Noteworthy Reads of 2018

It's time again to pick and choose the books for my 2019 reading challenge but before I do that post, I'd like to finish up with some reviews of additional books that were read in 2018.

Lisa Wingate's Before We Were Yours, is one of those books. Wingate's tale is based on the true story of the Tennessee Children's Home (for orphans) during the depression and into the 1950's and how children were actually stolen from their (often poor) parents and sold as orphans to people who could afford the outrageous prices.

I'm trying to simplify and reduce the amount of books that I have on my shelves but after reading a preview of Before We Were Yours, I had to buy it when I saw it in the bookstore. It's really good, even compelling, and brings to light the astonishing practice of selling children as orphans to families that could afford to “buy” one and for various reasons did not have a child of their own. The author does this by using a fictional family to tell the story of very real things that actually happened to the children who ended up in the Tennessee Children's Home. My heart breaks for the children who were harmed or killed by these outrageous practices. Georgia Tann seems to be a very evil woman who profited from and engaged in or allowed abuse of these children as a result of them being stolen from their homes and families, knowing that they were not really orphans.

 

The author has a story telling gift and richly describes the circumstances of the characters. Rill Foss, the main character, is a 12 year old girl, she is tasked with trying to keep the family together, and you see the story unfold from her perspective. It pulls your heartstrings but has an uplifting ending. You will want to stay up late to keep reading it.

Wrap up of the Read your Shelves Book Challenge...

This year, along with a goal of reading at least 50 books, I wanted to focus on reading the books I already had in my shelves that were not read yet. My bookshelves seem to be bursting at the seems with books I have read and saved to read again, and with books I really do want to read, but it is easy for me to get distracted and turn my attention to the library, the book section at the thrift store or an unexpected trip to the book seller and then there are even more books to stuff into those shelves. I've been trying to be aware of collecting clutter and have been earnestly trying to simplify what we keep around the house, especially after my husband and I each lost a parent and were involved in sorting out their belongings and then having to move a surviving parent to an assisted living arrangement because they need more care than the siblings can manage on their own. So much stuff!

Here's the Read My Bookshelves Challenge List. I wanted to make it simple so I had the flexibility to throw in an additional book here and there that caught my interest, and have a challenge I could succeed at, but I also wanted to accomplish the objective of reading books already on my shelves that were waiting to be read. There are 12 books listed, one for each month, chosen at random from my shelves that have been arranged alphabetically according to author. This has turned out to be the best way for me to keep track of what I have and to find books when looking for them. I have really liked the flexibility of being able to throw in an extra book here and there but still work on the original challenge. I get frustrated sometimes with book challenges that are all consuming and don't leave you any flexibility to go with your current interests every once in a while and if my book reading becomes a chore, then, for me, that defeats the main purpose of my reading. 

• The Creative Brain (Andreasen)*
• Between a Heart and a Rock Place; A Memoir (Benatar)*
• Academ's Fury (Butcher)*
• Graceling (Cashore)*
• Crossed (Condie)*
• Victorian and Edwardian Ghost Stories (various)*
• A Darkness Forged in Fire (Evans)*
• The Fantasy Writer's Assistant (Ford)*
• The Jaguar Prophecies (Gunderson)*
• Twice Told Tales (Hawthorne)*
• Spillover (Quammen)*
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Jemisin)*
   
   
  Read Your Bookshelves Challenge-Book Reviews
  
  
  The Creative Brain- (Nancy Andreasen) Interesting non-fiction about the brain, not overly technical, understandable, it talks about creativity and the creative process, how the brain develops and functions, the thin line between genius and insanity, and brain plasticity. The book also contains suggestions and exercises to help you "train your brain" to keep it functioning properly.
  
  
  Between a Heart and a Rock Place- A Memoir (Pat Benatar)- A nicely told story by rock queen Pat Benatar about her life and her music career. This is a woman of incredible talent and who is made of strong substance to survive and ultimately thrive is the music industry. I have always admired her for her talent and because she was not all over the news with scandals and all kinds of dirty laundry like so many other so called "stars". She is judicious about what she speaks up about and also allows others to have their own opinions about things without all the name calling and nastiness that seems to be the political climate of now a days. This woman is so talented, is drop dead gorgeous in her 60's, has a healthy family life, and was a trail blazer for women in the music industry. I admire her even more now after reading this book and will continue to enjoy her music.
  
