Book reviews of mysteries, historical fiction and graphic novels with a smattering of non-fiction books.
Thursday, October 6, 2022
Starry Messenger
Friday, September 30, 2022
Book of the Month: September
The book is the third installment of a trilogy. Andrea Wagner is engaged to veterinarian Brandon Prentice. When she finds out that she is adopted Andrea puts her wedding plans on hold until she can find her birth mother. This is a clean romance novel so we read more about the characters' emotions and their relationship with God than how they might act when together.
I don't believe that I have ever read an Amish fiction novel with such a complex plot. For that reason, it is my best book for the month.
Book Cover of the Month: September
Thursday, September 29, 2022
Her Perfect Life
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Children of Sugarcane
Shanti, a bright teenager stifled by life in rural India and facing an arranged marriage, dreams that South Africa is an opportunity to start afresh. The Colony of Natal is where Shanti believes she can escape the poverty, caste, and the traumatic fate of young girls in her village. Months later, after a harrowing sea voyage, she arrives in Natal and realises life there is full of hardship and labour.
Spanning four decades and two continents, Children of Sugarcane illustrates the lifegiving power of love, the indestructible bonds between family and friends, heroism, and how the ultimate sacrifice becomes Shanti’s greatest redemption.
I enjoyed reading this book. It is a little different from my usual fare and while it is historical I wonder whether the book should be categorized as literary fiction. The pace was slower than the historical fiction that I usually read. Shanti doesn't arrive in Natal until page 140, a third of the way through the story. I thought this was slow but it wouldn't be for literary fiction. The characters were well drawn and the history of the time and place was detailed. The author was obviously very familiar with what happened on the sugarcane plantations in Natal. She gives us alot of important information about this sad and not well known part of history. For that we can be thankful.
5 out of 5 stars.
Saturday, September 17, 2022
Stacking the Shelves #22
Friday, September 16, 2022
Palimpsest
Thousands of South Korean children were adopted around the world in the 1970s and 1980s. More than nine thousand found their new home in Sweden, including the cartoonist Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom, who was adopted when she was two years old. Throughout her childhood she struggled to fit into the homogenous Swedish culture and was continually told to suppress the innate desire to know her origins. “Be thankful,” she was told; surely her life in Sweden was better than it would have been in Korea. Like many adoptees, Sjöblom learned to bury the feeling of abandonment.
In Palimpsest, an emotionally charged memoir, Sjöblom’s unaddressed feelings about her adoption come to a head when she is pregnant with her first child. When she discovers a document containing the names of her biological parents, she realizes her own history may not match up with the story she’s been told her whole life: that she was an orphan without a background.
As Sjöblom digs deeper into her own backstory, returning to Korea and the orphanage, she finds that the truth is much more complicated than the story she was told and struggled to believe. The sacred image of adoption as a humanitarian act that gives parents to orphans begins to unravel.
Sjöblom’s beautiful autumnal tones and clear-line style belie the complicated nature of this graphic memoir’s vital central question: Who owns the story of an adoption?
Alot of the dialogue is actually exposition with the illustrations showing the emotions of the characters. The color scheme was basically light brown with other cool toned colors. It looked depressing to me but this story is about the depression that the author felt. In fact, she tried to kill herself. The documents that she and her husband sent to Korean adoption agencies are illustrated in full as well as the responses that they received. While the story informs us about the unique Korean adoption process, there are general roadblocks written in to the story that all adoptees face. It was heartbreaking when a letter came in the mail with less information than was expected. It is also easy for the reader to see all of the steps an adoptee has to take in order to discover their biological background.
All in all, a great memoir. 5 out of 5 stars.
Thursday, September 15, 2022
Welcome to St. Hell
In Welcome to St. Hell, author-illustrator Lewis Hancox takes readers on the hilarious, heartbreaking, and healing path he took to make it past trauma, confusion, hurt, and dubious fashion choices in order to become the man he was meant to be.
