An extraordinary house built of the highest quality material but missing plumbing and electricity
Helplessly original and a wonder, this book has violeAn extraordinary house built of the highest quality material but missing plumbing and electricity
Helplessly original and a wonder, this book has violently captured my thoughts since its completion.
Grames has pulled off a remarkable feat—she has created a brilliant world, ripe with intriguing history and complex characters.
The story is set in rural 1960’s Italy in a seemingly charming village where the main character, Francesca, is a fly caught in an intricate web of connectivity—all of the villagers are, at the very least, loosely associated with each other, often tied together by glittering, secret history.
This delightful world and its characters have whispered to my imagination, and this is a book that I feel compelled to talk about.
It has some dazzling, startlingly real characters who at times can seem harsh yet warm.
Looking at Audible, GWTW is just over 49 hours and GOT is nearly 35 hours.
The problem is……….most books over 500 pages aren’t highly marketable.
So The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia is a hair over 400 pages, resulting in irrecoverable sacrifices.
It has three rocky plots: Francesca struggling to open a nursery (a preschool), a love triangle, and a murder mystery.
As far as the nursery, Francesca’s (and therefore the reader’s) connection to the village’s children is too generic. She doesn’t form a deep connection with specific children, so it is difficult to feel invested in this plotline. The stakes didn’t seem high enough.
The love triangle is also underdeveloped, bumbling and clumsy, with Francesca appearing to casually make random, contradictory, and bizarre decisions.
And the murder mystery….The ending was not satisfying, and the reader leaves with more questions than in the beginning.
There are also about a billion characters, and the book needs a family map like in A Suitable Boy. I would imagine the audiobook experience to be torturous.
This book haunts me, a tragedy, because it is bursting with potential—so thick are the rays of brilliance that they are actually visible! The author is clearly promising, and The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia unmistakably has many great things going for it. But the execution just isn’t there yet.
*Thanks, NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent): Electronic Text – Free/Nada/Zilch through NetGalley provided by publisher
On December 21, 1940, my good friend, F. Scott Fitzgerald, died at the tender age of 44, leaving behind his only child, a daughter Frances Scott FitzgOn December 21, 1940, my good friend, F. Scott Fitzgerald, died at the tender age of 44, leaving behind his only child, a daughter Frances Scott Fitzgerald, commonly known as Scottie (like most of my friendships, it is a bit one-sided). As his heir, Scottie inherited all of Fitzgerald’s personal effects including the original manuscripts for his novels and all of his notes.
In 1950, Scottie donated these materials to the Princeton University Library, the university where Fitzgerald once attended classes (although he never graduated).
Many of these materials have been digitized and can delight viewers online for free!
However, there are a few materials that haven’t been digitized that have been rolling around in my mind ever since. Given my literary ambitions, I am being extremely understated. There are three items in the collection that I *NEED* to see: 1) Progress in 100 Best Books 2) Reading List 3) Revised List of 40 Books When I purchased The Notebooks of F. Scott Fitzgerald, I was hoping and praying that these three items would be included.
Sadly, no dice. Not that I need any encouragement to visit a library and I am not one easily discouraged…..perhaps I shall set up a Kickstarter?
So what exactly is included?
2,078 notes.
They all aren’t brilliant, but there are some real winners.
Here are a few of my favorites:
23 Egyptian Proverb: The worst things: To be in bed and sleep not, To want for one who comes not, To try to please and please not.
68 This is a tough girl and I’m taking her to tough place.
74 Feel wide awake – no but at least I feel born, which is more than I did the first time I woke up.
76 In utter weariness, he asked her once in different words, “then where do you go from here—where do you turn?” “Toward life,” she said “Toward life,” and turned toward him.
85 I like writers. If you speak to a writer you often get an answer.
316 Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.
330 You don’t write because you want to say something; you write because you’ve got something to say.
746 Two middle-aged well dressed men meet on bridge where each intends suicide. They exchange stories. One has succeeded too late after terrible struggles, loss of girls, etc. The other begins with great dreams, hint frustration, etc. But surprise end is, “No, I got it.” (Please someone write this book!)
1278 If you’re strong enough there are no precedents.
1947 Advice to young writers—Read Tolstoi, Marx and DH Lawrence and then read Tolstoi Marx DH Lawrence
2001 I am the last novelist for a long time now.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent): Hardcover Text - $12.99 from eBay
Have you ever read a book and immediately thought, “I have no idea what that was about?”
That’s why I picked up this book, but it didn’t go beyond whatHave you ever read a book and immediately thought, “I have no idea what that was about?”
That’s why I picked up this book, but it didn’t go beyond what I already know.
Originally published in 1940 and updated in 1972, How to Read a Book is extremely dated. It also focused more on non-fiction work (which isn’t what I normally read).
I don’t agree with some of Adler’s blanket statements. For example, he says do not consult secondary sources before completely reading the text.
However, when I started Medea, an Ancient Greek play from 431 BC, I was admittedly lost. Not only was I reading a translation, I was struggling with the archaic language and had no idea who the characters were. After I consulted a text which gave me a quick summary, I went back to the primary text and loved it! There is no reason that I should have to needlessly suffer.
