The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick

Title: The Library of Lost and Found

Author: Phaedra Patrick

Publisher: Park Row 2019

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 352

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Librarian Martha Storm has always found it easier to connect with books than people—though not for lack of trying. She keeps careful lists of how to help others in her superhero-themed notebook. And yet, sometimes it feels like she’s invisible.

All of that changes when a book of fairy tales arrives on her doorstep. Inside, Martha finds a dedication written to her by her best friend—her grandmother Zelda—who died under mysterious circumstances years earlier. When Martha discovers a clue within the book that her grandmother may still be alive, she becomes determined to discover the truth. As she delves deeper into Zelda’s past, she unwittingly reveals a family secret that will change her life forever.

This was a random pick from the New Releases shelf at the library. I can’t resist a book cover featuring books and a tea cup. it was too cute to pass up. I dove into the story and loved following Martha along her journey. We encounter such great characters and situations. I loved Siegfried the best of all the town’s inhabitants. Throughout the story we get such great connections to the past. The chapters from Betty’s point of view were difficult to read, but I understand so much more about Martha once learning about her and Betty’s past. Thankfully this story had a happy ending. It left me with all the warm feelings.

Next up on the TBR pile:

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

Title: They Both Die at the End

Author: Adam Silvera

Publisher: HarperTeen 2017

Genre: YA Fiction

Pages: 384

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Popsugar - Set in a single day

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today.

Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.

This one was quite the disappointment for me. I had heard great things, but many of the characters really fell flat. The insta-love was problematic. And the story dragged in many places. I just didn’t connect with the emotional weight of the story or really any of the characters. I’m sure many other people would love this book. I am not one of them.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Mr. Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn

Title: Mr. Cavendish, I Presume (Two Dukes of Wyndham #2)

Author: Julia Quinn

Publisher: Avon 2008

Genre: Romance

Pages: 370

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf

Amelia Willoughby has been engaged to the Duke of Wyndham for as long as she can remember. Literally. A mere six months old when the contracts were signed, she has spent the rest of her life waiting. And waiting. And waiting . . . for Thomas Cavendish, the oh-so-lofty duke, to finally get around to marrying her. But as she watches him from afar, she has a sneaking suspicion that he never thinks about her at all . . .

It's true. He doesn't. Thomas rather likes having a fiancée—all the better to keep the husband-hunters at bay—and he does intend to marry her . . . eventually. But just when he begins to realize that his bride might be something more than convenient, Thomas's world is rocked by the arrival of his long-lost cousin, who may or may not be the true Duke of Wyndham. And if Thomas is not the duke, then he's not engaged to Amelia. Which is the cruelest joke of all, because this arrogant and illustrious duke has made the mistake of falling in love . . . with his own fiancée!

The companion novel to The Lost Duke of Wyndham and it was a good one, even with some repetition. We get the first book, but told from Thomas and Amelia’s points of view. I didn’t love these two quite as much as Jack and Grace. However, I did come to love Amelia as a great foil for Thomas and even for the Dowager. A nice Regency romance for my weekend reading.

Two Dukes of Wyndham

• #1 The Lost Duke of Wyndham

• #2 Mr. Cavendish, I Presume

Next up on the TBR pile:

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Title: Wilder Girls

Author: Rory Power

Publisher: Delacorte Press 2019

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: 357

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her.

It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.

But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.

This book was downright terrifying. The reader is thrown directly into living in quarantine suffering from the Tox. I loved attempting to figure out what exactly the Tox is and how it is affecting the Raxter girls. As the story unfolds, my unease grew my leaps and bounds. By the end, I was on the edge of my seat completely terrified. This may be shelved as young adult, but it definitely has adult scares. Definitely loved this one!

Next up on the TBR pile:

East of West Volume 9

Title: East of West Volume 9

Author: Jonathan Hickman, Nick Dragotta

Publisher: Image 2019

Genre: Graphic Novel

Pages: 136

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Graphic Novel

The penultimate trade collecting the fan-favorite story of love at the end of the world.  Collects EAST OF WEST #39-42

Oooofff that was one intense trade. We’re coming so close to the end, I can taste it. I loved how we got to see the previous showdown between the Four Horseman kicking off this apocalypse cycle. Plus we get some intriguing movement with many of the main characters. Not sure that I will be able to wait until this fall sometime for the end.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

Title: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

Author: John Carreyrou

Publisher: Knopf 2018

Genre: Nonfiction - Business

Pages: 339

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the female Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup “unicorn” promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood testing significantly faster and easier. Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at more than $9 billion, putting Holmes’s worth at an estimated $4.7 billion. There was just one problem: The technology didn’t work.

