THE LEGENDARY INGE by Kate Stradling. Roughly based on Beowulf. A girl accidentally kills a monster and is rewarded by being adopted as the king’s son and heir. That’s right, son. And she is supposed to marry the king’s daughter. He won’t believe she’s a girl. But he has his reasons. The king has rebellious nobles he has to deal with, as well as a rogue magician, and all those monsters. Meanwhile Inge finds herself in love with the handsome captain of the guard. Fun read. Though the ending seems to happen too fast and too conveniently.
BRINE AND BONE by Kate Stradling
A retelling of Little Mermaid from the point of view of the human girl the prince is supposed to marry. Interesting twist—the narrator Magdalena has magical empathy, and feels incredible pain whenever the enchanted mermaid walks on those fake legs. Interesting to see the mermaid from the outside, but also with sympathy. Again, I really liked the set up of this book, but it seemed to end too quickly and easily.
DEATH ACADEMY by Naomi Novik
Pretty dark and more adult than most fantasies I read, but really well written as all of Novik’s stuff is. Main character is Galadriel (she goes by El), who attends a school for magical teens. However, in this school there are no kindly teachers to train them, only mortal danger around every corner in the forms of a wide array of monsters who want to kill the teens and suck out all their magic (mana). The only way to combat this danger is to study well and get the power to overcome the monsters. El has an added problem: she has an affinity (each teen has certain talents) for dark magic so powerful she could probably destroy all the monsters and everyone in the school. But she doesn’t want to be evil, so she is constantly fighting her power and keeping herself apart from the others. By the end, very compelling—and now I have to wait until next June for the release of the sequel. This one ends with a huge surprise, so it’s going to be hard!
MR MONK GOES TO THE FIREHOUSE
Based on the TV show—just a fun read. Mark bought it for Mary to read in her illness. She read it and then I did. Mr. Monk is a great detective—he is also OCD. Every time he shakes hands, he needs an antiseptic wipe to clean his hands, which his assistant hands him. This shtick is not as funny as it was pre-covid—now it just seems like good sense. Goodness! Who would risk shaking hands at all!
MARYANN STEVENS
CHRIST AND THE NEW COVENANT by Jeffery R Holland. 5 ⭐️ the Book of Mormon commentary. Went along well with Come Follow Me.
FURIOUSLY HAPPY written & narrated by Jenny Lawson 4⭐️ almost like a standup comic Jenny describes her real life situations dealing with her multiple mental illnesses growing up & later as a wife & a mother, blogger & writer. Rang so true. Chapter 8 Mental Health medication vs cancer. “You’re not trying hard enough, not praying enough, not exercising enough, etc etc. ”
CAMINO ISLAND by John Grisham. 3.5 ⭐️ a gang of thieves pull off a daring heist of original manuscripts from a vault deep under the Princeton Library. The insurance company employs Mercer Mann, writer/adjunct professor to mole into the party life of Bruce Cable, a book dealer known to have traded the black market. A good read.
PAST TENSE by Lee Child 3.5⭐️ a Jack Reacher suspense & Murder saga. Reacher, a retired Army MP walks through America showing up like Zorro or Superman to uphold justice via Fistfights, arm wrenching & lethal kicks.
WHEN WOMEN RULED THE WORLDby Kara Cooney 4⭐️
Allowing the Mother Queen to rule in a young son’s place ensured the patriarchy & did not replace it. Egyptologist Kara Cooney delivers a fascinating tale of female power, exploring the reasons why it has seldom been allowed through the ages, and why we should care.
RACISM WITHOUT RACISTS by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, 3⭐️ an Afro Puerto Rican political sociologist and professor of sociology at Duke University. Very academic, lots of statistics, very interesting. We claim to live in a Colorblind society, after all we elected Obama, however years of systematic racism have not been erased, we’ve just gotten nice about being racists.
MOUNT VERNON LOVE STORY by Mary Higgins Clark 3⭐️ GEORGE & Martha Washington seemed to have had a warm & loving relationship.
FRONT ROW AT THE TRUMP SHOW written & narrated by Jonathan Karl 4.5 ⭐️ There is real Danger in the terms: Fake news & enemy of the People as used by Trump against the media. Karl, is a White House reporter who has known President Donald Trump for more than 25 years. Karl describes his surprisingly open relationship with Donald Trump who Trump has praised, fought, and branded an enemy of the people 5 ⭐️
THE MOMENT OF LIFT By Melinda Gates. Melinda Gates is an amazing example of Christian humility, charity & love. Connection is the goal. Women’s most visceral need is to protect their children. Extreme poverty prevents women’s ability & therefore creates a deep feeling of powerlessness. Improving women’s lives - through family planning, maternal & infant care, education & paid employment- improves the family & the larger community in miraculous ways.