Before diving into a book, I usually gather some background information. Here is what my template looks like: Author (Last Name/Surname, First Name in the upper right corner so I can search later) Title Number of Pages Year Published Type: Fiction (Sub-Type: Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Classic Literature, etc.) or Non-Fiction Read blurb and write down character names and setting (place, time period)
To prevent getting to the end and not having a clue what I just read, I stop at the end of every chapter and write at least one sentence.
You can also try annotating. This is where you are highlighting and writing things in the book, to prevent you from mentally checking out while reading. Tristan and the Classics has a really great video on how to annotate.
Beyond the above, this book could also be called, “How to Hate Reading.”
When I was little, I *LOVED* reading! I couldn’t wait until I could retire and read all day.
Yes, I was a weird little kid.
But then school had to mess everything up and sucked the joy out of it.
“Open your textbooks to page 368. 368. 3-6-8.”
A collective groaning could be heard.
What’s so wrong with the traditional academic system?
It is designed for the well-rounded student. It places a cookie cutter program onto a young, eager individual with a sometimes oppressive authoritarian figure in charge ready to slap the student’s hand for any misstep.
Contrast that to my life outside a structured learning environment. Each morning, I wake up with an insatiable hunger, passionately excited for literary discoveries, an Indiana Jones of literature.
How to Read a Book was published in 1940, and Adler strongly advocates doing things his way including having a well-rounded background in math and science.
However, I don’t want to read the classic texts of Charles Darwin and Sir Issac Newton. Scientifically proven, I have no visual memory. It is impossible for me to imagine scenes. It doesn’t matter how much I try to read these texts, I won’t like them and never will. It will just cause me to hate reading.
BTW, F. Scott Fitzgerald dropped out of Princeton, complaining of Chemistry.
Overall, in addition to this book being preachy and dated, Booktube videos are more helpful.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent): Hardcover Text – $26.64 from Blackwell’s Audiobook - 1 Audible Credit (Audible Premium Plus Annual – 24 Credits Membership Plan $229.50 or roughly $9.56 per credit)
Written in a dual timeline, The Secret Life of Sunflowers follows Emsley Wilson in current day and Johanna van Gogh-Bonger in the late nineteenth centWritten in a dual timeline, The Secret Life of Sunflowers follows Emsley Wilson in current day and Johanna van Gogh-Bonger in the late nineteenth century.
Emsley Wilson is mourning the loss of her famous painter grandmother Violet Velar. At the same time, Emsley is at a watershed moment in her personal life. Will Emsley find answers while sifting through her beloved grandmother’s possessions?
In the nineteenth century timeline, Johanna van Gogh- Bonger is a widow attempting to honor her late husband while trying to eek out a living in a cruel world. Will she be able to accomplish what her husband could not?
Although I am an enormous fan of Vincent van Gogh and utterly adore Starry Night, this book is mediocre at best and could have used a bit of stardust.
Starting with the prose—it is overly simplistic and underwhelming, reading mostly in the style of the mystery/thriller genre than historical fiction. Sadly, this method of writing wasn’t effective.
My goodness gracious! The problems were far too easy. For example, a decades-long mystery was laughably resolved after a few minutes on Google. If your rent is overdue, just walk around with your brother who will happen to be carrying around enough cash to instantly pay all arrears in full. Unfortunately, this is sloppy writing.
In a similar vein, the foreshadowing was extremely heavy handed to the point that the reader knows exactly how the book will unfold.
Furthermore, these characters were underdeveloped and flat. Where were their glorious backstories? They didn’t feel like real, complex human beings, just weak caricatures of tired, banal cliches. For example, in the very first chapter, we are told that Trey cheated on Emsley…..but why should the reader care? We don’t see the relationship develop, and we don’t have any flashbacks to their glory days.
Did this story move my soul and is written on the very fiber of my heart? No. But it does check a few boxes. The Secret Life of Sunflowers has some strong female characters and features an artist who I love, but it wasn’t enough to redeem the storytelling.
How much I spent: Softcover text – Free from the Baldwin Public Library Audiobook – 1 Audible Credit (Audible Premium Plus Annual – 24 Credits Membership Plan $229.50 or roughly $9.56 per credit)
May Cobb is the queen of guilty pleasure; however, this one missed the mark.
Cassidy, a 20-something young lady, goes to LA to recover after a bad breaMay Cobb is the queen of guilty pleasure; however, this one missed the mark.
Cassidy, a 20-something young lady, goes to LA to recover after a bad breakup. She works as a personal assistant to a Hollywood couple when one of them ends up dead.
While Cassidy is supposed to be a young lady, she acts more in line with a mature 30ish year old, going to The Container Store for an exciting night out on the town (sadly not an exaggeration). And I just wanted her to be a bit more irrational and diabolical! Give me a wild Cassidy!
The book also seemed a bit slow, which is strange for a guilty pleasure book.
There are two timelines: a later and a now timeline. And the later timeline is really inconsistent.
This book was ruined a bit by reading Daemon Voices by Philip Pullman, a collection of essays on storytelling. Of course, the exact quote eludes me, but it is something to the effect of “Don’t start a story with the cheap trick of ‘She entered the slowly darkening room’ because readers will instantly be annoyed wanting to know who she is.” Ugh. This book essentially implements this trick and stuck to it like a dog with a bone for 75% of the book.