  
  Academ's Fury- (Jim Butcher)- I became a Jim Butcher fan after reading his Dresden Files series, and I search out all other things that this author writes because they are always interesting, entertaining and filled with action. I am two books into this fantasy series now and even though it is slower reading than the Dresden Files, (the books are the thickness of bricks), the story is set in a rich and realistic world where the history and customs of the people have been creatively crafted by the author, the characters are well developed, and it holds the readers interest through the many pages. When I get into one of these they are hard to put down and I always want to find more time to read because I want to find out what happens next. This series takes a time commitment but I am willing to follow the author on the journey even though it will take a while.
  
  
  
  
  Graceling- (Kristen Cashore)- This book was an interesting fantasy story and I have been wanting to read it for a few years. I chose it for the reading challenge because I have been wanting to read it and see if I was interested in getting the other books in the series. It had an interesting plot about a girl who goes on a journey and learns of her heritage. It was a satisfying read but the author hinted about the evil nature of the old king in the story, (which the girl turns out to be his heir), and it involved nastiness and the abuse of children for his evil nature so I am done with the series. I don't need to read about that as I read for recreation and experience, not to wallow in the sins of others whether they be real or fake characters. I stopped reading a Tad Williams (Otherland) series for the same reason, have been warned off the Game of Thrones books for the same reason (and have no desire to watch the TV series), I just don't need that in my life. I would feel differently if I was purposely reading a documentary or something like that.
  
  
  

  Crossed- Ali Condie- This one was another first book in a series that I have been wanting to read because I do tend to enjoy dystopian YA fiction quite a bit, as long as it is not too sappy. I read through this fast, in a few days, it has an interesting premise in a future earth-like world where a lot of how you live your life is not your choice and is foisted on you by a dictator type government, you have to stay in a certain class of people, and there are those who become brave enough to try to escape the conditions, break free, and try to find other outcasts and/or start a new and better kind of society. This tale was pretty ordinary dystopian YA and though it was interesting it was not very compelling and had a lot of stereotypes in it so it was predictable. Not sure if I want to invest time in the other books but found reading the first one a quick and interesting enough read to not feel I wasted my time.
  
  
  Victorian and Edwardian Ghost Stories- I love ghost stories as long as they are not mainly horror/slasher, gore filled types of tales. I enjoy the psychological tension, the subtle feeling of unease that permeates in creepy places and the twists that many of the old fashioned (1800's type) ghost stories have in them. This was a thick tome filled with those types of stories. Most of them were good, some were outstanding, a few were duds or so bogged down in wordiness it was tiresome to get through the tale. That is what you get with these types of collections, but overall I did enjoy it even though it seemed a bit daunting when I started reading it because of the length of the book.
  
  
  A Darkness Forged in Fire (Iron Elves Book 1)- Chris Evans- Well this one was kind of a disappointment, also the first book of a series that I had been looking forward to reading. Basically 600 pages of not much happening, poorly developed characters for the most part, a lifeless supposed romantic attraction, typical power hungry bad guys, and a very stereotypical fantasy plot that I am getting so very sick of. It is becoming difficult to find fantasy anymore that is not full of stereotypes that it just bores you to death if you have read a number of these types of books. How do author's with mediocre work like this even get published? Give me Brandon Sanderson or Jim Butcher any day over this guy. Six hundred pages! Man, I must have been really bored or had insomnia to actually finish it.
  
  
  The Fantasy Writer's Assistant-Jeffrey Ford- A collection of short stories by gritty author Jeffery Ford. His writings are generally filled with weird stuff so I knew what to expect, but the stories are usually pretty compelling, none the less. I've read about six books by this author so I have enjoyed his work in the past. This collection seemed really out there and was hard to get into. Only one or two stories were really worth the time or even understandable for me. Oh well, I have another story collection (The Empire of Ice Cream) by this author which I will eventually read, but after this I am in no hurry to do so.
  
