tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-320047112023-12-31T12:51:19.913-05:00Scrinanbblesscribbles + Nancy = Scrinanbbles •
<em>a books and writing blog</em>Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.comBlogger267125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-53379983507176749252023-12-31T12:50:00.001-05:002023-12-31T12:50:42.663-05:00'The Mystery Writer' by Sulari Gentill<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/157020090-the-mystery-writer" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Mystery Writer" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1691483284l/157020090._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/157020090-the-mystery-writer">The Mystery Writer</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3856582.Sulari_Gentill">Sulari Gentill</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6101887664">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Sulari Gentill knows how to write page turners, and I appreciate her use of writers as main characters; it gives one a look at the writing life. So I liked The Mystery Writer a lot. I was surprised at the setting -- Australian lawyers in a Midwest city -- and I found the final plot quite contrived. I didn't guess until nearing the end at what was happening, however, and I enjoyed the ride along the way.
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Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-5345095606222248682023-08-25T08:33:00.002-04:002023-08-25T08:33:50.055-04:00'The Detective Up Late' by Adrian McKinty<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122859501-the-detective-up-late" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Detective Up Late (Sean Duffy, #7)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1681123328l/122859501._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122859501-the-detective-up-late">The Detective Up Late</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/12433.Adrian_McKinty">Adrian McKinty</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5792403097">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! The writing is amazing, the characters terrific. I did not guess the ending(s), either. So worth the wait. Thank you, Adrian McKinty, for such a fabulous series.
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Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-13957708554198192042023-04-02T09:51:00.005-04:002023-04-02T09:56:43.292-04:00'Dead Man's Wake' by Paul Doiron<a href="https://amzn.to/3U4kUOZ" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Dead Man's Wake (Mike Bowditch #14)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1679463876l/61885014._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://amzn.to/3U4kUOZ">Dead Man's Wake</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3090113.Paul_Doiron">Paul Doiron</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5457520256">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch is back. He and his fiancee Stacy Stevens, along with her parents, are at Great Pond for a Labor Day engagement party. The wardens, Mike and his retired father-in-law-to-be Charley Stevens, are observing the tomfoolery on the lake as a speed boat zips by at dusk. Before long, they hear the boat hit something, and Mike and Charley go out to investigate. That was no log the speed boat hit. What looks like a terrible accident leads the wardens to find not one but two bodies, at least one of them strangled.<br /><br />Mike’s only charge is with chasing down the boat incident, but he’is sure there’s more to the situation than meets the eye and pursues information with his usual doggedness and misadventures.<br /><br />Paul Doiron has served up another page-turner with Dead Man’s Wake. I love how Doiron has set his books in every wild setting in Maine, this time on a summer lake. At least Mike isn’t in danger of freezing to death in this one! Doiron also serves up a mystery with plenty of twists and twisted characters. Not for the cozy mystery crowd, but a fine, fun read for the rest of us.<br />
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Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-76102728128545432023-03-01T08:05:00.003-05:002023-03-01T08:05:53.373-05:00'In the Lives of Puppets' by TJ Klune<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60784549-in-the-lives-of-puppets" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="In the Lives of Puppets" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1653059893l/60784549._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60784549-in-the-lives-of-puppets">In the Lives of Puppets</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5073330.T_J_Klune">T.J. Klune</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5381826253">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
What a delightful, compelling read! Fantasy meets post-singularity, apocalyptic science fiction. I loved the quirky robot characters that made me laugh out loud. (I had to look up the Pinocchio references, which was interesting, but it reminded me as much of The Wizard of Oz.) Add a tremendous amount of heart (no pun intended) and humanity to an epic quest, and you come close.<br /><br />Some reviewers have said it's too long and the ending is unsatisfying; I think the length is fine, but I agree with the assessment of the ending. I WANT MORE! I want to know more of this world and hopefully it's not as bleak as implied. Maybe TJ Klune will write a sequel? That's not his style so far, but there's room here (as well a neurotic Roomba named Rambo -- love, love, love!).
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Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-79856542258073785472022-08-23T09:17:00.001-04:002022-08-23T09:17:23.824-04:00'Strangers to Ourselves' by Rachel Aviv<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59808605-strangers-to-ourselves" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1651275021l/59808605._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59808605-strangers-to-ourselves">Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15966839.Rachel_Aviv">Rachel Aviv</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4939039327">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Rachel Aviv’s <i>Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us</i> is a rare gem: a non-fiction book I couldn’t put down. Aviv is a staff writer at <i>The New Yorker</i>, and the book reads like a really long <i>New Yorker</i> article. It is intelligent and well-researched yet accessible and compassionate. Tellingly, it is non-prescriptive: readers should not look for pat answers here. Aviv simply tells the stories of half a dozen individuals, mostly women and including herself, for whom modern psychiatry does not suffice and often hurts as much as it helps. Aviv puts special emphasis on the narratives that arise out of diagnoses, and what it means to have mental illness become a main element of one’s story. Highly recommended for anyone interested in mental health.