Now, don’t kill me here because I am going to share something that you may not have noticed before, but you will now be on the alert. For some unknown reason, the word “click” was used 29 times! 29!
Well, I didn’t click with this one………
May Cobb --- I still love your work; we’ll get the next one!
*Thanks, NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent): Electronic Text – Free/Nada/Zilch through NetGalley provided by publisher
F Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters is a portal to 1917 to 1940, a magical mailbox where you can receive letters from F SA Book I Wished Never Ended
F Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters is a portal to 1917 to 1940, a magical mailbox where you can receive letters from F Scott Fitzgerald.
On December 21, 1940, F Scott Fitzgerald died of a heart attack, and, as the letters approached that date, I had to choke back tears—I wasn’t ready to let go of this broken man with tremendous dreams, a struggling artist, a committed father and husband, waging battle on too many fronts.
A Life in Letters is highly addictive; while I was reading this, I would share glimpses of letters with friends, and they would inevitably return, clamoring for more.
Struggling Artist
A Life in Letters paints a portrait of a struggling artist—despite Fitzgerald’s commitment to quality, he never attained boundless riches and glory in his lifetime.
And the life of an artist can be depressing. For example, Vincent Van Gogh died a relatively unknown; he only attained fame posthumously as a result of his brother’s wife tirelessly promoting his work.
One of the funniest books that I have ever read is A Confederacy of Dunces, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. However, the author, John Kennedy Toole died in 1969, heartbroken due to the countless rejection of his book. His mother, Thelma, found his book, read it, and discovered that it was legitimately excellent. She spent years finding someone to give it a chance. According to Wikipedia, over five years, she sent the book to seven publishers, and all rejected it. Finally, she cornered a college professor who agreed to read it to get her off his back. He intended to only read one page, but the book was so enchanting that he couldn’t put it down, and the rest is history.
The point is that the life of a true artist is rarely easy, and Fitzgerald was no exception. Let’s look at some of his quotes:
“I want to be extravagantly admired again.”
“Who in hell ever respected Shelley, Whitman, Poe, O. Henry, Verlaine, Swinburne, Villon, Shakespeare ect when they were alive. Shelley + Swinburne were fired from college; Verlaine + O Henry were in jail. The rest were drunkards or wasters and told generally by merchants and petty politicians and jitney messiahs of their day that real people wouldn’t stand it And the merchants and messiahs, the shrewd + the dull, are dust—and the others live on.”
“The book comes out today [The Great Gatsby] and I am overcome with fears and forebodings. […] In fact all my confidence is gone. […] I’m sick of the book myself—I wrote it over at least five times.”
“Everything that I have ever attained has been through long and persistent struggle.”
“When I was your age I lived with a great dream. The dream grew and I learned how to speak of it and make people listen.”
“In a small way I was an original.”
“You don’t realize that what I am doing here is the last tired effort of a man who once did something finer and better.”
“What little I’ve accomplished has been by the most laborious and uphill work, and I wish now I’d never relaxed or looked back—but said at the end of The Great Gatsby: ‘I’ve found my line—from now on this comes first. This is my immediate duty—without this I am nothing.’”
Secret Insights
A Life in Letters doesn’t disappoint if you want to know the secrets behind Fitzgerald’s works.
Did you know that Fitzgerald considered many different titles for The Great Gatsby? Below were some possibilities: Under the Red, White, and Blue Among the Ash-Heaps and Millionaires Gold-Hatted Gatsby Trimalchio in West Egg The High-Bouncing Lover On the Road to West Egg
While living in Paris, Fitzgerald met Ernest Hemingway. For A Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, Fitzgerald gives Hemingway detailed review notes, reprinted in A Life in Letters. If one were so inclined, a reader can discover if Hemingway accepted Fitzgerald’s “suggestions.”
One of my favorite authors is John Steinbeck, and Fitzgerald had strong opinions about him. He accused Steinbeck of stealing a scene from McTeague, a book by Frank Norris, and using it in Of Mice and Men.
Fitzgerald also had a front row seat to the clash between his editor, Maxwell Perkins, and writer Thomas Wolfe. This is covered in the brilliant 2016 film, Genius. Of course, now I have to read Look Homeward Angel.
If you have a strong literary curiosity, who better than Fitzgerald to give his honest opinion?
A Reminder to Be Kind to Each Other
In 1936, Fitzgerald broke his shoulder in a diving accident, making writing impossible. On September 25, 1936, The New York Post published a particularly troubling article, resulting in Fitzgerald attempting to take his own life. By 1939, Fitzgerald writes of spending months in bed with ill health, high temperatures, and a lung cavity.
In parting, keep in mind Fitzgerald’s advice to his daughter, Scottie:
But it is a different story that you have spent two years doing no useful work at all, improving neither your body nor your mind, but only writing reams and reams of dreary letters to dreary people, with no possible object except obtaining invitations which you could not accept. […]
On the other hand, when occasionally I see signs of life and intention in you, there is no company in the world I prefer. For there is no doubt that you have something in your belly, some real gusto for life—a real dream of your own—and my idea was to wed it to something solid before it was too late.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent): Hardcover Text – $31.80 from eBay
“I am the last novelist for a long time now.” – F Scott Fitzgerald
The beautiful art of writing is slowly being washed Cling to this book for dear life
“I am the last novelist for a long time now.” – F Scott Fitzgerald
The beautiful art of writing is slowly being washed away by the turbulent rain of time.