  
  
  
  The Jaguar Prophesies-Phyllis Gunderson- This book falls under the category of LDS fiction, it was a short novel about the ongoing mysterious adventures of a middle aged female archeologist. I like books with female leads, and being a middle aged female myself I could relate to the main character. I read another book by this author so when I saw this one at the D.I. thrift store, where I haunt the book aisle, it seemed worth the 75 cents to acquire it. Not a bad plot and interesting enough for me to pick up other books by this author if I see them while haunting the used book section of the thrift store.
  
  
  

  Twice Told Tales- Nathaniel Hawthorne-I am trying to become a well rounded reader so I went for some classics, Hawthorne, even though I knew some of it would be ponderous and wordy because of the era in which it was written. He can also pen a pretty good creepy story so I was willing to slog through this collection because of that as well. I found a copy with a nice introduction and brief story of the author's life included, which made the reading of the collection more interesting for me to have some understanding of the historical context. A mixed bag of tales, but I am glad I read this collection, it made me think about the unique history of New England, and how it has so influenced the American mindset in this region, as a result of that history. Hawthorne seemed to have a rather sad and short life so it makes you kind of sad yourself contemplating it when you are reading his works, you can see the influence in his writing.
  
  
  

  Spillover- Quammen- Non fiction science writing about events termed "spillover," when diseases in animals transfer into the human population and the events and unique situations that can cause such things to happen. Details about how the epidemiology of the disease is carried and transferred, some of it horrific in it's scope, but chock full of good scientific process, includes stories of putting the pieces of evidence together, field investigation, and the attempted solving of these disease mysteries. I am a scientist currently working in a microbiology laboratory so I am all over books like this, but they are interesting for anyone with a bit of curiosity and not too technical like a text book, so that a non-scientist can still enjoy the book and see the scientific process in action. 
  
  
  
  
  The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin- This one started out with promise but ultimately turned into a bust. The main theme I took away from this book was that the central character just wanted to lust after the dark god in this book. She was a lame person who ultimately achieved nothing in the story except, like I mentioned above, lusted after and had steamy relations with (that thankfully were not described much or I would have put the book down long before finishing it) the dark god in this story, and this is supposed to be a trilogy. Wow. I guess it's like common core math...it makes no sense, and as a reader I felt cheated after reading this book. The author didn't deliver. The book started by setting up an interesting world where there are diverse cultures and the main character is called back to the most important kingdom of this world after the death of her parents, as she is the granddaughter of the reigning leader. This old king has three heirs, a niece, a nephew, and the granddaughter and is taking the measure of them all to see which one he will confer the kingdom on after his death. This ruling family has the ability to command the so called gods of this world, as there is a lot of mythology entwined into the culture of the world in the novel. Instead of taking this interesting premise into what could have been a book worth reading, the author makes it all about the main character lusting after the dark god of the world's mythology and the story premise goes nowhere. Much that happens in the story does not make sense, especially the ending.
  
  
  
  
   Oh well, 2 1/2 (1/2 for the Jeffrey Ford book), busts in the 12 reads chosen from my TBR shelves is not so bad I guess. After the Jemison book I tried reading a YA book that my granddaughter expressed interest in, to preview it, so I could judge whether I wanted to let her have the book and was again disappointed at the snotty and ridiculous characters in that book, so that one went into the circular file as well. I used to have an aversion to throwing away any book, but lately it feels like I have encountered more garbage books than usual and no longer feel bad about throwing the drek away or returning it to the library unfinished. I then turned to a reliable author for a quick and interesting read to get the bad taste out of my mouth from two bad books in a row. This happened to be Lincoln Child's Full Wolf Moon, which the same granddaughter also expressed interest in and I wanted to preview that as well before giving it to her to read. While his stuff may not be earth shattering literature, I have always received a good, action filled story, with various twists and turns, and have never felt cheated out of my time when finishing one of his books. (I read the book in two days and did not feel cheated out of my time, in fact, I think I will let my teenage granddaughter read it.)
  
