Book of the Month - July

I have two favorite books for this month. I could not select just one. Both books stayed with me for days after reading them. Singapore Sapphire and The Stone Doors are fantastic reads that satisfy the your reading soul. Both books take place in settings that are new to me in historical fiction. Singapore and Iceland could not be more different but it was nice to read something other than English, French or Italian stories.

I Know Your Secrets and Becoming RBG were close seconds which makes the month of July one of my better months for reading. Now that I am back to work full time I won't be able to read as much as I have since March when the coronavirus shutdown began. It's been a fun time. I have read 57 books as well as finishing several art projects. 

I Know Your Secret

Ruth Heald has written a gripping psychological thriller with her 4th novel I Know Your Secret.  It is a tale of two women, Danielle and Beth. Danielle is separated from her husband Peter and Beth is her marriage counselor.  Beth is also separated from her husband Richard and has custody of their young son Charlie.  The chapters alternate between Danielle's story and Beth's story. Both women have secrets, hence the title of the book.

The publisher's summary:

"She thinks she knows me.  She believes my marriage is falling apart at the seams, that my husband can barely look me in the eyes.  She thinks I'm desperate for a baby, that my longing for a family keeps me up at night.  As much as I hate to admit it, all of this is true.  She thinks I listen to her advice, that I care about her opinion.  That couldn't be further from the truth. Because she has no idea who I am, she has no clue that I know everything.  I know her secret. I know that she did the unforgivable. I know how many lives she ruined.  I know exactly what she did.  And I'm here for her."

Revenge is sweet. This slowly evolving story becomes unputdownable as each chapter unveils how twisted these two ladies are.  The tension is addictive. This story has just as many twists as the ladies have.  Upon finishing the book I felt that I had missed many clues and need to reread it to fully appreciate them as well as appreciate how twisted the characters are. The author created amazing characters in Danielle and Beth. Their husband's had such small roles that it is hard to consider them secondary characters. I Know Your Secret is all about the women and they are both strong enough to carry the plot.

This story is one for the movie producers. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Stone Doors

Brendan Baker's Stoneborn trilogy begins with this novel in the year 1013. It is an Icelandic tale of love, loyalty and law.  After finishing this fantastic tale I tried to find the next two books in the series. With The Stone Doors publication date of 2016 I expected to find them. Sadly, there are none.

The story begins with Kvelduf Thorbjornsson and his young son Tryggvi working on their Brauoavatn horse farm. Tryggvi's horse Orri was beloved by him so when 2 men approached the farm and were seen stabbing Orri, Kvelduf ran to the horse to try to save him. Unfortunately, Orri was dead and in an angry fit Kvelduf killed the man who stabbed Orri. The other man ran away in order to save himself. The dead man was buried on the farm and Kvelduf met with his gooi, Gunnar Ingolfson, to discuss whether he broke the island's law. Gunnar said that technically the law was broken but promised to help him if an accusation was made against him at the next annual Althing. Althing was the young country's Parliament where every citizen was required to attend. Keeping a low profile at Althing, Kvelduf felt that he was safe from prosecution. However, after Tryggvi got involved in a fight he and his father became noticed and an accusation was made against Kvelduf. Gunnar represented him. If found guilty he could be banished from Iceland and lose all of his possessions.

I loved this story. It was so engaging that I could not put it down and read it in one sitting. The pace was fast. The characters were strong. In fact, the secondary characters were just as compelling as the primary characters. Of course, the beauty of the Iceland setting was wonderful to read about.
While the dialogue was written in contemporary language, there were a few words that I had to look up in the dictionary as I was reading. They were mostly used in setting descriptions. This story has remained in my mind after reading it. It was difficult to begin another book. I tried 4 new books but abandoned them quickly and worked on art projects instead.

5 out of 5 stars.