Most days, I spend lost in the pages of The Great Gatsby, driven by a relentless passion to understand its lasting popularity, unlock its secrets and become the most dazzling author of the century, the ripple effects of my works echoing in the literary world for all time (hey, a girl can dream).
Now, spectacular work isn’t easy.
As Philip Pullman says, “Knowledge comes with a cost.” As part of my process, I write out the text. Yes, I am writing by hand the entire text of The Great Gatsby. In addition, I highlight metaphors, similes, references to light, alliterations, and dialogue. With a pen, I put a triangle over words relating to time and circle contractions (how Fitzgerald has such smooth prose). With a pencil, I count each word in the chapter. Taking Fitzgerald’s original manuscript and the galley proofs with Fitzgerald’s hand-written edits, I learn the evolution of the text, intimately knowing it as the front and back of my hand, able to recognize which passages Fitzgerald struggled with just by feel. Fitzgerald organically had a splendid vocabulary so I note any words that I would not ordinarily reach for in my everyday conversation. Last but not least, I listen to the work on audiobook and then read the book out loud, one chapter at a time. Fitzgerald carefully designed the tone and characters, intentionally and masterfully crafting how he wanted the reader to feel.
Fitzgerald thought about every single word on the page. Every. Single. Word.
And that art is dying.
Top-selling authors bang out books in a year—predictable plots, prose barely more than a free-flowing stream of consciousness, unconvincing, cliché characters. So long as the corporate coffers are filled, quality is for losers.
But this work, Until August—this is old-school quality.
A couple of months ago, someone on Twitter asked Philip Pullman about how to define “literary merit” and he brilliantly responded, “You know it when you see it.”
Well, I see it. Until August has literary merit.
Originally, this book was planned to be 3-4 times longer; however, Gabriel Garcia Marquez died in 2014. He said that the book didn’t make sense and requested that it be destroyed. Until August is only 110 pages, and the pages are tiny! If you are only looking at page count, you will be disappointed. However, if you are seeking a world-renowned writing savant, an artist using the page as a canvas of words, an author who spent his life dedicated to quality with a stunning vocabulary, a strong grasp of the power of alliteration, and a phenomenal ability to craft a mystical tone, look no further.
Because this book was unfinished, it doesn’t have the usual ultimate polished sheen of a professional writer of this caliber. In Chapter 2, “the silence after the shout remained vitrified for several days in the air of the house.” Vitrified? I had to look that one up—convert (something) into glass or a glasslike substance, typically by exposure to heat. Also, Chapter 2: “[…] She felt as if she had a stigmata on her forehead.” “Stigmata” is not used correctly in this context. “Stigmata” is the marks associated with the crucifixion of Christ, usually on the hands, feet, heart, head (from the crown of thorns), and shoulders/back. Clearly, the character feels that she has a stigma marked upon her brow. Before I get my pitchfork, this might relate more to the translation than the author (Gabriel Garcia Maquez wrote the book in Spanish, and my version has been translated into English). Furthermore, this part did not make much sense to me (Chapter 2): “This inaugurated a long stage in which each act of love would be rewarded with a felicitous phrase, from obscene jokes to Seneca’s maxims.” My assumption is that this is in reference to the Stoic philosopher: Lucius Annaeus Seneca. What maxims would they be reciting in bed? “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity?” “All cruelty springs from weakness?” “Only time can heal what reason cannot?”
“She detested fashionable books and knew that time would never allow her to keep up to date.” In the previous sentence, she was reading novels such as The Old Man and the Sea, Lazarillo de Tormes, and The Stranger. I have actually read The Old Man and the Sea and The Stranger—these books are quite “fashionable.” Perhaps she hated contemporary books, and she would never get around to them given her time limitations.
In terms of the plot, the relationship with the deceased mother wasn’t explored in much depth, and there is a particular conversation with the husband that would have happened after the first “encounter.”
Nevertheless, this book haunts me.
The more I think of it, the more the subtle sophistication emerges from the shadows, particularly the beautiful, complex relationships, especially with regards to the daughter and the husband. The prose is nothing short of breath-taking—from the sumptuous, delicious vocabulary to the soul-quaking quotes to the expertly crafted tone—this work is worthy of being written out by hand. And---oh the ending. The ending is completely stunning, excellent and original, a master class at leaving the cliché behind.
Literary quality is a sunken ship. Until August is a lifeboat, battered and beaten and a little worse for the wear, the last of the old guard, one final, fleeting glimpse into the sparkling days of yesteryear.
How much I spent: Hardcover Text - $22 from The Poisoned Pen Bookstore Audiobook - Free through Libby
When I reached the end of The List of Suspicious Things, I snapped the book closed as one normally does upon finiShall I reveal a mysterious metaphor?
