Gen X’er raised in the wilds of suburban Detroit, moved to SF Bay Area in 90s and now live in East Bay with family. Secular homeschooler, voracious reader/learner, knitter, gardener, too many interests to mention. I’m also very interested in returning to the internet of old: weird, personal, and mostly run by individuals. Trying to do my part, but I’m shy and quiet…working on it though!
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Cordelia knows her mother is . . . unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors …
Cordelia knows her mother is . . . unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors …
I'm a tough grader, so 4 stars for me means this is a wonderful read! The characters pulled me in and the plot was different enough from standard fantasy books to keep me interested and reading way too late.
Maigret in Retirement (French: Maigret se fâche) is a 1947 detective novel by the Belgian …
I have always loved Simenon’s writing, it is clean and focuses on the action (for the most part) but you still know what is happening inside the characters’ minds somehow. His writing is like a breath of fresh air: original and very readable at the same time. The plot of this one is simple compared to more modern mysteries and police procedurals, but somehow that doesn’t matter, you are drawn into a realistic world with Maigret at the center of it.
Note - 4 stars for me is an excellent review,I save the 5 stars for books that belong in my top 50 books of all time.
"The Tower of Babel is proving to be as difficult to reenter as it was …
I’m filing this under “not to my taste”. I adore fantasy and science fiction of all kinds, but I couldn’t get into this book.
Newly married and navigating life with a preschooler as well as her adopted adolescent son, …
Definitely not as good as the first one, or even the second one in the series, and the treatment of the son and the sister was a bit forced (won’t go into details). Manon is still compelling, but the hyper-realistic writing with the details of marriage and kids was getting old and even boring. The actual police work part is great and kept me reading.
Not quite as good as the first, but still a fun read.
Really want to give a 3.5, which is a solid read for me, it has some flaws, which I why is don’t think it is a 4 star (I’m a tough reviewer!). The main reason I liked this is because the lead character is compelling and the plot was better than the usual police procedural (I’m not complaining - a well written procedural with great characters is a Good Thing).
France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to …
Loved it.
Kai-Enna is the Witch King, though he hasn’t always been, and he hasn’t even always …
Um, it was okay? Had to start skimming toward the end, the book was starting to plod along and I didn’t care about the characters enough to slow down and catch everything. I don’t think she’s a bad writer at all, it just didn’t suit my taste.
A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.
The House of …
I thought this was going to be a typical fantasy, but it went a bit deeper and was more complex and compelling than many others. Loved it.
Very cool book that explores 12 medieval manuscripts in detail - if you are interested in lettering and calligraphy, a must read (my library had this, yay!).
I’m a tough reviewer so 4 stars for me is a fantastic rating (I save the 5 stars for books that feel like they belong in my top 50 books ever). The character of Dhikilo isn’t completely fleshed out, but she was compelling enough to want to know what happens to her. The plot is - on the surface - mainly typical fantasy but there are events and people and things that go deeper and will leave you thinking and musing after you’ve closed the book. Hence the 4 stars and why I’ll be reading moreFaber pretty soon.
The renowned activist and public intellectual David Graeber teams up with the professor of comparative …
Any book that begins with Hobbes and Rousseau (and will try and prove why their view of humanity is wrong) is going to hook me. It isn’t a dense academic tome either, definitely readable but still smart and dense with ideas (so far - will update when I read more).
Terry Pratchett's hilarious fourth Discworld novel established once and for all that Death really is …
My Libby accounts (three libraries, (love that the SF Main Library lets everyone in the Bay Area have a free library card, they have an extensive collection of books and audiobooks) cover about 70% of the Discworld books between them, and I’ve been reading them for the last month or so for pure comfort. I adore Neil Gaiman but have never really gotten into Terry Prachett’s stuff until now. Maybe I needed to be old enough? grin