It looks like my friend Ralph recommended this to me in 2013. Sorry for taking so long, but I will finish it today, as I am in the last chapter. Yay!
This was probably one of the most yawn-worthy books I have read in a long time, yet it didn’t help me go to sleep. I kept hoping the story would get more exciting, but it didn’t.
Still, it could just be me. Check out the blurbs and comments. Many were quite positive. Well, at least I gave it a chance. It wasn’t horrid.
Welcome! Linda’s here with our twenty-first prompt for Just Jot It January 2025. Our prompt today is courtesy of the lovely J-Dub. Thank you, J-Dub! Please visit J-Dub’s blog to read her posts and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already. Your prompt for JusJoJan January 21st, 2025, is “content.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
While a lot is going on in the world right now, I am just content reading books and watching Jack Black movies (Gulliver’s Travel and The Big Year) and then Friends. My health is worth the energy it takes to stay light. It is the wrong time of year to let things get to you. Winter, dark days. Colder than most, with a lack of snow here. Snow at least makes everything look clean and is rarely as cold as the no-snow days.
This is the continuation of a fun Sci-fi series. In the first, the main characters are planet-bound for the most part. In this book, we are space traveling. It is very much a space opera. I could almost see this as a television or movie series.
Emily Woo Zeller (Narrator) changes voices seamlessly. She is amazing. Never once did I wonder who was talking or from whose point of view we were looking.
I can’t wait to listen to the next book.
If you like sci-fi, especially space travel, please seek out the Archangel Project.
Hi! It’s time for our twentieth prompt for Just Jot it January 2025. Today, we have a prompt gifted to us by the incomparable Kim. Thank you, Kim! Please be sure to visit Kim’s blog to read her posts and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already.
If a review of sci-fi that speaks of planets couldn’t use the word “antipodean,” what could. But the main characters never got to the other side of the planet. Oh, but look! I used it anyway! 🤪
When I tried to listen to the text-to-speech of the Kindle version the other day, it didn’t work. I decided to try again last night, and it worked out quite nicely.
I felt a little lost at first as the easter religions and the Dalai Lama are less known to me than the Judeo-Christian Western religions. However, author John Lundin quickly helped us see how familiar those seemingly foreign concepts are. I found myself quite interested.
This book will need multiple reads. This is the first one to get acquainted and see our common interests. But next, I want to go through and practice some of the meditation and kindnesses Mr. Lundin teaches us to use.
I highly recommend this book for seekers and for those who love comparative religions.
“Hi there! I’m back with our nineteenth prompt for Just Jot it January 2025. Today, our prompt comes to us from the wonderful Willow. Thank you, Willow! Please be sure to visit Willow’s blog to read her posts and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already.
Why do I write reviews? It started out in the same way as blogging. I needed a place to keep track. What have I read? Sure, I can go to GoodReads to see if I have read a book, but since I try to record bits of my life here, I can see how that book choice or emotions of the day reflect each other. What I read can affect my life. And my life can carry into my thoughts as I read.
Why did I read this particular book? The author gave me the book long ago when I lived in Reno. He live(d) in Lake Tahoe at the time. I promised a review, so I put it on my ‘Currently Reading’ shelf on GoodReads. That was to prompt me to read it soon.
That shelf has overgrown. When a library or Libby book comes up, it goes to the top of the list over those I own. Suddenly, I have 85 books I am supposedly currently reading. Ha! So my new plan is to pull from the bottom of the list (first books added) and then back to the top, the latest added. My plan is to eventually meet in the middle. Does anyone want to take bets on how long that’s going to take?
I was surprised at how much I appreciated this particular book. It seemed to start rather boring. But soon I found that there were answers here I’d been asking, even though I didn’t know I was asking those questions.
Why. The word my kids learned nearly as soon as they could talk. It is an amazing work that mostly keeps me wondering. How often did I hear my babies ask, “Why is the sky blue?” Or just “Why” to nearly anything. I feel we should stay in that frame of mind. Stay young and keep wondering, WHY?
For a non-fiction, history type book, this was very interesting. George Stephanopoulos wrote the book and narrated most of it. He is a quiet unassuming man, who knows from experience about the subject matter. He was even able to insert a bit of humor now and then. Not as well as his wife, Ali Wentworth does humor, but, lightened the heavy subject matter a bit.
Lisa Dickey was a contributing author.
Peter Ganim, Elisabeth Rodgers also narrated. That brought the possible tome to something to keep connected.
I highly recommend this book if you are curious about the workings of such places as The Situation Room. Why is it there? When did it start? Who has used it and why? It is intriguing.