A riveting story of the biggest corporate fraud since Enron, a tale of ambition and hubris set amid the bold promises of Silicon Valley.

Been on my list for awhile now. Once I dove in, I was completely hooked by the story. The twists and turns, the extraordinary hubris of some people, and the ultimate downfall of a company really struck me. It was a bit strange to be reading a story that featured so many places I have actually been to. Definitely weird. But then, my knowledge of the area wasn’t enough to really clue me into the entire story. Carreyrou’s reporting dives deep into the various employees and intricacies of business decisions. Now I feel like I should dig up the podcast to listen to after reading the book.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn

Title: The Lost Duke of Wyndham (Two Dukes of Wyndham #1)

Author: Julia Quinn

Publisher: Avon 2008

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 371

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf

Jack Audley has been a highwayman.

A soldier. And he has always been a rogue. What he is not, and never wanted to be, is a peer of the realm, responsible for an ancient heritage and the livelihood of hundreds. But when he is recognized as the long-lost son of the House of Wyndham, his carefree life is over. And if his birth proves to be legitimate, then he will find himself with the one title he never wanted: Duke of Wyndham.

Grace Eversleigh has spent the last five years toiling as the companion to the dowager Duchess of Wyndham. It is a thankless job, with very little break from the routine . . . until Jack Audley lands in her life, all rakish smiles and debonair charm. He is not a man who takes no for an answer, and when she is in his arms, she's not a woman who wants to say no. But if he is the true duke, then he is the one man she can never have . . .

After some heavy books lately, I had to fall back to one of my comfort genres: Regency Romance. I’ve had this first book of a duology sitting on my shelves since Borders closed years ago. I finally dove in and read it in less than 48 hours! Such a comfort read! I immediately fell for Grace and her highwayman suitor Jack. A great meet-greet. And then we get the big question of whether Jack is the lost Duke of Wyndham… From there the story gallops along until its conclusion. I was here for every single page. The ending was just a great feel-good conclusion with a lovely happily-ever-after. I can’t wait to pick up the companion novel. Thank goodness it’s sitting on my nightstand.

Two Dukes of Wyndham

• #1 The Lost Dyke of Wyndham

• #2 Mr. Cavendish, I Presume

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

Title: The Great Believers

Author: Rebecca Makkai

Publisher: Viking 2018

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 421

Rating: DNF

Reading Challenges: 

If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life?

It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes.

The prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in '80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality.

This is the September book club selection for the Girly Book Club. I gave it almost 100 pages and just couldn’t continue. I was intrigued by the storyline of the AIDS crisis in Chicago, but greatly disliked the modern storyline. Also, I could not connect to any of the characters. So many of them felt so flat to me. Nope.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

Title: The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus

Author: Richard Preston

Publisher: Anchor 1994

Genre: Nonfiction - Science

Pages: 323

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Monthly Keyword - August; Nonfiction - Pre2000

A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic "hot" virus. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction.

How have I never actually read this one? I love reading about infectious diseases. I am fascinated by ebola. But this book has sat on my TBR list for decades… I finally got around to it and loved every page of it. The story of Ebola’s almost outbreak in Virginia is terrifying even more because it’s all true. The book is written in a fictional narrative style throughout most of the chapters, but we really get a sense of time and place with all parties involved. I really enjoyed the chapters that set up our knowledge of ebola at the end of the 1980s. At times, I think the writing got a little too detailed with things like what the participants wore or ate, but overall I was on the hook the entire time.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams

Title: The Summer Wives

Author: Beatriz Williams

Publisher: William Morrow 2018

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 400

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf

In the summer of 1951, Miranda Schuyler arrives on elite, secretive Winthrop Island as a schoolgirl from the margins of high society, still reeling from the loss of her father in the Second World War. When her beautiful mother marries Hugh Fisher, whose summer house on Winthrop overlooks the famous lighthouse, Miranda’s catapulted into a heady new world of pedigrees and cocktails, status and swimming pools. Isobel Fisher, Miranda’s new stepsister—all long legs and world-weary bravado, engaged to a wealthy Island scion—is eager to draw Miranda into the arcane customs of Winthrop society.

