Started: 6/16/19
Finished: 6/26/19
Year: 2002
Pages: 133
Genre: paranormal
Grade: D
Reason for reading: grabbed off the TBR
Blurb (from back cover): "The collection of short stories in this book are all nonfiction and the first time in print. Each person has been personally interviewed by Arlene and the stores approved by that person."
Opinion: The one positive thing is that these "stories" are based on interviews. But the interviews seem to have been one minute in length. They could have been better written, contained more details, lose the editorial opinions that only seemed to be included to make the "story" more than a page. I wanted so much more from this.
Thursday, June 27, 2019
The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble
Started: 6/3/19
Finished: DNF
Year: 2004
Pages: 325
Genre: Literature
Grade: F
Reason for reading: grabbed off TBR pile
Blurb (from Amazon): "Barbara Halliwell, on a grant at Oxford, receives an unexpected package-a memoir by a Korean crown princess, written more than two hundred years ago. A highly appropriate gift for her impending trip to Seoul. But from whom?
"story she avidly reads on the plane turns out to be one of great intrigue as well as tragedy. The Crown Princess Hyegyong recounts in extraordinary detail the ways of the Korean court and confesses the family dramas that left her childless and her husband dead by his own hand. Perhaps it is the loss of a child that resonates so deeply with Barbara . . . but she has little time to think of such things, she has just arrived in Korea.
"She meets a certain Dr. Oo, and to her surprise and delight he offers to guide her to some of the haunts of the crown princess. As she explores the inner sanctums and the royal courts, Barbara begins to feel a strong affinity for everything related to the princess and her mysterious life.
"After a brief, intense, and ill-fated love affair, she returns to London. Is she ensnared by the events of the past week, of the past two hundred years, or will she pick up her life where she left it? A beautifully told and ingeniously constructed novel, this is Margaret Drabble at her best."
Finished: DNF
Year: 2004
Pages: 325
Genre: Literature
Grade: F
Reason for reading: grabbed off TBR pile
Blurb (from Amazon): "Barbara Halliwell, on a grant at Oxford, receives an unexpected package-a memoir by a Korean crown princess, written more than two hundred years ago. A highly appropriate gift for her impending trip to Seoul. But from whom?
"story she avidly reads on the plane turns out to be one of great intrigue as well as tragedy. The Crown Princess Hyegyong recounts in extraordinary detail the ways of the Korean court and confesses the family dramas that left her childless and her husband dead by his own hand. Perhaps it is the loss of a child that resonates so deeply with Barbara . . . but she has little time to think of such things, she has just arrived in Korea.
"She meets a certain Dr. Oo, and to her surprise and delight he offers to guide her to some of the haunts of the crown princess. As she explores the inner sanctums and the royal courts, Barbara begins to feel a strong affinity for everything related to the princess and her mysterious life.
"After a brief, intense, and ill-fated love affair, she returns to London. Is she ensnared by the events of the past week, of the past two hundred years, or will she pick up her life where she left it? A beautifully told and ingeniously constructed novel, this is Margaret Drabble at her best."
Opinion: A lot of run-on babble. I'm sure it could have been an interesting story about this mysterious queen but without some sort of structure-no chapters, no breaks...just on going babble.
Sunday, June 23, 2019
Cop Without a Badge by Charles Kipps
Started: 4/21/19
Finished: 6/22/19
Year: 1996
Pages: 321
Genre: True Crime/biography
Grade: C
Reason for reading: booksfree.com book
Blurb (from back cover): "Cop Without a Badge tracks confidential informant Kevin Maher as he helps the NYPD, the FBI and many other law enforcement agencies solve cases that range from robbery to extortion to homicide. In the process, Kevin becomes the highest paid CI the DEA ever had.
"But Kevin's motives are more complicated than simply money. Having been arrested for Grand Theft Auto at the age of sixteen, his felony convection prevents him from being what he always wanted to be: a police office. So now he's out to prove to himself he truly is what he could've been. A cop. Even without a badge."
Opinion: This book started off strong and interesting with how Kevin originally got himself into trouble and then started helping the NYPD. The end was just more repeats of how he tried to get the big name drug dealers. Kevin certainly led a lifestyle that was different than others and he certainly was extremely lucky in many situations.
Finished: 6/22/19
Year: 1996
Pages: 321
Genre: True Crime/biography
Grade: C
Reason for reading: booksfree.com book
Blurb (from back cover): "Cop Without a Badge tracks confidential informant Kevin Maher as he helps the NYPD, the FBI and many other law enforcement agencies solve cases that range from robbery to extortion to homicide. In the process, Kevin becomes the highest paid CI the DEA ever had.
"But Kevin's motives are more complicated than simply money. Having been arrested for Grand Theft Auto at the age of sixteen, his felony convection prevents him from being what he always wanted to be: a police office. So now he's out to prove to himself he truly is what he could've been. A cop. Even without a badge."
Opinion: This book started off strong and interesting with how Kevin originally got himself into trouble and then started helping the NYPD. The end was just more repeats of how he tried to get the big name drug dealers. Kevin certainly led a lifestyle that was different than others and he certainly was extremely lucky in many situations.
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Started: 4/21/19
Finished: 6/13/19
Year: 2005
Pages: 288
Genre: Literature
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: reserve for bookring
Blurb (from Amazon): "As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special—and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is modern classic"
Opinion: I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this and I can't really point my finger as to why. I'm curious on how the movie holds true to the book but I'm in no rush.
Finished: 6/13/19
Year: 2005
Pages: 288
Genre: Literature
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: reserve for bookring
Blurb (from Amazon): "As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special—and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is modern classic"
Opinion: I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this and I can't really point my finger as to why. I'm curious on how the movie holds true to the book but I'm in no rush.
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