When I reached the end of The List of Suspicious Things, I snapped the book closed as one normally does upon finishing a book. As I glimpsed at the cover, my attention was drawn to the bird. Why is this bird on the front cover and featured so prominently on the stencilled edge?
Then, it clicked.
Page 3 of Daemon Voices by Philip Pullman, […] the raven, that picker-up of bits and pieces here and there.”
Very clever.
Set in the late 1970’s, the Yorkshire Ripper is at large! Mavis “Miv” a 12-year-old girl is on the hunt! Together with her best friend, Sharon Parker, they develop a list of suspicious people/places and begin to investigate.
However, people in her local village aren’t nearly as simple as they appear on the surface. And, some truths are difficult to face.
This charming and stirring tale is powerful and heartwarming. It has many characters with depth, leaning into the beauty of human complexities, good people doing “bad” things and “bad” people doing good things.
Currently, The List of Suspicious Things is not available in the United States, and it is decidedly British. However, I enjoyed learning a bit more about the British vernacular. But, my American friends, don’t be surprised if you have to look up Horlicks, waltzers, kitchen roll, ginnel, chippy, biro. But I have confidence you will survive!
Plus, the mere mention of glitter lip gloss makes me happy!
On the other hand, this book does move a touch too slow. To be clear, this isn’t really a murder mystery—that’s more in the background while Miv is discovering more about herself and her community. The paragraphs and sentences are a bit long for the mystery/thriller genre (although Godfrey’s prose is impressive), and it is a bit too verbose overall.
In regard to Sharon, the foreshadowing is too heavy handed, and the narrative voice of Miv is faintly underwhelming. Where are the 12-year old snarky comments? Where are the laser eyes at Aunt Jean or Dad?
Miv is supposedly very scholarly. Why doesn’t she drop in a line or two from her books? Miv’s character reads a bit like a very self-aware, watered down adult than an intelligent, slightly impulsive 12- year-old. And what happened to Mr. Ware?
And of course….
The ending. Ugh! Come on! It is overly sentimental, not very strong, and predictable. Some of the best endings have come out of the UK (The Golden Compass/Northern Lights, The Magician’s Nephew) that made me want to immediately and compulsively rip open the second book. Godfrey could have at least teased readers with a new quest for Miv.
A timely work gently challenging the readers’ paradigm.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent): Hardcover Text - £29.99 purchased at Goldsboro Books – The PREM1ER Edition (signed by the author and has a stencilled edge)
Daughters of Shandong is The Debut Novel of the Year—if not The Novel of the Year!
It is the engrossing tale of a mother and her dMarvelous Masterpiece
Daughters of Shandong is The Debut Novel of the Year—if not The Novel of the Year!
It is the engrossing tale of a mother and her daughters, abandoned in enemy territory with little more than the clothes on their backs.
Chung beautifully captures the complex, tangled web of life’s pressures from the obligation to the family, social norms, economic strain, power structures, and the autonomy of the individual while the ship of fate is being blown about by the wind of desperation, hope for the future, and the ripple effects of kindness.
Set in China in the late 1940’s/early 1950’s, this story follows the Ang family who is solidly in the crosshairs of the newly in power Communist regime. Suddenly, this prosperous family’s old way of life has vanished in an instant. Father, Nai Nai (Grandmother) and Yei Yei (Grandfather) pack up all their worldly possessions and hightail it to safety, leaving behind Mother and their daughters in hostile territory with little more than the grit to survive. Will they ever see Father again? And do they even want to?
Based on a true story, this book dazzles—it has scenes as moving as Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, how one small act of kindness can have such an enormous impact. With the skill of a master craftsperson, Chung impossibly balances the harsh, grim realities of the cruel and dangerous world with the uplifting hope and determination of the women along with the generosity and compassion of strangers (even enemies at times!).
Plus, you have to stick around until the end to see if Nai Nai will finally get her just desserts for being so cruel to Mother.
An unforgettable read that could move a heart of lead, this glowing review couldn’t possibly do this book justice. Captivating, spell binding, extraordinary fail to convey the riveting nature of Daughters of Shandong.
*Thanks, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
How much I spent: Electronic text – Free/Nada/Zilch through NetGalley provided by publisher
All the Colors of the Dark is a gritty, bleak, but, at the same time, beautiful thriller.
And my gosh. Chris Whitaker can write a character. Watch out,All the Colors of the Dark is a gritty, bleak, but, at the same time, beautiful thriller.
And my gosh. Chris Whitaker can write a character. Watch out, Charles Dickens! Whitaker’s characters are complexly original—no one is a cliché.
The pages fly; the book is action-packed, compulsively addictive, and the finest of the mystery genre. It is written using perfect structure: short paragraphs, sentences, and chapters. If you liked the pacing in Gone Girl, this is your book. Mark my words. One day, this book will become a fantastic movie!
Two thumbs up for this breath-stealing thriller.
*Thanks, NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent): Electronic Text – Free/Nada/Zilch through NetGalley provided by publisher Hardcover Text – $16.95 from Blackwell’s (On July 11, 2023, I preordered this book. The title is All the Colours of the Dark in the UK, and it will be published July 16, 2024 in the UK and June 25, 2024 in the US)
As currently written, this book doesn’t make any sense to me.