But beneath the island’s patrician surface, there are really two clans: the summer families with their steadfast ways and quiet obsessions, and the working class of Portuguese fishermen and domestic workers who earn their living on the water and in the laundries of the summer houses. Uneasy among Isobel’s privileged friends, Miranda finds herself drawn to Joseph Vargas, whose father keeps the lighthouse with his mysterious wife. In summer, Joseph helps his father in the lobster boats, but in the autumn he returns to Brown University, where he’s determined to make something of himself. Since childhood, Joseph’s enjoyed an intense, complex friendship with Isobel Fisher, and as the summer winds to its end, Miranda’s caught in a catastrophe that will shatter Winthrop’s hard-won tranquility and banish Miranda from the island for nearly two decades.

Now, in the landmark summer of 1969, Miranda returns at last, as a renowned Shakespearean actress hiding a terrible heartbreak. On its surface, the Island remains the same—determined to keep the outside world from its shores, fiercely loyal to those who belong. But the formerly powerful Fisher family is a shadow of itself, and Joseph Vargas has recently escaped the prison where he was incarcerated for the murder of Miranda’s stepfather eighteen years earlier. What’s more, Miranda herself is no longer a naïve teenager, and she begins a fierce, inexorable quest for justice for the man she once loved . . . even if it means uncovering every last one of the secrets that bind together the families of Winthrop Island.

Our book club selection for September. I enjoy a good historical mystery and this one was a page-turner. Miranda is a great character to follow through the years. I was rooting for her to find peace and happiness through the years. I was fascinated by Isobel and wished we got to see a bit more from her. But the mystery of death of Hugh Sr. and Joseph’s confession kept me moving through the story. A very intriguing read for this week.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

Title: The Immoralists

Author: Chloe Benjamin

Publisher: Putnam 2018

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 346

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life?

It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes.

The prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in '80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality.

Full disclosure: I almost gave up on this book. I read the first section, Simon’s story, and almost couldn’t continue. It was so devastating and emotional that I expressed interest in wanting a break and possibly turning to a lighter read. Instead, I sat down the next day and sped through Klara’s story and into Daniel’s. I ended up finishing the book and really enjoying it. I just have to say that this one is very emotional. Klara’s story was my favorite. I feel for her drive for something different and free -spirit ways. Daniel’s story ended up being my least favorite; I just didn’t connect to him as a character. In the end, this is a wonderful character study of a family.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Title: Uprooted

Author: Naomi Novik

Publisher:

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 

Rating: /5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

Next up on the TBR pile:

I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

Title: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

Author: Michelle McNamara

Publisher: Harper 2018

Genre: Nonfiction - True Crime

Pages: 352

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Popsugar - Published Posthumously; Nonfiction Bingo - Goodreads Winner

A masterful true crime account of the Golden State Killer - the elusive serial rapist turned murderer who terrorized California for over a decade - from Michelle McNamara, the gifted journalist who died tragically while investigating the case. 

"You'll be silent forever, and I'll be gone in the dark."

For more than 10 years, a mysterious and violent predator committed 50 sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated 10 sadistic murders. Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area. 

Three decades later Michelle McNamara, a true-crime journalist who created the popular website TrueCrimeDiary.com, was determined to find the violent psychopath she called "the Golden State Killer". Michelle pored over police reports, interviewed victims, and embedded herself in the Online communities that were as obsessed with the case as she was. 

At the time of the crimes, the Golden State Killer was between the ages of 18 and 30, Caucasian, and athletic - capable of vaulting tall fences. He always wore a mask. After choosing a victim - he favored suburban couples - he often entered their home when no one was there, studying family pictures, mastering the layout. He attacked while they slept, using a flashlight to awaken and blind them. Though they could not recognize him, his victims recalled his voice: a guttural whisper through clenched teeth, abrupt and threatening. 

I wouldn’t say that I exactly enjoyed this book. In my mind, it is very similar to Columbine. This is a book that I felt compelled to read, found the subject matter interesting, but derived no joy from the reading itself. However, I think this book is a very well-done example of a modern true crime. McNamara certainly had a way of constructing a narrative that put the reader right there with the terrified public and some of the victims. Even with the obfuscation of names, we connect deeply to the various victims of the Golden State Killer. We get frustrated right along with the various detectives, police, and forensics workers. I was amazing at how concisely McNamara connects all the dots. It is just sad that she did not live long enough to see the police catch the guy who instilled terror into the communities of California.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

Title: The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

Author: Abbi Waxman

Publisher: Berkley 2019

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 333

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Random TBR; Monthly Keyword - September

Meet Nina Hill: A young woman supremely confident in her own...shell.