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Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-65962935623459666862022-05-22T07:44:00.000-04:002022-05-22T07:44:16.085-04:00'The Woman in the Library' by Sulari Gentill<a href="https://amzn.to/387FydL" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Woman in the Library" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1631826249l/56803179._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://amzn.to/387FydL">The Woman in the Library</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3856582.Sulari_Gentill">Sulari Gentill</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://amzn.to/387FydL">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Sulari Gentill’s <i>The Woman in the Library</i> hooked me immediately. It opens with a letter from an American writer to an Australian one, a chatty note about writing and an offer to review chapters as the Australian author, a successful mystery writer, works on a new book.<br /><br />Then comes the new book. From the opening sentences it’s clear the Australian author is incorporating things the American correspondent suggests, and even names a character after him. The action of the actual novel takes place pre-pandemic, but the correspondent writes about contemporary affairs, from the wildfires in Australia in 2019 to COVID to race. The ultimate fate of the correspondent becomes a second narrative.<br /><br />In the main narrative, set in Boston, a writer has gone to the public library to work on her book, taking inspiration from the three strangers at the same table. Then, they hear a woman’s blood-curdling scream. Having met under such circumstances, the four soon become fast friends. Each character is hiding something and acting suspiciously even as they pair off. The writer – an Australian on a fellowship – keeps courting the muse and also practicing subterfuge to support her new lover until the final reveal.<br /><br />The unusual construction of The Woman in the Library adds a great deal of interest and complexity to what would have been a fine, straight-forward mystery. I appreciated that the secondary narrative allowed for discussion of the craft of writing and real-life events. Sulari Gentill does a fine job throwing doubt on each of the writer’s new friends from the library, and I felt like I was working extra hard to figure out which leads were false, as the correspondent shared his own theories.<br /><br />I found the main character easy to root for and enjoyed delightful touches such as one of the friends from the library being covered in tattoos and swearing most charmingly. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy a locked-room mystery and can tolerate two interwoven narratives.<br />
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Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-35202688999527035742022-04-24T09:25:00.004-04:002022-04-24T09:25:44.716-04:00'Hatchet Island' by Paul Doiron<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58724854-hatchet-island" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Hatchet Island (Mike Bowditch #13)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1647805643l/58724854._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58724854-hatchet-island">Hatchet Island</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3090113.Paul_Doiron">Paul Doiron</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4686506409">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Maine Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch should know better than to try to vacation in his home state, because he happens on trouble when he does. This time he's paddling with his girlfriend Stacy Stevens, who wants to stop by an island where she had interned at a puffin sanctuary because an old friend was worried. After worry turns to the worst, Mike and Stacy help unravel a baffling set of circumstances on the sea-bird island and its close neighbor, where a wealthy and eccentric photographer who bought the island rules the roost.<br /><br />As always, Mike is impatient, courageous, and unrelenting and the characters that surround him display the range of humanity found in Maine. Pride, greed, lust, and falls from grace vie with competence and conscious before the truth comes out. On his 13th outing, Paul Doiron's hero won't disappoint his fans and will keep new comers to this mystery series turning the pages.