The premise of the book is that seven years ago, Diamond’s father (“Pop”) disappears—onlyAs currently written, this book doesn’t make any sense to me.
The premise of the book is that seven years ago, Diamond’s father (“Pop”) disappears—only his shoes, ID, and some money are left behind on the banks of Swift River. Now, Diamond’s mom wants to have Pop declared dead to claims his life insurance money. Two sub-plots occur where Diamond strikes up communication with her father’s family, and Diamond suddenly forms a friendship with Shelley, someone she has known for years.
Swift River initially started off strong, but according to my notes, “the ending really sucks.”
Now, this comes from Chapter 3 out of 25 but might be considered a spoiler. (view spoiler)[Mom and Pop may not have been legally married as Pop sent the preacher away. The lawyer in me was giddy with excitement because this small detail has drastic legal consequences. To my grave disappointment, this was never even brought up. (hide spoiler)]
While the letters from Aunt Lena shed more light on the town’s history, they don’t provide any clues as to Pop’s whereabouts or what likely happened to him. The mystery plot, the main plot, seems to be dropped, and the progress is poorly benchmarked.
The ending regarding Shelley needs to be rewritten—it doesn’t carry an emotional punch, and it isn’t memorable.
Finally, the more I think about this book, the more questions that I have and not in a good way:
-Why would Mom want to stay in Swift River? She has poor job prospects, the town is hostile, Diamond has no friends, no availability of buses, no family in the area. -What about Diamond’s bike accident and knee? -What happened to Rick? -Big spoiler question: (view spoiler)[Why would Pop leave daughter AND cousin? (hide spoiler)]
*Thanks, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent): Electronic text – Free/Nada/Zilch through NetGalley provided by publisher
It still makes me nervous whenever I write a negative review for a debut novelist who is still alive (Lately, I have been reading novels from the 1800It still makes me nervous whenever I write a negative review for a debut novelist who is still alive (Lately, I have been reading novels from the 1800’s so not a lot of risk of offending authors there).
To Mr. Ordorica – You have an important voice. Please don’t let this review derail you, and I have been wrong about a lot of books. You also might not have found the perfect editor for you yet.
So….wipes sweaty palms….deep breath….let’s get this over with…..
1. Narrative voice – The book is written in an awkward, weird mix of first and second person perspective. “If you asked me to explain why I chose this constellation to be yours—which of course you would, being you—I’d say that….” It should have been in third person perspective. 2. Formatting was confusing. The header says 1989 and then a character says it is 2011. 3. Far too many descriptions of the landscape. I would start by reviewing every instance of “green” and “rock”. 4. Far too many uses of the word “like”. 5. At least the first paragraph needs to be rewritten. It was so confusing and disorienting that I had to read it 3 or 4 times, partly the confusion relates back to the aforementioned messy 1st/2nd person perspective. 6. If Daniel is a poor student on scholarship, why doesn’t he have a summer job? 7. I didn’t feel vested in the romance which had so much potential. Think of the greatest romances of our time. Jay Gatsby creates an entire empire for Daisy, and Noah builds a house for Allie in The Notebook. What does Sam do? He tells Daniel to go to class. Say what?! What is so special about Sam? Daniel could have taught Sam Spanish, shared tamales, danced reggaeton together. Maybe Daniel has never had a birthday party, and Sam blows up hundreds of ballons in their cozy little dorm room. Maybe they watch a movie, and he gently covers him up with a blanket. Maybe Sam teaches Daniel to drive so every time Daniel drives he thinks of Sam. Maybe Sam teaches Daniel math, Sam tutors him, fingertips brush, and Daniel is so shy that he types I love you into the calculator. But instead they eat pretzels at the food court with Sam’s dad, and Sam gives Daniel a one-time pep talk. Is this what romance is these days?
How We Named the Stars feels like a draft and needs a lot of work.
Mr. Ordorica –You have promise, and I would be happy to proof your future works.
*Thanks, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
How much I spent: Electronic text – Free/Nada/Zilch through NetGalley provided by publisher
This isn’t a book that I would ordinarily read but 1) my favorite publisher is Simon & Schuster and 2) this book was on several Most Anticipated BooksThis isn’t a book that I would ordinarily read but 1) my favorite publisher is Simon & Schuster and 2) this book was on several Most Anticipated Books of 2024 lists.
Is the hype real on this one?
Ismael Reyes (“Izzy”) is a young man living with his aunt in Miami. He works as a Pitbull impersonator until one fateful day, he receives a cease-and-desist letter. Now, Izzy is at an inflection point—he has to carve out a new identity for himself. For some reason, he decides to become Tony Montana from Scarface.
At the same time, readers are introduced to Lolita, a captive whale, who lives at the Miami Seaquarim.
Full disclosure: I spent more time learning about whales than reading this book because Lolita, Hugo, even the birds are real! This book might even be viewed as historical fiction as it chronicles the history of a real-life whale, plucked from the ocean and kept in a tiny tank.
If you are interested in learning more about whales, here are some of the videos I watched (please note some of these contain disturbing images and mature language):
Say Hello to my Little Friend is rather entertaining for about two-thirds of the book. Although I have never seen Scarface, I enjoyed Izzy’s quest to find people to play certain roles in his life. The last third of the book is rushed and didn’t land like the first part of the book.