Paying the Land

Paying the Land is a phrase that means to offer something to the land. It is also the title of Joe Sacco's newest reportage comic about the history of the indigenous tribes of Canada's Northwest Territories during the twentieth-century.  The Canadian government pursued a policy of taking the Indian out of the child by sending young children to residential schools far from their homes for 10 months of every year. This is also a story concerning extracting oil from native lands at their expense. By getting the tribes to accept money or modern conveniences they became less dependent on their natural environment and more dependent on the government for survival.

Sacco traveled to northern Canada to interview members of the Deni tribe, a First Nations tribe who primarily live in the Northwest Territories. He wanted to find out why they were disengaged from their culture. Fracking is the main issue addressed in the book. It has divided the tribe. While it brings in jobs and money, fracking destroys the environment. Another issue is alcoholism and drug addiction. Those who attended the residential schools no longer fit in with their families or the tribe anymore. The result is excessive drinking and an increased death rate from it.

Paying the Land is another great graphic novel from Joe Sacco. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Low Road

The Low Road is the fifth book in A. D. Scott's Highland Gazette Mystery Series. It takes place in the 1950s in Scotland. I have read all of Ms. Scott's earlier books in the series and loved them. However, The Low Road falls short with a poorly written plot and heavy usage of the Scottish language that made it unreadable.

The series amateur sleuth is Joanne Ross, a reporter for the Highland Gazette. In this installment of the series she is inactive. Joanne is recovering from brain surgery and has nothing to do with the investigation of the murder. Her boss and fiance John McAllister was the sleuth. The murder did not occur until page 200 of this 328 page book. The first clue came on page 250.  With no action and every page heavy with Scottish sayings, The Low Road was awful reading. I have to wonder if A. D. Scott actually wrote it. The writing style was different from earlier books and she did not use much Scottish language in them.

For the third time in this blog I am rating a book 0 out of 5 stars. 

The Crow's Call

It's been awhile since I have read Wanda Brunstetter.  I have been wanting to read something different and thought that an Amish mystery would do the trick.  The Crow's Call is Book 1 in the Amish Greenhouse Mystery series which I think is going to be a trilogy.

The publisher's summary:

"When Vernon King, his son, and son-in-law are involved in a terrible accident, three women are left to cope with their deaths, as they become the sole providers of the family they have left.  The women's only income must come from the family greenhouse, but someone seems to be trying to force them out of business.   

Amy King has just lost her father and brother and her mother needs her to help run the family's greenhouse.  It doesn't seem fair to ask her to leave a job she loves, when there is still a sister and brother to help.  But Sylvia is also greiving for her husband while left to raise three children, and Henry, just out of school, is saddled with all the jobs his father and older brother used to do.  As Amy assumes her new role, she also asks Jared Riehl to put their courtship on hold."

The book has an interesting plot but I feel that the pace was rather slow.  There are only so many pages a reader can stand of the characters doing the same things over and over. Amy was always having angry thoughts about her lazy brother Henry and Henry was always angry over nothing in particular. This went on for over 100 pages. I became bored but kept reading because I wanted to know how Amy and Jared resolved their relationship problems. Also, if there had been a few more twists and turns in the plot the book would have been more interesting and there probably would have been a lot less of the character's angry thoughts. Providing the reader with a resolution of the vandalism of the greenhouse would have been nice since it was mentioned in the blurb.

3 out of 5 stars. 

Last Wool and Testament

This is the first cozy that I have read in a few years.  I got tired of their simplistic plots and Stepford characters. Because this book is about weavers and I am a weaver I decided it was a good time to try a cozy again.  I was not disappointed. Last Wool and Testament was fantastic.