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Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-36249326875850281202022-04-10T17:04:00.003-04:002022-04-10T17:08:21.153-04:00'The Foundling' by Ann Leary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3v0zE5m" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="329" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg--8tGOw0xlsyyKoM45ZitoyocIw-txzVGad7SPv2YAY86yJSaiJP4YttIg5QF72XpJMcgjLmeKP4ZuA-P1rnawBTWZyZvHXG4n3slO7eSa7vHiLo6vmAkLzysqHkfYmQYJWTm5tkwfloYn7Gw2LrBayJ5lJ6waXT11mZ7X9lq8nB2zZrkQY/w132-h200/foundling.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><a href="https://amzn.to/3v0zE5m">The Foundling</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/207508.Ann_Leary">Ann Leary</a><br /><br />
Ann Leary’s <a href="https://amzn.to/3v0zE5m" target="_blank"><i>The Foundling</i> </a>reminds us how far society has come in 100 years and how far it has yet to go.<br /><br />The inspiration for the book was Leary's discovering her own grandmother had worked as a stenographer the 1920s at an institution in that was part of the eugenics movement. Women who were deemed “feebleminded” were held at this work farm while they were of childbearing age so they would not pass on their traits. Shocking by today’s standards, such ideas were commonplace then. <br /><br />Leary’s protagonist Mary Engle is a young woman who had grown up in an orphanage and takes a job as a secretary at the institution, which is headed by a female psychiatrist, Dr. Agnes Vogel. Mary accepts the place and its morays and is in awe of Dr. Vogel until she recognizes one of the residents. The girl was strong-willed and often a bully, but she was not intellectually challenged.<br /><br />After Mary’s relationship with her journalist boyfriend deepens, she begins to see the hypocrisy and cruelty of the institution. The narrative follows her as she comes to this recognition and through harrowing experiences as she tries her best to do what’s right.<br /><br />The story takes time to develop but works itself up to a thrilling and satisfying ending. Leary does a great job showing how a young person could be taken in by an institution she trusts and an authority figure she admires. It should serve as a reminder that those in power may be looking out for themselves more than those they are charged to help and protect.<br /><br />Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-56033838490208862052022-03-24T08:58:00.001-04:002022-03-24T09:05:34.322-04:00'The Island' by Adrian McKinty<a href="https://amzn.to/3iztlQI" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Island" border="0" height="235" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1638497548l/58340727._SX98_.jpg" width="156" /></a><a href="https://amzn.to/3iztlQI">The Island</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/12433.Adrian_McKinty">Adrian McKinty</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4627068794">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Adrian McKinty knows how to write a twisty and twisted thriller, and <i>The Island</i> doesn't disappoint; I could not put it down.<br /><br />Heather is the 24-year-old second wife to orthopedic surgeon Tom and stepmother to his 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son, who have not accepted her. Heather and the kids accompany Tom to a conference in Australia, where he is the keynote speaker. They go out for a drive so the kids can see koalas but fail to find any wildlife in the suburbs. A sketchy guy convinces them to pay top dollar to ferry them across the bay to an island. Home to a defunct prison and one extended family, the island has no cell service or amenities. Accompanied by a Dutch couple who joins the group, they are given a short time to look for animals.<br /><br />The family outing turns into a nightmare when they run afoul of the locals. Cut off from the mainland, the islander clan, presided over by an elderly woman called Ma, mete out their own justice. At first they seem willing to make a deal but things go downhill fast, and Heather finds herself thrust into the role of leader and protector as she uses every ounce of courage and ingenuity to protect her family.<br /><br />The reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is that the characterizations seem a bit shallow early on, although Heather's family gains depth. I also found the set-up somewhat contrived--<i>Deliverance</i> on a desert island in Australia--but in the acknowledgements, McKinty says that it is based on a real place and the inciting incident almost happened to him. (He is very clear that the people who live on the island are nothing like his fictional clan.)<br /><br />Overall, I loved this engaging, sometimes disturbing, read. It would make a good movie, too.<br />Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-35151658902118554612022-02-21T09:00:00.001-05:002022-03-08T09:00:36.994-05:00'Upgrade' by Black Crouch<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjaufnmn6b-KhNM6saagU4-k1LGXcVWhyaMzclclaOob_YU3avyLEFGnX4thNjGsQ7lwXDIIQ0D7B4D41FKT0bWDwG1qujZu3p_ffuhXU4s44OYn9y75rL5huBnmmitftbZYGCsOxLDNRzAbXweMO6_o92U7KI9CoBli0no0-RBP8fduWQNgIY=s450" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="296" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjaufnmn6b-KhNM6saagU4-k1LGXcVWhyaMzclclaOob_YU3avyLEFGnX4thNjGsQ7lwXDIIQ0D7B4D41FKT0bWDwG1qujZu3p_ffuhXU4s44OYn9y75rL5huBnmmitftbZYGCsOxLDNRzAbXweMO6_o92U7KI9CoBli0no0-RBP8fduWQNgIY=w174-h266" width="174" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3JG3mlT">Upgrade</a>, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blake Crouch has written a page-turning, scientific thriller that is also a morality tale.</span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-20c535e3-7fff-1625-2ba4-e2857eb27521"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the near future, we meet Logan Ramsay, whose mother was the most brilliant geneticist ever born. She brings on a global famine by releasing genetically-modified insects that were meant to cure a rice blight. Logan, just out of college, was working for her at the time and ended up going to jail for it. His mother wasn’t held accountable: she drove her car off the highest cliff on the California coast.