A Glimpse into my mind

Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas by John Scalzi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Newly assigned Ensigns on the Starship Intrepid notice other crew members acting oddly when it comes to interacting with certain upper crew-members and when the topic of away missions comes up.

Not only is it noticeable that some lowly Ensign dies on almost every away mission, there really doesn't seem to be a reason for half the away missions to happen OR the people assigned to them make any sense. It's as if they were on a TV-show... a badly written TV show.

As a long time fan of Star Trek, I found this book hysterical. And Wil Wheaton's narration of it was spot on, and one I will be recommending to other sci-fi geeks for a long time.




This was recommended by both George R.R. Martin and Wil Wheaton

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The Blood Gospel: The Order of the Sanguines Series by James Rollins and
by James Rollins (Goodreads Author), and Rebecca Cantrell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I found this to be rather interesting and a story that grabbed me just on the premise...three unlikely individuals - a military forensics expert, a priest and an archeologist are summoned to investigate the aftermath of an earthquake that hit Masada, Israel, revealing a long buried and forgotten tomb. It turns out that the tomb may have been home to a lost Gospel - written by Jesus, in his own blood. And from there things get "weird" and we learn that the story of the Christ may not be what we have always been lead to believe. Further, there are people... creatures that want the book as much as the Vatican does and the three must fight their way to recover the Gospel before the bad guys do... but who really is friend and foe?

Overall, I liked this book. It played on things that I have always liked... unique takes on vampires, Russian and Slavic history, biblical archeology (as I wanted to be one when I grew up) and just enough mystery. I could have done with out the overarching sexual tension between Erin, the archeologist, and Jordan, the military man, and the strange sexual tension Rhun, the priest, felt for Erin. Because seriously, just once I'd like to read a book or see a movie that has a man and a woman, both single, who have to work together NOT end up wanting to jump each other's bones.

This book also ended at just the right point to make me want to continue in the series to find out what happens next.




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Dear Committee Members: A novel by Julie Schumacher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book was an absolute treat that had me laughing out loud in several points. A collection of letters of recommendation as written by one beleaguered, disenfranchised, and rather cynical professor of English and Creative Writing at a university. It follows just one year of his correspondences to other departments, institutions, programs, places of employment as he is asked to write letters of recommendations for students (some he's only known for the 3 minutes it took for the student to ask him to write something for them), colleagues, and acquaintances.

It's hysterical to be guided through his complaints on the conditions of his academic building as it undergoes remodeling construction for the Economics Department, as he expresses his opinions about various undergrad and post-grad programs, and is constantly trying to get favors from his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend for his recommendees, though I suspect they would have better chances if he didn't keep bringing up things from his past interactions by saying things like "I'm sure you remember X situation... please don't hold that against this student". And trying to pit his ex-wife and his ex-girlfriend (who appear to be friends) against each other.

This is a book that I am glad I got the audio version for and will most certainly return to when I need a laugh.



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The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt




I gave it a shot. But when I found myself actively finding other things to do other than listening to this book, and when I did listen, I had to constantly rewind because I found my mind wandering, I realized it just wasn't going to happen.

Which is a shame, as it sounded interesting. Tesla and a friendship he had in the last bit of his life.

I can't say what it was that didn't draw me in, if it was the writing, the reading, the story, or just my frame of mind. But sometimes you just have to give up on something. And sadly , this was one of those times.



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Marking Time by April White

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I picked this book up based on the description on a free e-book listserv. It sounded interesting and it was free, so why not?

For what it was, it was a fair story. I liked the concepts and the world building. The idea that people were descended from Immortal Concepts such as Death, War, Fate, Nature, etc. is something that I rarely see. However the overall story of Saira's attempt to find her mother while learning she is one of these people just kinda left me... eh.

My main issue was, just as things would get interesting in one time period (the story jumps from modern London to 1888 London at the time of the Jack the Ripper killings), she would end up jumping back to the other. It kept some of the tension up, but it made me feel more of a "oh come on!" and then we'd lose the excitement and have to build it back up in the new time only to lose it again at a jump.

I can't say that I will be actively seeking out any of the other books in the series, but maybe if the next one comes up free for the Kindle, I might grab it. Maybe. If I have nothing else to read at that time.



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Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Loved it. The audio version had me laughing throughout

Update: I chose this book for a reading challenge's category "book you've read before that never fails to make you smile". Even with the one depressing chapter, I always find this book funny and making me laugh out loud in many cases.