The story opens with amateur sleuth Kath Rutledge traveling from Illinois to Blue Plum, Tennessee to attend her grandmother Ivy McClellan's burial.  Kath has planned to stay for 2 weeks so that she can decide what to do with her grandmother's home and yarn shop business both of which she inherited. When she arrives at her grandmother's home for her stay, Kath finds that the lock has been changed. She is quickly handed a piece of paper stating that her grandmother and now Kath owes back rent for the property.  She is also told that the home and The Weaver's Cat, a yarn shop, are now owned by someone else.  Kath meets with the TGIF - thank goodness it's fiber - group for advice.  The TGIF members meet regularly at the shop to work on fiber projects.  Kath also meets with her grandmother's attorney, Homer Wood, for assistance with the estate.  Wood puts her off several times before he finally tells her that her grandmother was a suspect in a murder.  The murdered man's relative now claims to own both of her grandmother's properties.  Kath works with her new friends from TGIF to determine what is going on in Blue Plum.

I loved this book.  However, in the beginning I had a difficult time determining what character was speaking.  It finally dawned on me that a ghost is one of the characters.  All I had to do was look at the cover of the book and see that this new cozy series is a haunted yarn shop mystery.  When I finally figured out which characters were speaking, the reading was smooth sailing.  The ghost character began to bother me after a few chapters though.  I just am not in to ghost stories.  I wonder if the identity of this ghost will be a recurring character or if there will be different ghosts in subsequent books in the series.

Solving the mystery of who murdered the dead man was thrilling.  Two more murders occurred later in the plot and it was interesting to watch Kath try to connect them to the first murder.  There were plenty of red herrings and twists in the plot to satisfy me.  The writing was crisp making Last Wool a great introduction to a new cozy series.

4 out of 5 stars.

Becoming RBG

Becoming RBG is a graphic biography of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  It covers her life from birth to the present day.  It was written for middle schoolers who might not be familiar with the judicial system.  Terms such as "federal government" are explained as well as what famous politicians such as McCarthy were known for.  Author Debbie Levy goes into detail on the cases that RBG brought in to the courts while a lawyer that advanced women's rights.  She also gives details on cases that RBG decided as a district court judge.  RBG's plan to advance civil rights step by step is shown both in her life as an attorney, district court judge as well as while she has been on the U. S. Supreme Court.

I found the book engaging.  I read it in one sitting and even enjoyed the illustrations drawn by Whitney Gardner.   Initially I was surprised at the detail RBG's court cases were given.  However, I quickly realized that any book on RBG would have to explain why she brought certain cases to court over others and what she hoped to accomplish with the legal opinions written on her cases.  RBG's life can only be told by examining her work.  The need for women to work is something her mother instilled in her when she was a child.  She has carried her mother's ethic with her throughout her life.

I definitely recommend this book for female readers young and old. As the old saying goes, "we've come a long way baby" and we have RBG to thank for that progress.  5 out of 5 stars!

Mozart in Paris

This graphic biography covers the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart during the six months he lived in Paris with his mother when he was 22. While there, he worried alot about his father's expectations for him. Mozart taught piano, slept around and composed. He socialized with the wealthiest Parisians with hopes that he would receive commissions for musical scores. Of course, he was able to get some jobs but was disappointed with his reception by the Parisians. They preferred a different style of music.

There was something awkward about the writing and I can't put my finger on it. It made me lose interest quickly but I continued reading. It was originally written in French so perhaps there is a translation issue.  The drawings were unusual compared to other graphic novels that I have read. I was not able to find any information about the style of the drawings used and feel clueless here.

It is normally impossible for me to not like a graphic novel. However, this one did not click with me. 2 out of 5 stars.

A Bend in the Stars

A Bend in the Stars is the story of female doctor Miri Abramov and her scientist brother Vanya.  It takes place in Russia in 1914, the year a solar eclipse occurred over Kiev.  At this time, Albert Einstein was attempting to prove his theory of relativity, that gravity bends light.  Vanya Abramov wanted to beat Einstein by proving the theory before him.  In order to do that Vanya needed to photograph the solar eclipse.