Moreover, while I would consider myself an environmentalist, the topic of global warming was a recurring theme, but it didn’t feel organic with the text—it came across as a bit awkward and felt a bit like pushing it agenda; it might have been okay if it wasn’t so heavy-handed.
Overall, Lolita is the hero of the book, and everyone in my life wishes I would shut up because I keep bugging them with newly discovered (to me) facts about whales.
*Thanks, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
How much I spent: Electronic text – Free/Nada/Zilch through NetGalley provided by publisher...more
Not the next Gone Girl but there is enough here to entertain
One of my favorite mystery tropes pervades this novel—a before and after timeline with addNot the next Gone Girl but there is enough here to entertain
One of my favorite mystery tropes pervades this novel—a before and after timeline with additional pieces of the puzzle being slowly revealed.
Darling Girls is set in Australia focusing on three foster children, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia who all lived at Wild Meadows with their maniacal foster mum, Holly Fairchild.
The overall reading experience was enjoyable, particularly the plot. Take the very first page. Someone is talking to Dr. Warren, the psychiatrist. Who is it?
However, there is one thing holding back Darling Girls from being exceptional—its characters. These characters were not very convincing; they felt flat and predictable. It felt as though Hepworth created a character outline describing the three main characters in two sentences. Some form of the word “organized” was used 23 times!
This weak character development ended up seeping into and tainting the narrative voice and the ending.
The narrative voice was rather dull. For a great modern example of a spectacular narrative voice, explore The Fury by Alex Michaelides . Darling Girls is written in the third person; however, Hepworth should have considered the first-person perspective to increase the suspense, really leaning into the narrator’s desperation and terror, quickening the reader’s pulse. Darling Girls also lacked the humor of Hepworth’s The Good Sister.
Because the characters were cliché, the ending was lackluster and overly cozy—downright forgettable.
Not a seminal piece of the mystery genre but Darling Girls solidly holds its own.
*Thanks, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
How much I spent: Electronic text – Free/Nada/Zilch through NetGalley provided by publisher
Listen for the Lie centers on Lucy who can’t remember if she killed her best friend five years ago.
This is a highly digestible mystery where the authoListen for the Lie centers on Lucy who can’t remember if she killed her best friend five years ago.
This is a highly digestible mystery where the author utilized short paragraphs and chapters, resulting in a quick read.
At the core of this novel, we need Lucy to remember what happened on the night of the incident, and one of my favorite mystery novels does rely on the main character remembering exactly what was said in the past (The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager). However, for most of Listen for the Lie, I didn’t feel that we were making progress, mainly interviews from people who knew next to nothing.
Also, I wanted to learn more about memory, think Anna O. and sleepwalking. Personally, if my best friend died, I wouldn’t try to remember for two days and give up. Lucy just kind of does nothing, a leaf in the wind, waiting for someone to determine her fate.
There is this voice in Lucy’s head, encouraging her to unalive people; however, it isn’t very entertaining and finally becomes rather annoying and tedious.
And, although it seems that everyone wants to get Lucy into her birthday suit, the steam wasn’t as good as author May Cobb.
Then, there is the ending. It was extremely confusing—I am not even sure what the author intended. But I think I figured out a solution……..
*SPOILER* MEGA-SPOILER (view spoiler)[At the very end of the book, Lucy says, “It isn’t the whole truth.” So is the reader supposed to assume that Lucy just made everything up? Or that she merely omitted the part about Troy and Matt? On a practical note, blood pattern analysis should clear up pretty quickly if Lucy was the one swinging the tree branch or if she was merely a witness, present at the crime scene. As the police never made an arrest, it is safe to assume that the pattern is consistent with Lucy not being the perpetrator. (hide spoiler)]
*Thanks, Celadon, for a copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
How much I spent: Softcover text – Free/Nada/Zilch provided by publisher
At 35, I was supposed to start having seizures. Thanks to a mutated gene, my body does not process the amino acid commonly found in meat.
However, longAt 35, I was supposed to start having seizures. Thanks to a mutated gene, my body does not process the amino acid commonly found in meat.
However, long before the geneticists got their hands on me, I knew I didn’t feel good eating meat and became a pescatarian (a person who eats fish and is a vegetarian).
So, trust me—I believe in the power of greens. Research indicates that looking at green for as little as 2 seconds can boost creativity.
Nominated for a Booker Prize in 2023, In Ascension checks a lot of the right boxes. Strong female characters. Less than ideal childhood. Familial dysfunction. Environmental issues. Mysterious elements.
At the same time, the magic in this book is buried under a mountain of boredom because In Ascension needs sharper storytelling. When the reader starts to nod off, MacInnes should cut those bits. In particular, 90 out of the last 100 pages should have been cut; the reader doesn’t need a 100-page epilogue.
The book is so slow that I dreaded each time I picked this up. It felt like a watered-down version of Project Hail Mary.
This is an important work with meaningful elements but proceed with an abundance of patience.