The only child of a single mother, Nina has her life just as she wants it: a job in a bookstore, a kick-butt trivia team, a world-class planner and a cat named Phil. If she sometimes suspects there might be more to life than reading, she just shrugs and picks up a new book.

When the father Nina never knew existed suddenly dies, leaving behind innumerable sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews, Nina is horrified. They all live close by! They're all—or mostly all—excited to meet her! She'll have to Speak. To. Strangers. It's a disaster! And as if that wasn't enough, Tom, her trivia nemesis, has turned out to be cute, funny, and deeply interested in getting to know her. Doesn't he realize what a terrible idea that is?

Nina considers her options.
1. Completely change her name and appearance. (Too drastic, plus she likes her hair.)
2. Flee to a deserted island. (Hard pass, see: coffee).
3. Hide in a corner of her apartment and rock back and forth. (Already doing it.)

It's time for Nina to come out of her comfortable shell, but she isn't convinced real life could ever live up to fiction. It's going to take a brand-new family, a persistent suitor, and the combined effects of ice cream and trivia to make her turn her own fresh page.

Another recommendation from Anne Bogel and I’m completely in love with this book. Nina might be another version of me. At first, Nina is a great quirky character comfortable in her life. I loved seeing her life get up-ended in many ways forcing Nina outside of the box. In some ways, this book is a romantic comedy, but I see it more like a great character study. Just in a light-hearted way. I love Nina’s interactions with her newly discovered family members, especially brother Archie. I would love to read a sequel to this book focusing on Nina’s growing relationships within her new family. I want to see more of Peter and Millie, even Lydia (will she ever come around to Nina?).

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Woman in the Lake by Nicola Cornick

Title: The Woman in the Lake

Author: Nicola Cornick

Publisher: Graydon House 2019

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 310

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Monthly Keyword - July; Cloak and Dagger

London, 1765

Lady Isabella Gerard, a respectable member of Georgian society, orders her maid to take her new golden gown and destroy it, its shimmering beauty tainted by the actions of her brutal husband the night before.

Three months later, Lord Gerard stands at the shoreline of the lake, looking down at a woman wearing the golden gown. As the body slowly rolls over to reveal her face, it’s clear this was not his intended victim…

250 Years Later…

When a gown she stole from a historic home as a child is mysteriously returned to Fenella Brightwell, it begins to possess her in exactly the same way that it did as a girl. Soon the fragile new life Fen has created for herself away from her abusive ex-husband is threatened at its foundations by the gown’s power over her until she can't tell what is real and what is imaginary.

As Fen uncovers more about the gown and Isabella’s story, she begins to see the parallels with her own life. When each piece of history is revealed, the gown—and its past—seems to possess her more and more, culminating in a dramatic revelation set to destroy her sanity.

Random pick from the library. I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting, but was pleasantly surprised by this dual time line story with a twist crossover. I can’t say that I loved any of the characters, but I was intrigued by their stories. I enjoyed watching the three women navigate the trials and tribulations of life. While I wasn’t a huge fame of Hamish’s role in the story, he grew on me over the pages. And I didn’t quite see the twists come, but they were entertaining. I could have done without the very last reveal.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin

Title: The Last Romantics

Author: Tara Conklin

Publisher: William Morrow 2019

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 354

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

When the renowned poet Fiona Skinner is asked about the inspiration behind her iconic work, The Love Poem, she tells her audience a story about her family and a betrayal that reverberates through time.

It begins in a big yellow house with a funeral, an iron poker, and a brief variation forever known as the Pause: a free and feral summer in a middle-class Connecticut town. Caught between the predictable life they once led and an uncertain future that stretches before them, the Skinner siblings—fierce Renee, sensitive Caroline, golden boy Joe and watchful Fiona—emerge from the Pause staunchly loyal and deeply connected.  Two decades later, the siblings find themselves once again confronted with a family crisis that tests the strength of these bonds and forces them to question the life choices they’ve made and ask what, exactly, they will do for love. 

I just couldn’t really find any enjoyment out of this book. This sweeping family saga isn’t my cup of tea at all. I think this is the type of book that just really isn’t for me. I found many of the characters too difficult to connect to and wasn’t really interested in their growth. Just not for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Alien: Echo by Mira Grant

Title: Alien: Echo

Author: Mira Grant

Publisher: Imprint 2019

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 299

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Dancing with Fantasy and Scifi - Another Planet

Olivia and her twin sister Viola have been dragged around the universe for as long as they can remember. Their parents, both xenobiologists, are always in high demand for their research into obscure alien biology.