The publisher's summary:

"In Russia, in the summer of 1914, as war with Germany looms and the Czar's army tightens its grip on the local Jewish community, Miri Abramov and her brilliant physicist brother, Vanya, are facing an impossible decision.  Since their parents drowned fleeing to America, Miri and Vanya have been raised by their babushka, a famous matchmaker who has taught them to protect themselves at all costs:  to fight, to kill if necessary, and always to have an escape plan.  But now, with fierce, headstrong Miri on the verge of becoming one of Russia's only female surgeons, and Vanya hoping to solve the final puzzles of Einstein's elusive theory of relativity, can they bear to leave the homeland that has given them so much? 

Before they have time to make their choice, war is declared and Vanya goes missing, along with Miri's fiancé. Miri braves the firing squad to go looking for them both.  As the eclipse that will change history darkens skies across Russia, not only the safety of Miri's own family but the future of science itself hangs in the balance."

I enjoyed the book but at the halfway point feared that the Abramovs' scattered flight across Russia was not going to help them escape.  They started out traveling together but quickly split up as each one of them had a different agenda to complete before they could consider leaving Russia.  They did not learn their babushka's teaching that they should always be prepared for disaster.  Neither brother nor sister cared enough about the family as a whole but rather their own interests.  While their haphazard flight seemed suspenseful, I could not stop thinking about how they handled their earlier lives by always being prepared for the enemy and then when it counted, neither Miri nor Vanya acted in any planned way.  In fact, they both changed their plans several times while they were traveling across Russia.

1. A Bend in the Stars was a fast and relaxing read.  I rate it 4 out of 5 stars.

Too Much and Never Enough

Donald Trump's niece Mary Trump wrote this fabulous revenge book that was just published this morning. Mary Trump is a licensed psychologist who covered the life of the family from its beginnings with Fred Trump marrying his Scottish wife Mary Anne MacLeod.  It ends in 2020 at the end of Donald Trump's first term in the White House.  Within the book's pages, niece Mary Trump portrays her famous uncle as never having emotionally attached to his parents, his mother in particular, due to parental neglect that began when he was two years old.  She writes that the behavior of infants and toddlers is a form of attachment behavior, which seeks a positive, comforting response from caregivers. Uncle Donald and his younger brother Robert did not obtain any positive responses from their parents.  The author calls this child abuse.  By the time he was four, Donald Trump had learned all of the behaviors that he continues to exhibit today.

Uncle Donald was the fourth of five children.  When he was two years old his mother was found on the floor of a bathroom bleeding.  She had an emergency hysterectomy and two additional surgeries for medical problems that stemmed from the hysterectomy.  In essence, she was not available to raise her children until Uncle Donald was four.  During those two years of his life, he learned from his father that it was better to not be needy and began acting as if nothing ever bothered him.  Fred was proud of his brashness because it showed that he was tough.  He learned to bully, lie, cheat and steal from his siblings as way to becoming successful.  In the Trump family success was defined as not being humiliated by Fred.  Mother Mary Anne was never able to develop an attachment with her second son Donald after she recovered from her surgeries.  The author does not speculate why other than Mary Anne was constantly breaking bones due to osteoporosis that set in after the hysterectomy. 

The author is the daughter of Fred Trump, Jr., the oldest son and expected heir to the Trump Companies.  Throughout the book she upholds her father as the only member of the family to ever support themselves financially.  Fred Jr. did not want to work for his father and pursued being a commercial pilot until the family coerced him to quit his job at TWA and return to working for Trump Companies.  None of his siblings ever supported themselves, preferring to take Fred's money instead.  Yet Fred Jr. was ridiculed by his siblings, especially Donald, as being a failure because he worked as a pilot.  He also served in the Air Force National Guard which the family thought was a waste of time. Fred Jr. died when the author was 16.

I have to be a spoiler her and say that Mary Trump wanted revenge against the family for what they did to her father and she gets her revenge.  On the last page of the book she accuses Uncle Donald of being a mass murderer as his inaction caused many deaths from COVID-19. She also writes that he knows that no one loves him and never will...and he killed her father.  

The book is a fast read and is a fascinating look at the psychology behind the dysfunctional first family. It is a must read. 