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We meet Logan some 20 years on, working for a government agency established to police genetics. On a raid, he gets hit with the shrapnel from a bomb and contracts a horrible fever. It turns out that he was not a random casualty but the target, and the virus he was infected with is changing his DNA.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The changes are the “upgrade,” making him stronger and smarter. He discovers he is part of a rogue plan to upgrade all of humanity in this way, in order to stave off the extinction of the human race. The problem is, being smarter doesn’t make anyone more likely to work together.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Logan must give up his old life and self and make his own choices. Can </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">he</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> save the world?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As enticing as it might sound to be able to tweak the human genome, I think the ideas in this book are fantasy. From what I understand, there are no precise genetic markers for qualities like intelligence. In addition, the changes that happen in Logan’s brain are based on a faulty understanding of memory and perception.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I do appreciate where the book ends up, with the idea that it’s not intelligence we need to expand in people, but compassion. If this book can be a vehicle to get just a few people who don’t normally think about such things to consider how we might combat climate change with compassion, it will have been worth it.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-79877441486954176682021-11-28T16:50:00.001-05:002021-11-28T16:50:42.067-05:00'Sea of Tranquility' by Emily St. John Mandel<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58446227-sea-of-tranquility" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Sea of Tranquility" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1626710416l/58446227._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58446227-sea-of-tranquility" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Sea of Tranquility" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1626710416l/58446227._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58446227-sea-of-tranquility">Sea of Tranquility</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2786093.Emily_St_John_Mandel">Emily St. John Mandel</a><br/> My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4360800896">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /> Emily St. John Mandel has returned to speculative fiction with <i>Sea of Tranquility</i>. It is mostly a time travel story, but it is also a pandemic story, an author story, and a colonization of the solar system story. And it is masterful.<br /><br />The book is separated into sections focusing on different main characters and time periods. The exact nature of the connections is revealed slowly, like a mystery novel giving up its clues. Melissa, Paul, and Vincent, characters from the author’s previous novel <i>The Glass Hotel</i>, people one section, but the rest of the characters and story are new. <br /><br />The sections about an author on a book tour who left a young daughter at home reads like it could be memoir, the feelings no doubt mined from the author’s own experiences, including that it takes place at the start of a pandemic. <br /><br />Callings, motivations, and living a meaningful life are all themes in the book, examined in Mandel’s clear prose. Other reviewers have pointed out a connection to Mandel’s <i>Station Eleven</i> as well. Now I need to re-read them all! It will be well worth it.<br /> <br/><br/> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2914627-nancy">View all my reviews</a>">Sea of Tranquility</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2786093.Emily_St_John_Mandel">Emily St. John Mandel</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4360800896">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Emily St. John Mandel has returned to speculative fiction with <i>Sea of Tranquility</i>. It is mostly a time travel story, but it is also a pandemic story, an author story, and a colonization of the solar system story. And it is masterful.<br /><br />The book is separated into sections focusing on different main characters and time periods. The exact nature of the connections is revealed slowly, like a mystery novel giving up its clues. Melissa, Paul, and Vincent, characters from the author’s previous novel <i>The Glass Hotel</i>, people one section, but the rest of the characters and story are new. <br /><br />The sections about an author on a book tour who left a young daughter at home reads like it could be memoir, the feelings no doubt mined from the author’s own experiences, including that it takes place at the start of a pandemic. <br /><br />Callings, motivations, and living a meaningful life are all themes in the book, examined in Mandel’s clear prose. Other reviewers have pointed out a connection to Mandel’s <i>Station Eleven</i> as well. Now I need to re-read them all! It will be well worth it.<br />Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-69940071416054823802021-09-30T11:28:00.001-04:002021-09-30T11:28:35.445-04:00'The Night the Lights Went Out' by Drew Magary<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56637945-the-night-the-lights-went-out" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Night the Lights Went Out: A Memoir of Life After Brain Damage" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1613594759l/56637945._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56637945-the-night-the-lights-went-out">The Night the Lights Went Out: A Memoir of Life After Brain Damage</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1616154.Drew_Magary">Drew Magary</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4264819197">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I agree with another Goodreads reviewer who said 4.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley for the digital galley.<br /><br />Sports writer and novelist Drew Magary had a good life. He had just hosted the Deadspin Awards in 2018 and was at an after party at a karaoke bar in New York City when he went to use the restroom. Alone in a concrete hallway, he fell: he doesn’t remember it, and nobody saw it happen, but the result was catastrophic. He cracked his skull in several places, resulting in a traumatic brain injury.<br /><br /><i>The Night the Lights Went Out</i> is Magary’s memoir of the event and its aftermath, and it reads like a page-turning, sometimes hilarious, novel. Obviously he recovered sufficiently to write this book, but after reading about the extent of his injuries, I wasn’t sure what that meant until the end. <br /><br />Magary is thoughtful and doesn’t spare himself in his account but injects humor throughout. It’s an interesting--and, incredibly, entertaining--look at what it means to have suffered a traumatic brain injury and what it takes to recover. Highly recommended for anyone interested in TBI and the brain.<br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2914627-nancy">View all my reviews</a>
Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-8584679436300048302021-09-13T07:13:00.002-04:002021-09-13T07:13:52.757-04:00'Roxy' by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman<a href="https://amzn.to/3A7Pj4p" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;" target="_blank"><img alt="Roxy" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1621173884l/56980350._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://amzn.to/3A7Pj4p">Roxy</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19564.Neal_Shusterman">Neal Shusterman</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4235104867">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Imagine if drugs were people. What would they say to each other? What would they say to you when you take them?<br /><br /><i>Roxy</i> has done just that, turned the drugs themselves into characters. Roxy (oxycodone) and Addie (adderall) decide to have a contest over siblings Ivy and Isaac to see who can not only bring them to the Party as their plus one, but to take them all the way to VIP lounge by themselves, without their upline, more powerful and addictive drugs, stealing their marks.<br /><br />We already know one of them succeeded from the opening scene. As the book opens, Narcan has just been administered but realizes he won’t be successful; this OD will be DOA. The first responders pull out an ID with only the first initial I.<br /><br />Ivy is a ne'er-do-well high school senior on a trajectory to miss graduating, and Isaac is an overachieving A-student and soccer star, so it seems obvious that Ivy will be the one to go to the VIP lounge. But the authors, award-winning Neal Shusterman and his son Jarrod, do a masterful job of keeping the suspense going, and the odds go back and forth right up to the end. <br /><br />I found the construction interesting (although my web browser must have thought I had a problem as I looked up nicknames for drugs). The pacing began slowly but it picked up and became driving. Masterful, entertaining, and instructive, <i>Roxy</i> should appeal to Neal Shusterman’s fans and any reader of YA lit.
<br /><br />Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-42765055169930879912021-08-23T09:06:00.007-04:002021-08-23T09:07:47.240-04:00'True Raiders' by Brad Ricca<p><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=rethnoth-20&language=en_US&l=li1&o=1&a=1250273609" style="border: none; margin: 0px;" width="1" /><i><a href="https://amzn.to/2WeMPSD" target="_blank">True Raiders: The Untold Story of the 1909 Expedition to Find the Legendary Ark of the Covenant</a></i> by Brad Ricca is a well-researched book. It is about the early 20th-century expedition to find the Ark of the Covenant that inspired the classic movie <i>Raiders of the Lost Ark.</i> The author provides a guide to the characters at the start and is thorough about his resources. Written like a novel, the book brings the topic to life, but I don't understand how it can be classified nonfiction. There were many negatives for me, such as too many characters and plotlines. I found the writing inconsistent, sometimes painting vivid pictures, sometimes getting lost in the weeds. The structure was also a hinderance to me; chapters jumped back and forth in time and from character to character, and I sometimes found myself confused by the connections, the thread of the narrative lost. I see that many reviewers on <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56269200-true-raiders" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> enjoyed it more than I did, so your results may vary.</p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/True-Raiders-Expedition-Legendary-Covenant/dp/1250273609?&linkCode=li2&tag=rethnoth-20&linkId=e2d6e71d8bcd404bc915a1231e5b1fde&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_il" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1250273609&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=rethnoth-20&language=en_US" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=rethnoth-20&language=en_US&l=li2&o=1&a=1250273609" style="border: none; margin: 0px;" width="1" /></div>Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-86046799481070180682021-07-25T08:48:00.001-04:002021-07-25T08:48:32.047-04:00'Fan Fiction' by Brent Spiner<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56269181-fan-fiction" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Fan Fiction: A Mem-Noir: Inspired by True Events" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1611847011l/56269181._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://amzn.to/3x4ooEn">Fan Fiction: A Mem-Noir: Inspired by True Events</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/251241.Brent_Spiner">Brent Spiner</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4134004772">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Brent Spiner portrayed the beloved Star Trek character Data, an android, on television and in films. If you didn't know that, you might not think to pick up this book or enjoy it as much as I did. It's a mystery based on Spiner's life growing up and experience as a star in a show that attracts ardent fans. Spiner shows us his feet of clay with wry good humor and brings in his other Star Trek personages of the day -- creator Gene Roddenberry and his fellow cast mates -- for delightful cameos. You don't have to be die-hard Star Trek fan to enjoy this fun book, but it helps to be familiar with <i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> or to be interested in getting behind the scenes in Hollywood. Aside from being a talented actor and a genuinely funny guy, Spiner is also a singer, and now, a novelist. Very fun, worth a read.
Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-31217639701036521222021-06-02T08:31:00.001-04:002021-06-02T08:31:37.429-04:00'The Man Who Died Twice' by Richard Osman<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55457493-the-man-who-died-twice" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Man Who Died Twice (Thursday Murder Club, #2)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1616100048l/55457493._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://amzn.to/3yZoYFl">The Man Who Died Twice</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6173710.Richard_Osman">Richard Osman</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4036590079">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
<i>The Man Who Died Twice</i> picks up with the Thursday Murder Club retirees where the first book in the series left off. This time, Elizabeth’s past comes looking for her, in the form of an ex-husband who also is a spy with MI-5. He is hiding out at Coopers Chase because some diamonds went missing from his last job, a clandestine look around the home of a mafia middle-man. Did he or didn’t he steal the diamonds, and if he did, where did he hide them? Elizabeth and Joyce are on the case. In the meantime, Ibrahim gets mugged, for which Ron and Bogdan plan to get justice, and Fairhaven cops Donna and Chris are staking out Connie Johnson, a bad piece of work who controls the local drug trade. Author Richard Osman has created another charming yarn, with laugh-out-loud moments and plenty of obfuscation that keeps the mystery going. Sure to be another winner with readers who loved <i>The Thursday Murder Club</i>.<br />
Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-35170035999198274962021-03-16T07:43:00.001-04:002021-03-16T07:43:10.675-04:00'Project Hail Mary' by Andy Weir<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54493401-project-hail-mary" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Project Hail Mary" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597695864l/54493401._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://amzn.to/3rRpTE4">Project Hail Mary</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6540057.Andy_Weir">Andy Weir</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3890994642">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Fun science! I loved this book. (Until the end. Then, I'm not so sure, but what ride to get there.) Tons of science made interesting, and an ingenious way to tell the story.<br /><br />I'm sure fans of Weir's <i>The Martian</i> will not be surprised at the level of science-based problem solving in this book. (I abandoned <i>The Martian</i> because I didn't want watch an astronaut starve on Mars. I quite enjoyed the movie, though.)<br /><br />The structure of this book - of an astronaut who wakes up in space and doesn't know who or where he is - adds an element of mystery to the narrative, which might not have been so effective if it had been told in a linear fashion. We get the back story as his memories return.<br /><br />[Small spoiler] I loved the alien life proposed in this book. I became quite attached to it, too. I would like to know how Weir chose his aliens, but I'm sure there is real scientific thinking behind.<br /><br />My gripes are that the characters tend to be two-dimensional, and the ending doesn't quite stick the landing. Not to mention all the luck that makes the plot work, but that's fiction for you. <br /><br />I am not a fan of hard science fiction, so I can't judge how Weir's work would sit with those readers. This book's style of plot-driven, science-laden storytelling is sure to have wide appeal and produce another hit for Weir.<br />Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-82997248258143535762021-01-31T11:15:00.002-05:002021-01-31T11:15:50.096-05:00When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLaine<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54895727-when-the-stars-go-dark" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="When the Stars Go Dark" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597950967l/54895727._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54895727-when-the-stars-go-dark">When the Stars Go Dark</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/290189.Paula_McLain">Paula McLain</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3808600968">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Paula McLain's new novel is part thriller, part police procedural, and all fantastic writing. <br /><br />Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in San Francisco. When unspeakable tragedy strikes her personal life, she returns to the Northern California village of Mendocino where she spent her preteen and teen years. She soon volunteers to help out find a local missing girl, a task which brings her squarely into her own past, working with the local sheriff who had been a high school friend, a man she bonded with back then when their friend went missing. Anna gets over-invested in her cases, and these are no exception. We follow her as she tracks the girls, pulls together threads no one else has the tenacity to weave, and confronts her own traumas, past and present.<br /><br />Through it all, McLain's personal experiences inform the difficult story, which includes child abandonment and abuse. She often waxes poetic, which is lovely. Sometimes she oversells her points about the effects of abuse, but maybe that's for the best. In the second half of the book, the narrative picks up speed and becomes a page-turner.<br /><br />Loved it; couldn't put it down towards the end.<br /><br />NB: I received a digital galley via NetGalley for review.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2914627-nancy">View all my reviews</a>
Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-62185810883952533562020-11-07T08:36:00.002-05:002021-03-16T08:05:27.696-04:00'7 1/2 Lessons About the Brain' by Lisa Feldman Barrett<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/2U3r4Rs" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="600" height="187" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tO1krItrWNQ/X6agxksFgTI/AAAAAAAALvY/b6aJnZOdIPcUpMrmMH_fugVPxx_IBRWEACNcBGAsYHQ/w287-h187/brainlessons.png" width="287" /></a></div><br />Professor Lisa Feldman Barrett's books about the brain blow my mind. <i><a href="https://amzn.to/2U3r4Rs" target="_blank">7 1/2 Lessons</a> </i>is her most approachable popular work to date, and it is easy to read. And entertaining. And relatively short; the details are in an appendix. <p></p><p>The 7 1/2 lessons are meant to update the popular understanding of the brain with neuroscience research. What the brain evolved for and still does is keep our bodies alive, monitoring the budget of our metabolic needs outside of our conscious awareness. It does this by learning from experience to make predictions about what our bodies are about to do. It's weird but true that the brain knows you're about to raise your hand (or do anything) before you're aware of it.</p><p>In addition, our brains are not unique in the animal kingdom, nor are they composed of parts as we have been taught. We are all used to hearing about the different parts of the brain, like the "lizard brain," supposedly evolutionarily-older structures that govern the fight-or-flight response to saber tooth tigers. Barrett wants to set the record straight: there is no lizard brain or other dedicated part of the brain, nor is the human brain is not unique in size or structure.</p><p>The truth is the human brain is a series of networks that wire flexibly to create varied human minds and social realities. In fact, our ability to create social realities appears to be the truly unique thing about us and the superpower that has allowed us to dominate the planet.</p><p>This is all fascinating stuff with implications for how we interact with each other and govern ourselves. Barrett alludes to this at the end of each chapter, but again leaves out details.</p><p>I hope that people will be curious enough to read this book and start thinking a little differently about what it means to be human. I'm not sure it will be very persuasive, however. The whole approach depends upon the acceptance of evolution. In 2020, that should be a no-brainer (pardon the pun), but there are still large swaths of humanity that doubt it.</p><p>The other thing that makes me sad is the title: if you're not already a brain nerd, why would you pick up a book of lessons on it? I took a highly non-scientific pole of one colleague who said the title was boring. Barrett is good at coming up for understandable metaphors for brain functions, but she is not telling a compelling story with this book. True popularization of these ideas will have to wait.</p>Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-70726316365578803272020-05-12T09:56:00.002-04:002020-05-12T13:44:09.006-04:00'We Ride Upon Sticks' by Quan Barry<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ietDDRZAdaU/Xrqs-NYmHcI/AAAAAAAAKls/9pRELUUljQEZfzk9zRn0QUedeCmqk_WEgCK4BGAsYHg/werideuponsticks2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1684" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ietDDRZAdaU/Xrqs-NYmHcI/AAAAAAAAKls/9pRELUUljQEZfzk9zRn0QUedeCmqk_WEgCK4BGAsYHg/w131-h200/werideuponsticks2.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Quan Barry’s <i><a href="https://amzn.to/2LoLnnY" target="_blank">We Ride Upon Sticks</a></i> was a must read for me, having been a field hockey jock in my youth. I came for the hockey and stayed for the cool, wacky, collective-point-of-view narration; the thorough inclusion of 1980s popular culture; keen observations and poetic descriptions; and, of course, the witchcraft.</div></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">The 1989 Danver, Mass., Lady Falcons field hockey team was not looking so hot at the start of summer hockey camp. Just like they had been doing for years, they lost their first game. But goalie Mel Boucher had an idea for how to change the pitch: make a pact with the devil and write it down in a spiral notebook with Emelio Estavez on the cover. The next game she makes an astounding number of saves..</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">One by one, each team member adds her signature to Emelio’s book. The last holdout is Abby Putnam, descendent of the Putnams of the Salem witch trials. (Danvers, just down the road from Salem, was the actual site of the trials.) Eventually even she signs on.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">The book follows the team, each chapter named after a match and devoted to a different team member's back story. As the season wears on, the team ups the ante with worsening (and sometimes criminal) behavior, culminating in locker fires before the state finals. The last chapter is a reunion, where we catch up with the team 25 years later and find out what really happened at the end of the season.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Along the way in this quirky literary novel, where every character is a misfit and there are plot twists a plenty, author Barry thoughtfully tackles race, religion, and gender, along with the history of witchcraft. Highly recommended for anybody who likes smart, pop-culture-inflected flights of fancy (on sticks or otherwise).</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><i>(Review also published on Goodreads.)</i></span></div>Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-62329483478594310812020-04-19T09:21:00.002-04:002020-04-19T09:23:48.034-04:00'My Year of Living Spiritually' by Anne Bokma<span style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3cw9VqN" target="_blank"><img alt="My Year of Living Spiritually : From Woo-Woo to Wonderful--One Woman’s Secular Quest for a More Soulful Life" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565795722l/45015170._SX98_.jpg" /></a></span><a href="https://amzn.to/3cw9VqN" target="_blank">My Year of Living Spiritually : From Woo-Woo to Wonderful--One Woman’s Secular Quest for a More Soulful Life</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19048763.Anne_Bokma">Anne Bokma</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3289246237">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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Anne Bokma has written an accessible and eminently readable memoir of her midlife, organized around a year where she tried something new in the "spiritual but not religious" realm. A journalist by trade, Bokma's work has the feel of a dozen feature articles, held together by her backstory: having left the strict Christian denomination in which she was raised, which estranged her from her family. During her experimental year, she kicks the tires on yoga (not so much), solitude (thumbs up), singing (two thumbs up), and spiritualism (meh), to name a few. Her journey is one that many middle-class women of North America can relate to (Bokma is Canadian). Sometimes touching, sometimes funny, this yearlong tour of spiritual exploration should appeal to many a seeker.
