‘When death is not seen as a normal thing, it becomes a scary thing.’
Yvensong, in a discussion about bonding with pets, and grief of the loss of pets, and people.
Pixabay.com
One-liner Wednesday is a fun prompt by Linda G. Hill.
Tag Archive: grief
Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose by Joe Biden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I started listening to this book while still reading Fire and Fury. Vice President Biden’s voice was soothing after the paranoia of the other book. It was like my dad was reading to me. He is so calm and self-assured it shows even with all that was going on in his life during the period of his life that this book represents.
It isn’t as though we all weren’t there and saw what happened. But hearing it all from his point of view gave it all a bit of depth. I don’t want to repeat what was there so I will only tell you that I think everyone should read this. If you can it is better with VP Joe Biden’s voice.
Warning, bring your Kleenex.
Oh, the only part I didn’t like was the interview at the end. I don’t think it was needed as it was just a review of what was in the rest of the book. And I think VP Biden’s voice was too tired to continue.
Shattered: Logan Book 1 by Valerie Davisson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was an interesting story. I could have done without the mystery, especially the murdery bit. But I kept reading beyond when the book didn’t work for me.
As I have stated before, I have trouble reading tree-books. It has to do with my tracking abilities. But I am a life long reader that doesn’t give up that easily. So I set up my Kindle with black background and largish white font. Then I use the text-to-speech to track with what I do read. I don’t do well with just audio as I tend to ADD away with shiny things. But with both modalities working I can get into stories very deeply.
This version was difficult for me. I don’t know what happened but I couldn’t use the black background/white font. It only wanted white background black font or everything went black. The text-to-speech worked but I couldn’t follow with my eyes. I finally gave up. At about 60%! I do hope the author and or the publisher got that all fixed. Since I was asked to review this book I have to be honest, the font/formatting, was the worst for me.
I let it go for a couple months but the story kept haunting me. I wanted to know what happened. I had loved the research shown about glassblowing. Native American bits. And seeing what seemed to me a realistic look at bereavement. I loved the realism of teaching and use of music. Honestly, I didn’t need the murder bit. I did like the character that did the killing and I thought it gave her a humanity having lupus and all. But I guess some people like to have the tension a good old murder gives a book. Just not me.
Still, I can’t wait to see what happens next. For book two I have the Audible version. I’m getting better at keeping my hands busy doing sudoku, knitting, or drawing. So in the next few days I will review that one, too.
I think others will enjoy this story, too.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I want to thank NetGalley for letting me read this book. It did keep my interest.
That said, when you read like I do, using text-to-speech almost exclusively, books like this leave me feeling lost. I feel I may have missed the important sentences as to who-done-it and why. There were a lot of characters and they all sound the same, the writing style of the narrative is the same in the dialogue. That may not mean too much when visually engaged with the story, but I often didn’t know which characters thoughts/memories I was in.
This was an ARC or early read copy so by the time others will read it these other problems may be fixed: Between sections, there is a line ___. Often that stops the TTS. And often the name of the person who is starring in the next section is totally left out with TTS. I assume these are formatting issues that will be solved and others who get to read this with their eyes will be able to stay with the story and find it all pulls together.
Using the thoughts of one who seems autistic or in other ways a little different than the norm, was a nice tool. I found the character Cameron to be very interesting. Others I found harder to understand. Maybe that says more about me than the characters being portrayed?
At any rate, I think others may find this book to be very good. I loved to see your comments. I may have to come back to this book and read again to see if I can find where I turned left when the writer turned right. ???
Light, Coming Back by Ann Wadsworth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
For once, I was glad that the font was too small for me. It meant that I had to savor my moments with the story. This was like the fine wine, dark chocolate, aged cheese kind of book. I cherished every moment with it. It wasn’t the kind of book that left you tense or anxious in any way. In fact, I felt very little tension in the book. That goes against what I have been taught about writing.
The main character, Mrs. Mercedes Medina, is in her sixties. Her husband is 20 years her senior. I love the depth of relationship they have. The author, Ann Wadsworth, did a wonderful job creating the couple and each individual. They were wonderfully human characters with faults and follies of their own and a comfortable chemistry between them. But as life is changing and Patrick, the husband, starts failing in health, Mercedes, is trying to figure out her own life.
Since I am in my sixties, I found her life to be interesting. It is far from my own life. I felt like I moved in with this couple and lived a different life for a while. Isn’t that the best part about books? You can step into someone else’s life, their cities, their adventures, their music. Mrs. Medina’s life is rich while she is searching.
I have been thinking about what I would write about this book since I started it. There are no words I can come up with to do it justice. I wish everyone could read it. I don’t want to let it go. That’s how much I loved it. I registered the book on BookCrossing. BCID: 718–13027955 Please read it if you get the chance.
Inner Mind/Outer Space: Four Short Stories and a Novelette by the Author of Alien Within by Karen Forrester
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
After finishing Karen Forrester’s book Alien Within, I wanted more. Though I don’t like short stories because they leave me wanting more, I have to admit that I liked these stories. I think I should have read these first for my own chronology of events. So that is my recommendation.
By the way, this one was free on Smashwords but either of these books can be obtained on Amazon for $.99 each. That is quite the bargain for a bit of imaginative adventure. Inner Mind/Outer Space has the beginning of the world of Alien Within and a bonus chapter of that book.
Though I loved the sci-fi parts, I have to admit that my favorite story was one of grief and gratitude. Again, I would have liked more about the characters in that story, still I got enough to make me love them and the situations presented.
I look forward to reading more by Karen Forrester. I love her writing style and imagination.
Darswords 
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