The Night Tiger

Yangse Choo's book The Night Tiger takes place in 1930s Malaysia. It is the story of Ji Lin, a girl who is an apprentice dressmaker. She moonlights as a dancer in order to earn money to pay off her mother's Mahjong debts.  One of Ji Lin's dance partners has a finger inside a jar in the pocket of his jacket. She can feel the jar while they are dancing and takes it from him. Later she finds that a finger is in the container.  The book is also the story of Ren, a houseboy, who promised his master that he would find the finger his master lost years ago and bury it with him before 49 days after his death. If the finger is not buried within that time frame then his master's soul will wander the earth forever.

I love Chinese fiction but I was bored with this book. Chinese mythology seemed to take over the plot and the action was slow. There were two different points of view telling the story. It took me awhile to figure that out because the legends, oral storytelling, and myths that were discussed by both of the main characters were more prominent than any plot action. I feel that it was overkill. Eventually the lives of Ren and Ji Lin overlap but this slow boat to China dragged on and on.

Since I believe that the plot premise was a good one, I will rate the book 1 star out of 5. Unfortunately, the idea for the plot did not pan out in the writing.

Six Months of Reading - 2020

I have read 74 books so far in 2020.  45 of them were read since the coronavirus shutdown began on March 13, 2020.  My book challenge statistics are as follows:

Graphic Novel and Comics Challenge - 12 required for the challenge, 14 have been read

Cloak and Dagger Challenge:  16-25 required for the challenge; 18 have been read

Historical Fiction Challenge, 15 required for the challenge, 31 have been read

Library Love Challenge, 24 required for the challenge; 0 read due to shutdown of public library

What's in a Name Challenge, 6 books required for the challenge, 6 have been read

Christian Reading Challenge, 13 books required for the challenge, 2 have been read
Creativity Reading Challenge, no set number of books required, 3 have been read
Finish the Series Challenge, 1 book required for the challenge; 0 have been read

I have completed 5 of my challenges.  However, I am going to pick another reading level for both the Historical Fiction Challenge and the Cloak and Dagger Challenge and continue reading.  I am also going to continue to read comics.  I have already selected some books for my Kindle  that include Viking Sagas and fiction from several Middle East countries to add variety to my historical fiction reading.  A few of my favorite comic writers have books coming out later in the year.

Opium and Absinthe

Lydia Kang's Opium and Absinthe is a worthy entry in the historical mystery genre. It is an occult mystery because the presumed killer is a vampire. Not much is written into the plot about vampires other than that the presumed perp happens to be one of them. There is none of the usual astrology, alchemy, magic or spiritualism that a reader would normally find in an occult novel. The story is a straight murder mystery that centers on solving the crime.  There are two amateur sleuths that work together in this novel. Tillie Pembroke is an heiress who longs to be taken seriously instead of having to marry and host parties. As she tells Ian Metzger, her thirst for knowledge would not be met by going to college, an impossibility anyway in nineteenth-century New York. Metzger is a poor Jewish immigrant who sells newspapers for a living. When Ian sells Tillie a newspaper that covers the death of her sister Lucy, they both feel an attraction and begin to meet secretly.

Tillie Pembroke is the youngest girl in the Pembroke family. Her older sister Lucy has always gotten all of the attention. Lucy's engagement to James Cutter, which will unite two prominent American families, only increases her family's interest in her. While the Pembrokes have money, Cutter, a descendant of the illustrious Astor family, is cash poor. However, Cutter will give the Pembrokes the pedigree they have always sought. When Lucy is found dead with bite marks on her neck and an empty bottle of absinthe nearby, the Pembrokes are devastated but their thirst for acceptance into the upper echelons of society drives them to not show their feelings. Behaving in society is more dear than grief. Tillie is different, though. She cannot stop asking questions about her sister as well as about the status of the police investigation into her death. A random introduction to Ian Metzger while on an outing proves to be fortuitous. Tillie only hears the details about her sister's death from Ian while he is selling his newspapers because he shouts out loud the headlines. She buys one but a note written by Ian on the front page gives Tillie his contact information. She is intrigued by him as he seems to be the only person interested in solving her sister's murder. Tillie and Ian are able to write to each other even though the Pembrokes forbid it. Tillie uses her maid and the family's new security guard to mail letters for her and escape from her home after midnight in order to meet Ian. Together they discuss how Lucy may have been murdered and do research to try to solve her murder.

