development stories I’ve read in a long time.
Bette Lee Crosby can write so well, you feel you are there, smelling, tasting, feeling everything the characters do. Their mental confusions can make you wonder about your own thoughts. The sadness the characters feel draw the Kleenex near. But when things work out you nearly are jumping up and down.
Please give this gem a try. It easily could stand alone. The other books in the series only give you a bit of a back knowledge, not really needed to care about what is happening and to whom. Loved it! I can’t wait to read more of Ms. Crosby’s work!
Playing with Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics by Lawrence O’Donnell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I like Lawrence O’Donnell. He’s not my favorite. But I relate to him in that he is about Southern California where others are all in New York. I relate to him because he’s close in age to me. He seems to see things the way I do, most of the time. Not always. So when I had another credit on Audible I decided to grab his book.
It makes me a little embarrassed to admit that this was tough to get through. Not because it was a difficult read or that Mr. O’Donnell is boring. It is just… well… I lived through this history.
1968 is the year I graduated. The draft and Viet Nam were in the news and alive in our school. The boys who graduated the year before us were drafted. By 1968 we lost so many guys that were friends. So this history is painful. Oh, and if we didn’t lose the guys to death they went to Canada and we never saw them again. Or they killed themselves. It was a hard time to be a teen. In our high school, the spirit of our class was depressed. We lost most of the games. The year before and the year after the spirit was normal. But I really feel that that depression that lived in our souls was due to everyone knowing we might not see each other again. So I entered this read with that heavy weight.
Not only was this hard to listen to because of the death of friends, but we’d also lived through Kennedy being assassinated and the disharmonious political life was on the news every day. Listening to the political upheaval again did give me a little understanding as to what happened but it also hurt like reliving it all. As my bedtime book it brought dreams back I never wanted to see again.
On the other hand, if you didn’t graduate that year, especially if you are younger, this is an important look at that history. Lawrence reads and tells this history with reverence and his research was deep. Even if you aren’t his fan, this may give a bit of history to your political understanding. I know I am nowhere near politically adept, I like seeing how others perceived that time. Just like now, our families, friends, churches, and personal experiences color how we see our moment in time. It wasn’t quite such a divided world as it is now, and yet it was. Walter Cronkite helped us get through some of it but I can remember family members arguing about all of it. A Catholic President? Unheard of! The Pope will be running the show. Yep, I heard that said. People who were marching were unAmerican? Really? What about the Tea Party? Anyway, if you get the chance, read or listen to this and see what you can remember way back then.
The Writer’s Digest Sourcebook for Building Believable Characterwriter’s Digest Sourcebook for Building Believable Characters S by Marc McCutcheon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is my go-to book for NaNoWriMo. It is great to set up characters for your book. I don’t know how others do it. I have a program called WriteItNow that is good for generating names. Other people use that program for everything. But I write in yWriter. After I have my names, I go to this book. I have tabs set up for different characteristics and I use a number generator on my phone to give me the characteristic according to the list of each page. I try not to cheat. If the character is very flawed it is easier to write them. Between the name and the characteristics, a story seems to emerge.
The beginning of this book has a character development questionnaire. I have found this handy, also. This is the best book to get me started writing and helps me keep writing unless my characters are stuck behind boulders and not moving. Then I need bigger help. Probably a sprint/prompt=sprompt will get my characters out. Or I’ll pull a George R.R. Martin on them.
If you get the chance to buy this book, you will be buying a treasure!
Congrats! You have completed your goal of reading 100 books for the 2013 Reading Challenge! 115 of 100 (115%)
Congrats! You have completed your goal of reading 225 books for the 2012 Reading Challenge! 225 of 225 (100%)
Congrats! You have completed your goal of reading 200 books for the 2011 Reading Challenge! 204 of 200 (102%)
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