The language is not one that is safe for work, but for me, makes her all the more relatable. Any I know part of the humor comes from a strong sense of schadenfreude, cuz it's not like many of us grew up in rural Texas with a father who thought bringing home wild animals was fun, if they were alive, and if not, doing taxidermy and having to use phrases like "let's take your car, mine's too full of blood".

I cannot help but feel sorry for her husband, and the post-it note wars, the bringing home 6 foot tall metal chickens and the like. But you know what... he married her.

All in all I recommend this book to others who need a good laugh.



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Room by Emma Donoghue

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The premise was interesting. Our narrator is Jack. He has lived his entire 5 years in "Room" with Ma. Room is 11 ft x 11 ft. Jack's entire world is Room and Ma. He's allowed to watch TV every day but to him, TV is not real. The stories on all the TV "planets" are made up because the only humans are he and Ma. But to him, it's all good. He has all he thinks he needs because "Old Jack" bring them stuff. But he's never fully seen Old Jack because he has to hide in the wardrobe when Jack visits Ma.

But shortly after Jack turns 5, Ma designs a cunning escape plan to finally leave room and go "outside".

I had issues with this book and I think the majority of it has to do with the choice of Jack as the narrator. Because he's five and his entire life experience has been in confinement, he not only an unreliable narrator, he's unbelievable. The author's choice of language skills for Jack seem at the same time incredibly stunted and incredibly over-reaching. Add to that, because of his limited experiences it's hard to feel the emotional response expected for Ma's ordeal. It's not hard for an adult reader to know exactly what's happened to Ma and what she's been experiencing for 7 years at the hands of Old Jack.

The other thing I had trouble with was Jack's roll in the great escape. I just didn't believe it. A boy who's never seen another human being, never talked to anyone but his Mother, is supposed to do what he did and get help? I would have trouble believing a 5 year old who has lived in the world could do what he did, let alone one as cloistered as he was.

I also expected more psychological responses to having to now deal with "outside". I expected more agoraphobia, more reactions to having to deal with so much outside stimuli (sounds, sights, smells, etc). To me, he adjusted just way too quickly.

All in all, the book fell flat for me. and I think if you want to read something about this type of difficult topic, it would be better to read a true account of a kidnap victim or one of the psychological write ups of their treatment.



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Now I Know: The Revealing Stories Behind the World's Most Interesting Facts by Dan Lewis




I could not finish this audiobook. It annoyed me too much, which is sad as I was looking forward to it as it sounded like my kind of book.

But...

I could overlook saying "actor Leslie Howard, best known for HER portrayal of Ashley Wilkes". Any Gone with the Wind fan (movie or book) could tell you that Ashley is a man and Leslie Howard is a man. But when you are a factual book telling the stories behind things and you say "according to Wikipedia..." NOPE! Sorry, you lost me.

Could not finish. I don't care how well researched the rest of the book may be, when you've sited Wikipedia as your source AND you get the gender of a famous movie actor/role wrong... two strikes and you're out.



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Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this book. I did it as an audio and I did like the narrator's voice. But I'm wondering if I might have liked this book better had I read it.

My problem was that it constantly flipped between the present and back to the 1940's and WWII, and at times I had trouble figuring out which time we were in when a new sub-chapter started.

Etta is 80 something, suffering from the beginning of Alzheimer's (though it never says the name directly) and has spent her whole life in a small rural town in Saskatchewan and wants to see the ocean before she dies. So she packs a bag and leaves a note for her husband telling him where she's gone to and that she will try to remember to come home. Otto is her husband, who had his adventure in his late teens when he went off to Europe to fight the war, so he lets her go and stays behind to learn to live on his own.

Russell is their friend, who has had a crush on Etta since they were teenagers, and is mad that Otto just let her wander off and goes off to find her.

James is a coyote that Etta meets along the way. Only I can't tell if he is real or a figment of her imagination.

The two storylines were good, but the ending kinda left me... eh with more questions than answers.

All in all, not sure I would recommend this book to my friends, but I am not left feeling that I wasted my time.



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One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


When I think back to the books of my childhood, this one is at the top of my list. My earliest book memories involve going to the library with my mother and borrowing this book. The library had several copies and when we returned one, I would borrow another. I remember how excited I was when Santa brought me my very own copy.

For the Popsugar Reading Challenge's category "book that you loved as a child" I could think of no other book but this one.

Even now, at the age of 43, I love the rhyming, the imagry, the pacing and just fun of the book. And it has a good lesson:

From there to here,
from here to there,
funny things
are everywhere.



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