Tillie's introduction as a sleuth was quite natural. She has an interest in figuring out how and why her sister died. Ian tells her she would make a great journalist and would like her to help him in writing articles for his newspaper, the World. They come from completely different backgrounds but Tillie and Ian are a great crimesolving couple. Their differences actually help them think better. With many twists and turns to solve before they can find answers to their questions, the two of them work together to determine who killed Lucy.

5 out of 5 stars!

Singapore Sapphire

I loved Alison Stuart's Singapore Sapphire. It is the first book in a historical mystery series featuring amateur sleuth Harriet Gordon. Harriet teams up with Inspector Robert Curran of the Straits Settlement Police Force's Detective Unit to solve crimes on Singapore's island. Harriet's personal story is tragic. Her husband and son died of typhoid fever in India where her husband was stationed. Her return to England did not go smoothly. Harriet became involved in the suffragette movement and was jailed for several months. With her move to Singapore in 1910 to work beside her brother, Rev. Julian Edwards, at the religious school he runs, Harriet finds a place where she can use her smarts and still be a member in good standing of her elite place in society.

Harriet cannot be paid for her work at St. Thomas Church of England Prep School for Boys because she is a woman. In order to earn some money, Harriet places an ad in the local paper offering her services as a typist. Sir Oswald Newbold sees the ad and quickly contacts Harriet. With just one day of work for Sir Oswald completed, Harriet returns to his home to pick up her typewriter. What she finds is unsettling. Sir Oswald is dead with an antique knife stuck in his body. Inspector Curran arrives at the scene after being notified by Harriet's wallah, Aziz, that a crime has been committed at Sir Oswald's home. Soon thereafter a second person is found dead. Curran thinks the two crimes are connected but has no evidence to prove his theory.

The partnership between Harriet and Curran seemed realistic for the time period. Harriet's "sleuthing" consisted of asking Curran pointed questions about the crime that gave him insight on where the investigation should go. Her sleuthing may change form in future books in the series but for now, Harriet is able to help in the investigation in a way that maintains the traditional role of women in the early twentieth-century. Given Harriet's suffragette leanings, I would expect that she challenges society by taking a more active role in the future. For now, the reader has a first rate mystery to enjoy and savor.

Wicked Things

Wicked Things 1 and 2 is the story of  teen sleuth Charlotte Grote. It was written by John Allison of Giant Days fame. Part 3 will be published on July 22, 2020 and I can't wait. This is a humorous comic where the tables are turned on Grote as the child detective becomes the suspect in a homicide.

The story opens with Grote planning to leave home for college.  While going through her belongings Grote discovers that she was nominated in National Solver Magazine for Teen Detective of the Year for ages 16 through 18. After traveling to London's Savoy Hotel where the festivities are being held, Grote attends a party for the nominees. There she is invited to a private dinner with her toughest competitor, Kendo Miyamoto, whom she is enamored with. However, after entering his room Grote finds his dead body.  She is assumed to be the killer because she was the person who found him.

I chuckled at the artwork that detailed the physical attributes all women try to hide, ie, wide hips, stomach rolls, and big thighs. It made me think that a woman did the illustration of the book.  However, I was wrong. Max Sarin is the penciller and Whitney Cogar is the colorist. Sarin has previously worked with the author on Giant Days.

Wicked Things is the perfect murder mystery book but written in graphic novel format. It has all of the elements of a classic mystery and with its colorful drawings the book makes a fun, fast read. I highly recommend it. 5 out of 5 stars.