Poverty creates barriers.
OLIVE AGAIN by Elizabeth Strout 2⭐️ set in the current time in a small coastal village in Maine, the main characters are retired folks whose lives are revisited over a period of 15 or 20 years. Description of two separate sexual incidences that add nothing to the story contributed to low score. There are some very insightful & humorous sections, made more so because of my age & therefore kinship to especially Olive. However, given the sexual ‘intrusions’ I can’t recommend this book, especially not to this group.
JO ANN ABEGGLEN
THE PAPER DAUGHTERS OF CHINATOWN by Heather B. Moore
"During the 1800s, many Chinese immigrants in California worked for gold mining companies or the railroads and sent money home to their families. Prostitution proliferated in this mostly male society, aided by a loophole in the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act that led to the trafficking of young Chinese women. These "paper daughters" were given false paperwork asserting that they were married or related to a Chinese man working in the U.S.; when they arrived, they were sold into slavery as prostitutes. In San Francisco, the Occidental Mission Home was established to provide refuge and education for these women. Donaldina "Dolly" Cameron was originally hired to teach sewing for a year, but she ended up staying for almost four decades, mostly serving as superintendent. Moore focuses her extensively researched historical novel on Dolly's first 13 years at the home as she evolves from an ambivalent outsider to a passionate advocate leading dangerous raids, testifying in court, and rescuing more than 3,000 trafficked women. Dolly's story unfolds alongside, and ultimately merges with, that of Mei Lien, a paper daughter who leaves her impoverished mother for what she believes is an arranged marriage in America, but upon arrival is enslaved. Exciting and well-told story that is worth taking the time to read. 4 STARS
CONDEMN ME NOT; ACCUSED OF WITCHCRAFT by Heather B. Moore
The book delivers as promised: the story of a romance within the context of the Salem witch trials. The author did a great job of imagining the daily lives of folks in this era, and imagining what a romance might be have been like so long ago in a Puritan community. Greater issues are not attempted here, like an explanation of why a Christian community would stray so far from their own doctrine by administering judgment without mercy, or without some thought of the context of their own suffering as a nonconformist sect vs a state religion. Nor does the book explain exactly the process of how the protagonist fell on the outs with the community at large. But this doesn't really hurt the story. We know, based on the triviality of the charges, that it was all false. Personality conflicts, property disputes, bored teenage girls? It doesn't really matter. Other than learning how well Heather B Moore can tell a story, I was surprised to learn that the accused had to pay for their time in a fetid jail as well as submit to a complete physical exam. This book is about how a woman's love for her husband was able to sustain her through a time when her whole community wanted her dead. In that it was a complete success. But for an explanation of the why's, we're left to look elsewhere. Perhaps we don't need an explanation if we can find a little love along the way. At least that's the message I get from this book. (Amazon book review) 3.5 STARS
GERI CHRISTENSEN
TO THE LAND OF LONG LOST FRIENDS by Alexander McCall Smith
Mme Ramotswe is only trying to help out some old friends from long ago and hasn't really been hired to do any detective work, but she is nonetheless a born detective at heart so she sets out trying to find some answers just for the sake of her own curiosity and to answer some questions that she has regarding some strange behaviors of some people she knows. But it isn't the things she discovers as she sets out to find her answers, but the relationships with her beloved husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matakoni and her assistant Grace and her other assistant Charlie. It is the conversations she has with these plus other people she that encounters throughout the book and remembered conversations and events in her life that makes this book so charming and easy to read. It just sort of carries you along as you feel like you are right there in Botswana and can feel the love Precious Ramotswe has for her husband, her country and her "late" father, Obed Ramotswe, who has passed on to a better place where, Precious is sure, there are plenty of cattle and lots of green grass for them to eat. As readers, we get to see inside the hearts and minds of these people and understand their lives, their values and their great loves. It is a wonderful way to escape and travel to a far-off place with truly wonderful people. 4 stars
THE MIDNIGHT BELL by Jack Higgins
Another typical Sean Dillon book about Irish terrorists and trying to keep the world a safer and better place by taking out all the bad guys and settling some old scores. There is a reason why Jack Higgins's books are best-sellers and that is because he is an amazing writer that keeps you involved and invested from the very beginning of the book. Some of his earlier books were better but this one definitely kept me reading and anxious to see how it all comes out in the end. 3 stars
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