Just settled on a new colony world, they discover an alien threat unlike anything they’ve ever seen. And suddenly the sisters’ world is ripped apart.

On the run from terrifying aliens, Olivia’s knowledge of xenobiology and determination to protect her sister are her only weapons as the colony collapses into chaos. But then a shocking family secret bursts open—one that’s as horrifying to Olivia as the aliens surrounding them.

The creatures infiltrate the rich wildlife on this untouched colony world—and quickly start adapting. Olivia’s going to have to adapt, too, if she’s going to survive..

I’ve loved all of Mira Grant’s other books (and all her writing under Seanan McGuire), so I had to grab this one from the library. Slight confusion when the story started, but I quickly realized that this story is set in the Alien universe. Should have been clued in my the title and yet I wasn’t. Once I dove into the story, this was a ride from one chapter to the next. It was horrifying to be right along with Olivia figuring out how the aliens operate. Definitely full of terror. I ended up reading this one in less than 24 hours. Definite fun.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Let the Right One In by John Lindqvist

Title: Let the Right One In

Author: John Lindqvist

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin 2008

Genre: Horror

Pages: 479

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual - NPR Horror; Popsugar - Scandanavia; Horror

It is autumn 1981 when the inconceivable comes to Blackeberg, a suburb in Sweden. The body of a teenage boy is found, emptied of blood, the murder rumored to be part of a ritual killing. Twelve-year-old Oskar is personally hoping that revenge has come at long last---revenge for the bullying he endures at school, day after day.

But the murder is not the most important thing on his mind. A new girl has moved in next door---a girl who has never seen a Rubik’s Cube before, but who can solve it at once. There is something wrong with her, though, something odd. And she only comes out at night. . 

I have come to the conclusion that Scandinavian horror is just not for me. I was intrigued by the vampire story that this was billed as. And this was voted onto the NPR Top 100 Horror list. Once I got into the story, I just couldn’t really take it. This story is just too incredibly bleak. I struggled to get through all the terrible, dark things that happened in the book. This was definitely a no for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Booknotes edited by Brian Lamb

Title: Booknotes: Stories from American History

Editor: Brian Lamb

Publisher: Penguin Books 2002

Genre: Nonfiction - U.S. History

Pages: 556

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf

American history is shaped by great and small events, and in recent years a generation of writers has brought these events to life. They have shared these stories with the viewers of the long-running C-SPAN author-interview program Booknotes, and here some of the best have been collected for readers to savor. In this volume, more than eighty contemporary writers and historians examine seminal moments from American history, celebrated and uncelebrated alike.

Obviously the subject matter of this collection is right up my alley. And it’s been sitting on my shelf for years now. I finally dove in and picked it as my #slowbutsteady read for August. I actually finished it by the end fo the month picking away at the essays one section at a time. I very much enjoyed the stories told in each essay. I even learned a bit about American history. My only complaint is that these are transcripts of a television show. Sometimes, the writing style left much to be desired.

Next up on the TBR pile:

State of the Union by Nick Hornby

Title: State of the Union: A Marriage in Ten Parts

Author: Nick Hornby

Publisher: Riverhead Books 2019

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 132

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Tom and Louise meet in a pub before their couple's therapy appointment. Married for years, they thought they had a stable home life--until a recent incident pushed them to the brink.

Going to therapy seemed like the perfect solution. But over drinks before their appointment, they begin to wonder: what if marriage is like a computer? What if you take it apart to see what's in there, but then you're left with a million pieces?

Unfolding in the minutes before their weekly therapy sessions, the ten-chapter conversation that ensues is witty and moving, forcing them to look at their marriage--and, for the first time in a long time, at each other.

A random library shelf pick. I had heard of the television adaptation of the book and I always want to read the book before seeing the adaptation. This is a slim little novella featuring the scenes from a marriage was an interesting experience to read. We only get so much information from Tom and Louise. In fact most of the writing is dialogue. There’s very few descriptions throughout. I read this in one day, picking through each week’s entry. Overall, I really enjoyed this novella. Although there isn’t a big definite ending and I’m not sure it’s the happiest book. It’s very much in line with the mood of Hornby’s other works. I can’t wait to watch the television show.

Next up on the TBR pile: