Started: 8/25/17
Finished: 8/29/17
Year: 2006
Pages: 368
Genre: Horror/Mystery
Grade: B
Reason for reading: grabbed off TBR shelf
Blurb (from back cover): "On the Eastern Front are all the ingredients to make a monster. This brilliant orphaned child has demons lurking in the chambers of his memory, gouging him with fragments of his hideous past.
"If he can confront the demons in his heart and brain, he can find them in the flesh, hunt them down and achieve a kind of peace.
"A beautiful and exotic woman takes him to her heart, using every weapon and every wile at her command to save him from the dark, to stem the terrible forces unleased by Hannibal Lecter's first taste of blood."
Opinion: Fast paced read with short chapters. Stays true to the Hannibal series. Interesting way that Hannibal became the vicious man that he was. Overall a decent read.
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Friday, August 25, 2017
A Taste of Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers' Soul
Started: 8/24/17
Finished: 8/24/17
Year: 2013
Pages: 72
Genre: Memoir
Grade: B
Blurb: collection of short stories about how cats have affected people
Opinion: This was just a small collection of stories from the Chicken Soup for the Soul group. My grandmother had given me the book because she knows how much my cats mean to me. These stories were heartwarming.
Finished: 8/24/17
Year: 2013
Pages: 72
Genre: Memoir
Grade: B
Blurb: collection of short stories about how cats have affected people
Opinion: This was just a small collection of stories from the Chicken Soup for the Soul group. My grandmother had given me the book because she knows how much my cats mean to me. These stories were heartwarming.
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Iris Grace by Arabella Carter-Johnson
Started: 8/20/17
Finished: 8/23/17
Year: 2016
Pages: 336
Genre: Biographical
Grade: C
Reason for reading: grabbed off the TBR shelf
Blurb (from back cover): "Iris Grace is different. From the moment she was born she found the world a strange and terrifying place: she neither smiled nor spoke. The doctors couldn't help, telling her parents she might never be able to communicate-she'd never call them mummy or daddy.
"But then Iris met Thula.
"This special kitten and Iris become instant best friends. They did everything together-painting, playing, bathing, snuggling, sleeping, exploring. And the a miracle happened: Iris said her first words.
"The story of the amazing bond between Iris and Thula is a heartwarming tale of finding hope and happiness in the most unexpected places.
"Because different really is brilliant."
Opinion: I was disappointed in this book. From the description, one would expect to hear about this amazing bond between cat and kid from the second chapter, not halfway through the book. Difficult story about what these parents have struggled with with their autistic child, but I didn't need half of a book to get it.
Finished: 8/23/17
Year: 2016
Pages: 336
Genre: Biographical
Grade: C
Reason for reading: grabbed off the TBR shelf
Blurb (from back cover): "Iris Grace is different. From the moment she was born she found the world a strange and terrifying place: she neither smiled nor spoke. The doctors couldn't help, telling her parents she might never be able to communicate-she'd never call them mummy or daddy.
"But then Iris met Thula.
"This special kitten and Iris become instant best friends. They did everything together-painting, playing, bathing, snuggling, sleeping, exploring. And the a miracle happened: Iris said her first words.
"The story of the amazing bond between Iris and Thula is a heartwarming tale of finding hope and happiness in the most unexpected places.
"Because different really is brilliant."
Opinion: I was disappointed in this book. From the description, one would expect to hear about this amazing bond between cat and kid from the second chapter, not halfway through the book. Difficult story about what these parents have struggled with with their autistic child, but I didn't need half of a book to get it.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
Started:8/9/17
Finished: 8/18/17
Year: 2013
Pages: 460
Genre: Literature
Grade: B
Reason for reading: grabbed off TBR shelf
Blurb (from book jacket): "Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day's breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother's death When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage's grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can't, and they become companions.
"Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret-one that nobody else in town would ever suspect-and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged, and the integrity of the closest friends she's ever had clouded, Sage begins to question the assumptions and expectations she's made about her life and her family. When does a moral choice become a moral imperative? And where does one draw the line between punishment and justice, forgiveness and mercy?"
Opinion: It is very obvious that Picoult did a lot of research in writing this novel. Very well done, in depth storytelling. There were minor things that bugged me-that's why I gave it a B but it did not take away from the story. If you're a fan of literature or Picoult's other books, you will enjoy this one.
Finished: 8/18/17
Year: 2013
Pages: 460
Genre: Literature
Grade: B
Reason for reading: grabbed off TBR shelf
Blurb (from book jacket): "Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day's breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother's death When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage's grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can't, and they become companions.
"Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret-one that nobody else in town would ever suspect-and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged, and the integrity of the closest friends she's ever had clouded, Sage begins to question the assumptions and expectations she's made about her life and her family. When does a moral choice become a moral imperative? And where does one draw the line between punishment and justice, forgiveness and mercy?"
Opinion: It is very obvious that Picoult did a lot of research in writing this novel. Very well done, in depth storytelling. There were minor things that bugged me-that's why I gave it a B but it did not take away from the story. If you're a fan of literature or Picoult's other books, you will enjoy this one.
Friday, August 11, 2017
The Forgotten Man by Robert Crais
Started: 8/3/17
Finished: 8/9/17
Year: 2005
Pages: 356
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Grade: B-
Reason for reading: grabbed from TBR shelf
Blurb (from back cover): "In an alleyway in Los Angeles an old man, clutching faded newspaper clippings and gasping his last words to a cop, lies dying of a gunshot wound. The victim claims to be P.I. Elvis Cole's long-lost father-a stranger who has always haunted his son.
"As a teenager, Cole searched desperately for his father. As a man, he faces the frightening possibility that this murder victim was himself a killer. Caught in limbo between a broken love affair and way too much publicity over his last case. Cole at first resists getting involved with this new case. Then it consumer him. Now a stranger's terrifying secrets-and a hunt for his killer-give Cole a frightening glimpse into his own past. And he cant' tell if it's forgiveness or a bullet that's coming next..."
Opinion: A decent mystery. An interesting cliffhanger at the end that does get resolved. Enough twists and turns to keep readers interested but not overwhelmed about all of the possibilities.
Finished: 8/9/17
Year: 2005
Pages: 356
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Grade: B-
Reason for reading: grabbed from TBR shelf
Blurb (from back cover): "In an alleyway in Los Angeles an old man, clutching faded newspaper clippings and gasping his last words to a cop, lies dying of a gunshot wound. The victim claims to be P.I. Elvis Cole's long-lost father-a stranger who has always haunted his son.
"As a teenager, Cole searched desperately for his father. As a man, he faces the frightening possibility that this murder victim was himself a killer. Caught in limbo between a broken love affair and way too much publicity over his last case. Cole at first resists getting involved with this new case. Then it consumer him. Now a stranger's terrifying secrets-and a hunt for his killer-give Cole a frightening glimpse into his own past. And he cant' tell if it's forgiveness or a bullet that's coming next..."
Opinion: A decent mystery. An interesting cliffhanger at the end that does get resolved. Enough twists and turns to keep readers interested but not overwhelmed about all of the possibilities.
Friday, August 04, 2017
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Started: 7/28/17
Finished: 8/3/17
Year: 2006
Pages: 331
Genre: Biography
Grade: B-
Blurb (from back cover): "In 1993 a mountaineer named Greg Mortenson drifted into a impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram mountains after a failed attempt to climb K-2. Moved by the inhabitants' kindness, he promised to return and build a school. Three Cups of Tea is the story of that promise and its extraordinary outcome. Over the next decade Mortenson built not just one by fifty-five schools-especially for girls-in the forbidding terrain that gave birth to the Taliban. His story is at once a riveting adventure and a testament to the power of the humanitarian spirit."
Opinion: This was a decent story about how someone set out on doing good in a known "bad" part of the world. I vaguely remember hearing about the building of the schools in Pakistan. It is impressive what Greg had to endure to get the schools built and how much the villages helped this American out.
Finished: 8/3/17
Year: 2006
Pages: 331
Genre: Biography
Grade: B-
Blurb (from back cover): "In 1993 a mountaineer named Greg Mortenson drifted into a impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram mountains after a failed attempt to climb K-2. Moved by the inhabitants' kindness, he promised to return and build a school. Three Cups of Tea is the story of that promise and its extraordinary outcome. Over the next decade Mortenson built not just one by fifty-five schools-especially for girls-in the forbidding terrain that gave birth to the Taliban. His story is at once a riveting adventure and a testament to the power of the humanitarian spirit."
Opinion: This was a decent story about how someone set out on doing good in a known "bad" part of the world. I vaguely remember hearing about the building of the schools in Pakistan. It is impressive what Greg had to endure to get the schools built and how much the villages helped this American out.
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