Keke Palmer has quite the personality. I remember seeing her as a child actress. Her energy was terrific. And I remember her in Grey’s Anatomy as a pregnant teen. She has always been a great actress with a lot to say.
Though I wanted to love this book it seemed Ms. Palmer couldn’t decide if she was writing an autobiography or a self-help book for herself. Either way was okay. I still enjoyed her take on life and trying to make it a good place for everyone.
Probably teens or young adults will connect to this best. But if you like Keke, you’ll enjoy it, too.
Finishing a book early on at bedtime, I was left shuffling. Libby had a Jodi Picoult. I thought I could never go wrong with anything of hers. Yet, within the chapter, I realized I had already read Small Great Things. I enjoyed that book, but I wanted something new. So I searched Libby and found My Sister’s Keeper.
This one immediately intrigued me. The younger daughter shows initiative in fixing her problems.
Richard Poe, Julia Gibson, Barbara McCulloh, Tom Stechschulte, Carol Monda, Jennifer Ikeda, and Andy Paris narrate this book, keeping the reader/listener engaged. However, I could not get to sleep at a decent hour.
I loved hearing the characters’ separate points of view.
I’m trying not to give spoilers. There is a great blurb on GoodReads and Amazon if you are interested. But make sure the Kleenex is near the end of the book.
This was a fun space adventure. Most of it is planet-bound, but quick spoiler: there will be space.
Look, this is a fast-paced book. The narrator, Emily Woo Zeller, seamlessly switches characters and emotions. I’m sure the paper book is good, but I have to admit that I can’t imagine not hearing it. But it made a bad bedtime book. I didn’t want to put it away. I probably should have been a book for three nights, but I couldn’t stop.
The main character, Noa, is quite persnickety, but that is required of the movement leader and the spaceship’s pilot. But it gets in her way. She doesn’t know who to trust. All she knows is she needs to save people from being tortured or killed. Noa is flawed but likable. I found myself rooting for her.
If you get the chance to read/listen to the book, I think you will love it, too. It is on Audible. Please give it a try.
The dangers, frustrations, and excitements of being female are explored through the lives of three women. I found myself relating completely to some situations, yet I could not relate to others. What was made clear is that just because we are all women, we are all so different. And honestly, viva that difference! The one sure thing that can be learned here is we are not to judge. Maybe we can learn lessons from the mistakes or the successes of others.
I feel some of my readers may want the warning that the book is sexually explicit, but knowing how closely sex is to a depth of relationships, you learn why the women have such difficult choices in their lives.
I am now interested in watching the series on Starz.
Feminism is clearly seen here, where we can claim our strengths and weaknesses to work on. If you like strong open books about contemporary women, this book is for you. I must admit that listening on the Libby audiobook to the four narrators, one for each of the main characters, helped the reader to feel their story deeper. They are Tara Lynne Barr, Marin Ireland, Mena Suvari, and author/narrator Lisa Taddeo. Great work, all.
Once again, the book came to me out of order, so I’ve yet to read the first four novels in the series. Still, the author keeps the reader up-to-date on the main character’s goals and needs.
Hollis McCarthy (Narrator) acts out the characters flawlessly. Between the writing and the audio, the reading went quickly. It is a good book if you want something fast between larger reads.
Between cooking and murder, this book is not nearly as fun as Nancy Warren’s Vampire Knitting Club series. I don’t like cooking. I’m forever on a diet of gluten-free or carbs so that these pastry-rich stories may be invoking a murderous feeling. Still, I like meandering between books of differing subject matters.
I will keep reading the series and other books by Nancy Warren. This just wasn’t a favorite. By the way, I was happy to listen to it on Libby’s audio version.
Anna Crowe narrated so well that I thought it had to be the author reading her own work. This was a nice hike with a few women on the John Muir Trail. I felt like I was right there without freezing or mosquito bites, vicariously eating a high-calorie diet to keep alive while moving up and down the mountains.
This was inspiring writing for sure. I want to do that kind of camping and climbing. I want to be able to write as well as the author. She felt old in her fifties. But here I am inspired by her and hoping I can find a way to do this kind of thing. It is time to start getting in shape. Maybe by summer, I can walk more than two miles a day. They managed 10 a day. I believe it can be done. I think these old bones would be happier with me if I tried.
If you can’t get into nature, maybe it’s too cold right now. But this book will help make you feel it is summer and you are making the JMT with friends. I recommend this read!
Working on my series: Haven.
Doodler (zendoodle.com)
Music major: voice and piano
Mom of four great adults
Reiki II practitioner
I have been on disability/retired for 10 years now from depression, anxiety and fibromyalgia.
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