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<br />Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-70716986876474573722020-01-15T08:03:00.000-05:002020-01-15T08:04:06.122-05:00'The Glass Hotel' by Emily St. John Mandel<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36192160-the-glass-hotel" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Glass Hotel" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1564056388l/36192160._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://amzn.to/2RnttVe" target="_blank">The Glass Hotel</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2786093.Emily_St_John_Mandel">Emily St. John Mandel</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3143199913">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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Emily St. John Mandel is a weaver of the richest story tapestries. Her latest, <i>The Glass Hotel</i>, begins and ends with a young woman named Vincent and works its way to the titular building at the nexus of the novel, where characters collide like elementary particles, spinning off in new directions that determine the course of their lives. The characters include Vincent’s half-brother Paul, a ne'er-do-well who capitalizes on Vincent’s videography; high-flying financier Jonathan, who takes Vincent as his wife though never legally marries her; and Leon, who loves the business of international shipping and tells Vincent about it when she is serving as a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star hotel on the far northern reaches of Vancouver Island. Lying, stealing, the various countries of the monied, the cheated, the sick -- all are strands in the weft, their color enlightened by astute observations small and large. Add a strand of the supernatural, and the result is pleasing to the eye and reveals more the more it is observed.Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-85685466484313600182019-10-14T08:14:00.000-04:002019-10-14T08:14:16.936-04:00'Toil & Trouble' by Augsten Burroughs<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43263491-toil-trouble" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Toil & Trouble: A Memoir" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1550776804l/43263491._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://amzn.to/2ONd7Wg" target="_blank">Toil & Trouble: A Memoir</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3058.Augusten_Burroughs">Augusten Burroughs</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3012019242">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I hadn't read Augusten Burroughs before getting a galley of <i>Toil & Trouble</i>, and I ask myself, why did I wait so long? I LOVED this book! And now I want to read more of his life story.<br />
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Burroughs is a gifted story teller and word master who is hilarious and keenly observant. The fact that he is a witch, well, it's easy to believe by the end of the book. Even for readers who don't believe it, the book will cast a delightful spell them.Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-89338584009912680912019-09-14T10:36:00.000-04:002019-09-14T10:36:02.813-04:00Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42478640-tuesday-mooney-talks-to-ghosts" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547955025l/42478640._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://amzn.to/2O2Rf9c" target="_blank">Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts </a>by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3279983.Kate_Racculia">Kate Racculia</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2976924748">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I loved everything about this book! It's a mystery/ghost story/treasure hunt/comedy/coming-of-age/finding-yourself/collection-of-misfits story that will charm you and warm your heart. Plus heroine Tuesday Mooney's profession is fundraising prospect researcher, the most interesting job you've never heard of. Just read it! You won't regret it.
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Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32004711.post-61107906298760336632019-08-14T07:56:00.000-04:002019-08-14T07:56:50.323-04:00'Elements of Fiction' by Walter Mosley<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44909181-elements-of-fiction" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Elements of Fiction" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563291320l/44909181._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a alter_mosley="" author="" href="https://amzn.to/31Ftw26%3EElements%20of%20Fiction%3C/a%3E%20by%20%3Ca%20href=" https:="" show="" www.goodreads.com="">Walter Mosley</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2936833881">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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If Walter Mosley weren’t a writer, he could have been a jazz musician. In his latest treatise on writing, <i><a href="https://amzn.to/31Ftw26" target="_blank">Elements of Fiction</a></i>, his prodigious skill at improvising story and his mastery of language are on full display. He covers the basic ingredients of the novel: plot, context, characters, description, narrative voice, rewriting. But this small tome is less a textbook than a look into the master’s mind, to watch him do the thing and say what it takes. He demonstrates points by conjuring characters and their stories on the fly, and his descriptions of writing are nothing short of poetry. While instructive, Mosley is not prescriptive, emphasizing the individual nature of novel writing and how one approaches it. A useful book to add to any writer’s shelf, seasoned writers will be reminded of the joys of writing, while newer writers will be inspired to start the journey.
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Nancy Fontainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273478381460956770noreply@blogger.com0