When I began reading I wondered whether the comic would be preachy. It isn't. The author kept his hometown anonymous by calling is St. Hell in the comic and the high school he attended was called St. Hell High School. I felt so bad for him when he was taunted by his classmates. Young kids can be way too critical. However, he did find friends that accepted him and some of them came out publicly with different sexual orientations after high school.
The artwork created the humor in the novel. We see Lois/Lewis trying several actions to hide her feminine body shape. He works out in order to get rid of his curves and diets heavily that he has to be treated for anorexia. He finally admits to his mother that he is trying to get rid of his feminine shape because he feels like a boy. The author is lucky that his mother accepted him when he came out and, in fact, encouraged some of his behaviors because, inside, she knew that he was different.
I don't know that I would have purchased this book if I didn't have a trans friend. We have had many great conversations about life in general and I see and accept her as a normal person. Without knowing her, I probably would have had a hands off approach to anyone talking about being trans. It is too different from my life. While it is risky for a trans person to come out publicly, it was helpful for me to know someone who experienced this.
This is a thoughtful memoir that taught me alot about the struggle of trans people. 5 out of 5 stars.
Monday, September 12, 2022
Paris
After Lambana
Lambana--the realm of supernatural fairies known as Diwata--has fallen, and the Magic Prohibition Act has been enacted. To add to his troubles, there's something wrong with Conrad's heart and only magic can prolong his life. He teams up with Ignacio, a well-connected friend who promises to hook him up with the Diwata and their magical treatments--a quest that's not only risky but highly illegal!
On the shadowy, noir-tinged streets of Manila, multiple realities co-exist and intertwine as the two friends seek a cure for the magical malady. Slinky sirens and roaming wraith-like spirits populate a parallel world ruled by corruption and greed, which Conrad must enter to find the cure he seeks. He has little idea of the creatures he will encounter and the truths to be revealed along the way. Will Lambana spill its secrets and provide the healing balm Conrad needs? Or will he perish in the process?
I didn't enjoy this story much. While beautifully illustrated with bright colors, the story itself lacked suspense. The characters were not fleshed out at all. I did not either like them or dislike them. It was difficult to figure out what was going on and while I was reading I wondered why I should even care about continuing it. I am not attracted to mythological stories and am completely ignorant regarding Filipino mythology so perhaps this was my problem. Still, myth stories need strong characters and plot to keep a reader interested.
No rating.
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Can't Wait Wednesday #15
The publisher's summary mentions that there are details written in the book that only a autopsy tech can provide. From this I assume that the details may be grisly but I am still looking forward to reading this novel.
Monday, September 5, 2022
Salt
Sunday, September 4, 2022
William at 40
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, is destined one day to be king. Determined to serve his country as his grandmother, the Queen has so selflessly done for seven decades, William is the epitome of a loving husband to Catherine, and a devoted father to their three children: George, Charlotte and Louis. In public, William appears calm, balanced and determined. He is passionate about safeguarding the environment and helping to protect species under threat of extinction. The Duke and his wife have also worked tirelessly to remove the stigma that continues to mark mental health problems. In private, however, those close to him say that William, while being a dedicated servant of the Crown can defy his calm, family-guy public demeanour. This is the definitive account – insightful and nuanced – of the life of the Duke of Cambridge as he approaches his milestone birthday. Jobson explores the complex character of the man who will one day reign as King William V. It is the story of the making of a king for our times. THE STORY OF THE MAKING OF A MONARCH FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY.
If you have ever read any newspaper article about William, or a social media post, then you probably are familiar with the material in this biography. These posts seems to rehash his life in its entirety. There isn't anything new here other than the description of William's temper in the Preface. The book seemed to me to be a fluff piece. It begins with his birth and continues to the present day. I guess readers of a younger generation than mine might find something new here but I did not learn anything new about the future King William V. I also did not read anything to justify the subtitle "the making of a modern monarch." Jobson talks about William's listening skills and his use of modern technology as proof that his dynasty will be modern. Any fortysomething individual is going to use modern technology. I don't see that as a reason to call him a modern monarch. I was looking for other reasons for the use of the subtitle. I am not sure what I was looking for, but more than what I got.
3 out of 5 stars.