*Thanks, Edelweiss, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
How much I spent: Electronic text – Free/Nada/Zilch through Edelweiss provided by publisher Audiobook - Free through Libby
Imagine watching an interesting fight scene. Except every minute there is a cut to commercial. That is exactly howIf I hear “splinter” one more time……
Imagine watching an interesting fight scene. Except every minute there is a cut to commercial. That is exactly how I felt reading this book.
The underlying plot was interesting—three friends find themselves in the waiting room before death. To escape their fate, they will need to complete three trials.
If this book had primarily focused on one or two characters, I would have liked it; however, there are over 30 characters, and they all seemed to have their own backstory. The Book of Love was so busy playing character whack-a-mole that the plot suffered.
Thomas/Kristopher/Avelot should have been a prequel. Mo’s mom and grandmother should be their own short story.
To try to compensate for the character soup, there is a lot of repetition. For example, there would be a reveal. Then, an off-screen character would join the original group of characters, and someone would repeat the reveal over again.
As far as the title and cover is concerned, they are puzzling to me. How does this book qualify as “The Book of Love”? The cover has moons on it, but the moon wasn’t a very significant part of the book (there was a very small section very haphazardly tacked on at the end).
Overall, the concept of this book is a wonder of imagination (the fight scene in my opening paragraph), but it gets lost in the character building (the commercials). This interfered significantly with the suspense building.
*Thanks, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
How much I spent: Electronic text – Free/Nada/Zilch through NetGalley provided by publisher
When I was attending community college, my history professor looked like Hagrid, and he had a magically powerful way of telling a story. Philip PullmaWhen I was attending community college, my history professor looked like Hagrid, and he had a magically powerful way of telling a story. Philip Pullman encourages teachers to learn a story so well that they know it without referencing the text. I remember that I would have attended my history class even if I wasn’t getting credit because Hagrid knew his stories without any cheat sheets. His enthusiasm and excitement kept the class riveted.
Reading Agent Josephine made me nostalgic for Hagrid.
Sadly, this book reads more like a research article than TED talk. This book had more acronyms than a governmental agency, and it would jump around chronologically.
Additionally, this book didn’t just focus on Josephine; it also covered many different people such as Churchill, Patton, Dunderdale, Abtey, and de Gaulle plus Major This and That. It was like drinking from a firehouse, especially with a timeline that was shifting in a disorganized fashion.
If you like war stories, you might really like this, but I found the narrative bogged down and inaccessible, frequently finding my mind drifting.
One thing that I did find interesting about this book is the non-US author’s viewpoint on US history. Josephine Baker was born in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States. She traveled to New York but was very limited in her roles based on racial discrimination. She migrated to Paris to get a fair chance, and she became a wildly famous sensation. However, when touring the United States even as a superstar, she couldn’t secure a hotel room. Josephine isn’t the only black woman in the United States whose potential was limited as a result of racial discrimination which begs the question: What would the United States be like now if all races were given equal opportunity?
How much I spent: Softcover text – Free gift from Baldwin Public Library Audiobook – $84.99 per year through Everand
Do you know how Alex Murtaugh was put away for murder?
In an interview, a juror said the OnStar data. A big round of applause for the GM engineers!
For Do you know how Alex Murtaugh was put away for murder?
In an interview, a juror said the OnStar data. A big round of applause for the GM engineers!
For those of you who missed the grand media circus around this case, Alex Murtaugh was convicted of killing his wife (Maggie) and his son (Paul). Alex claimed that he came home to discover that his wife and son had been mysteriously attacked and called 911. However……using OnStar data, it was proven that he put his GM vehicle in park and 20 seconds later called 911. 20 seconds. If one were to believe Alex, he would have had to take off his seatbelt, open the door, get out of the vehicle, close the door, find two different people in two different locations, check their status, get out his phone, unlock the screen, dial, and hit send in 20 seconds. Or he already knew that they were no longer living and called 911 as soon as he pulled onto the property.
Also, with cell phone data, the police don’t need the physical device anymore. They can just subpoena the cell phone provider records. In the Murtaugh case, certain text messages were deleted from Maggie’s phone, but this was pointless as the police recovered the entire text exchange from the provider.
With that lens, I started Someone We Know.
The author has a strong command of the mystery genre. The short, unpretentious sentence structure keeps the pages flying, and I had no less than 5 different theories of the crime.
However, some things didn’t seem real which is a dealbreaker for me. One of the characters gets a criminal lawyer for his son. Later in the book, he consents to a search of his cabin without consulting a lawyer. This character knows that he is a suspect. Even if he is completely innocent, why?!?! What about police misconduct, planting evidence because they think you are guilty? Or even accidental crime scene contamination? DNA can also be around for a long, long time, but the police may not know when it was deposited. How do you know all of the people who ever stayed in your cabin?
Also, I wanted to rewrite the ending. You see to get a criminal conviction, the prosecutor has to prove a certain person committed a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. The prosecutor can’t just say, “Oh one of these three people did it!” It has to be a specific person. I think it would have been a stronger, more poignant ending for the reader to have three people confess and leave the reader to puzzle out which one of them actually did it or have the reader know who did it but no conviction is possible because with the three confessions there is reasonable doubt.
A riveting read and got a little off-track at about the 80% mark.
How much I spent: Electronic text – $6.99 on Amazon Audiobook – Free through Libby
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