  

Mid Summer Blues

I'm melting, melting....it's been a long hot summer here filled with 100 degree weather days and little or no rain since June. It's also been a challenging year health wise with some serious consequences on my side of the aisle making it hard to keep up with posting, when getting through the day without constant pain, and being able to walk up the stairs and open a jar with arthritic hands is an event for celebration. I am happy to report though that my "Read Your Shelves" book challenge, that was a goal of mine this year, is going very well!

Another book, not on my challenge list but that a co-worker tempted me with and could not pass up.

Having my granddaughter, who lives across the country, visit each summer is also something I look forward to every year as well. This year plans changed and were cut a bit shorter than originally planned but we had a great visit and I was able to be well enough to do some hiking with her, enjoying the beauty of where I live, engaging in a curiosity for nature together, and affirming to myself that I don't have to accept the fate of an "I am sick and unable to function mentality."

I am about half way through the last book of my reading challenge and have been busy writing up reviews for the books on the challenge. That post will follow shortly.

One of the books I read that was not on my TBR Challenge list. I loved this series!

My granddaughters and I hiked up the mountain to see this cave which is a national monument.

The mountain trail to the cave.

Inside the cave.

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.

  

                       The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. By Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland

                                                                   Book Review

This book was a real brick...by brick I mean it was a full 700+ pages long and the hard cover was a good two inches thick and weighed a ton to tote around while I was reading it. I was doubtful when I began that I would ever actually get through it. (Just finishing it is an accomplishment to me.) That having been said, it was also my first foray into ever reading something by either of the authors.

The premise of the book was intriguing... a secret government agency that uses time travel to try and bring back magic into the world. I had heard of Stevenson before and wanted to read something by him so I chose this book. My local library happened to have a nice new copy of D.O.D.O. on the shelf. This book was not quite what I was expecting (I don't really know what I was expecting) but I was highly entertained by it even though the prospect of slogging through 700 pages of it was a bit daunting. If I didn't have such bad insomnia maybe I would have never finished it. Keep in mind though I have no other works by either author to compare it to. I also would not shy away from reading something else or something previously written by either author in the future.

Mix up a studious intellectual type, a straight jacket military type, a bit of romantic tension, throw in some physics and time travel, a few scheming witches, romps through historical times such as Puritanical New England and the smelly streets of 1800's London-in a bawdy house, a cunning banking family named Fukker-I mean Fugger, and a hilarious Viking raid on a WalMart and you will have an idea of what to expect from this book. On it's face its all a bit absurd so you can't be expecting some serious look at human nature that will astonish philosophers into the 25^th century. The whole premise of the book is meant as entertainment. If you like plays on words and to poke fun at corporate seriousness you will smile while reading this book. It's a bit of irreverent fun without taking itself too seriously. I rather enjoyed the different forms of getting the story across- diary entries, journals, letters to an Irish pirate queen from her trusty spy- the whore, office communications, silly policy pronouncements, and the odes of Viking warriors. The reader was able to experience the story from different points of view. But there is no denying it was a long book, probably too long.

After reading it I looked at some of the book reviews on Amazon and it seemed that a lot of people were disappointed by the ending or they were expecting some earth shattering insights into the human condition from this book. I thought the ending was appropriate and was satisfied by it, I was not disappointed in my quest to read for a diversion from the seriousness of life. The ending did not scream out "sequel" to me like it did to other people and if the authors choose to write additional novels about the characters in D.O.D.O. I will decide then if I desire to read more of them. The ending let me use my imagination about what the main characters, Tristan and Mel, would be up to now, and the thought also crossed my mind that it might make an entertaining T.V. Series. 

Authors Neal Stevenson and Nicole Galland

Borne by Jeff Vandermeer...book review

Borne by Jeff Vandermeer (2017)

This is the most recent version of cover art, but the thing on the front does not really seem to me like the creature that is described in the book.

I heard about this book from various literary sources as a hot title for 2017, and after reading the sample on my kindle decided to continue on and read the whole book. This is probably one of the weirdest books I've ever read besides Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick. You have to be able to suspend all logical belief and accept bizarre realities when you delve into this post-apocalyptic, eco-disaster type of book that seems like a melding of Science Fiction and Fantasy put together. 

Depiction of the giant murderous bear Mord.

In this book you will find a giant Godzilla type flying monster bear, memory beetles, alcohol minnows, bio tech run amok, scenes of pollution and desolation and a blobby anemone type creature that learns to talk and can't stop "sampling" any kind of life it encounters. The dialogue between the books narrator, Rachel, and the blobby creature Borne (which is where the book gets its title) is entertaining, heart warming and heart breaking at the same time. 

An entry in the Bourne art contest, from the author's blog.

Overall, this book has a dark tone and its rather like a grizzly auto accident that you can't look away from. It makes you think, makes you depressed, and tends to drag a bit in the middle by almost being too morose. 

The ending did satisfy me but it certainly did not tie up all the loose ends that were brought up in the book as the story unfolds, if it had been too neatly explained at the end it would have ruined the books impact in my opinion. Vandermeer fans will enjoy the descriptive, lyrical writing of the author but be prepared for some emotional baggage as you read it. I can't figure out if I liked reading it or regret it. I am not in a hurry to read more books by this author, but he does have a fantastic imagination and a talent for pulling you into the world in the book. During the reading I was recovering from a partial disability so it fit with the emotional zone I was in at the time.

Read Your Shelves!

Read Your Bookshelves!

For many readers the new year brings new book reading challenges. Some people love book challenges, some don't. I am of two minds about them. I like them and I feel trapped by them as well.... It is nice to have a goal to work for, and then when you accomplish it, rewarding to check it off and give yourself a nice pat on the back. The downside to that is you also might be the type to beat yourself up mentally if you happened to not reach your reading goal. I find reading goals do tend to motivate me but I often I start to feel like I can't read anything else unless it is within the confines of the specific challenge and then there is another book I am really interested in reading, but it does not fit in the challenge, so I am reluctant to start it but not all that interested in reading the next challenge book. I've decided on a compromise reading challenge that allows me to have some goals to accomplish but yet gives me some flexibility to deviate from the plan a bit and read as my heart desires as well. I'm excited about it!

This challenge, the "Read Your Bookshelves Challenge" serves two purposes- you get to more fully enjoy the books you already have on your shelves, and you get to set and reach some reading goals. This is a 12-month challenge, with 12 books as the goal. You can approach it in two ways. The first way is to just go to your bookshelves and grab one book. That is book number one for your challenge. Then you grab 11 other books next to it on the same shelf and they become the rest of the books in your challenge. Make a nice list and have fun crossing each book off as you read it. It is an achievable goal of 12 books. The second approach is that you start with one of your bookshelves and grab a book off of it. After you get that first book chosen, proceed to choose one book from each of your successive bookshelves and they become your challenge reading books. Again, it is nice to make a list and post it someplace so you can see your wonderful progress as you work your way through all 12 books in the challenge.

Knowing myself, I will read more than 12 books in a year, but this kind of challenge allows me to have a realistic, not an intimidating, goal and still have the ability to follow my reading whims if I decide to delve into a particular genre or author in a more specific way. I still get the satisfaction of reading the books I already have (a long term goal of mine), and not being trapped to only read specific titles I chose one day at the beginning of the year. 

Here's my Read Your Bookshelves Challenge list for 2018:

Read Your Bookshelves Challenge (I went with each successive shelf and my shelves are arranged alphabetically by author. I stuck Spillover in at the end because I wanted another science book in the list and because I had also just purchased it.) You can read them in any order you desire or you can work your way through the list in order.

• The Creative Brain (Nancy Andreasen)
• Between a Heart and a Rock Place; A Memoir (Pat Benatar)
• Academ's Fury #2 Codex Alera (Jim Butcher) (I read #1 previously)
• Graceling (Kristin Cashore)
• Crossed (Ally Condie)
• Victorian and Edwardian Ghost Stories (various)
• A Darkness Forges in Fire ( Chris Evans)
• The Fantasy Writer's Assistant (Jeffrey Ford)
• The Jaguar Prophecies ( P. Gunderson)
• Twice Told Tales (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (N.K. Jemisin)
• Spillover; Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic (D. Quammen)

This list is a nice variety of genres-Science, Fiction and Non-Fiction, Fantasy, YA, Ghost Stories, and Literature, right up my alley! Now your job is to make your own list and get reading!!!