Reading Update

I wanted to let my blog readers know that I am experiencing life challenges right now and as a result, cannot concentrate when I am reading.  I have a long list of books that I wanted to read last month and this month but I am not sure whether I will be able to get through them.  A recent MRI diagnosed 5 disc herniations, nerve impingements at 3 levels, stenosis, and 10 spinal joints that don't move at all. Needless to say, I have alot of pain. As usual when I am in a pain flare, the plumbing in my apartment doesn't work.  The kitchen sink is backed up and the toilet no longer flushes, overflowing last night.  I am physically unable to deal with these issues and have to let others assist me.  It is humbling to need to accept help. Yesterday I collapsed while waiting in a long line to vote. An election judge brought me a chair to sit in. When I fell, my jeans tore in an embarrassing place so when I got home at 7 pm I went to bed. I was done. And I don't care who won the election. I voted and that is all I can do so I will not be thinking about whatever consequences there are to the vote.

Today is better but the murder of a friend back in March is always on my mind. Perhaps 2022 is just a lousy year for me but I feel that 2023 won't be much better.  It might just be that the negative thoughts from pain are influencing my feelings but we shall soon see what 2023 has in store for all of us.

Book of the Month: October

My best read for last month is, hands down, The Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart.  The novel takes place in Louisiana where there are plenty of good places to stash a dead body. They can be hidden in tall grass by the water's edge or next to exposed tree roots. The variety of these places provide different decomposition times which could confuse a medical examiner not as experienced as Dr. Wren Muller.

The book is a serial killer story and we read more about the serial killer's background than Wren's, who is the protagonist. While featuring the killer more might normally be a bad idea, it works here because he is such a nut. He leaves different calling cards at his murder scenes to confuse the police which adds a new dimension to this genre.  Wren is the perfect sleuth though. She has an educational background in forensics and plenty of work experience.  She would make a great series sleuth.  

I hope that Urquhart decides to make this a series. I loved the Louisiana setting with its plethora of good dumping grounds.  Check the book out if you haven't already.

The Butcher and the Wren

The Butcher and the Wren is Alaina Urquhart's debut novel. Her day job as an autopsy technician certainly was helpful for her in writing this fantastic psychological thriller. I was completely engrossed in the book from the first chapter.

The publisher's summary:

"Something dark is lurking in the Louisiana bayou: a methodical killer with a penchant for medical experimentation is hard at work completing his most harrowing crime yet, taunting the authorities who desperately try to catch up.

But forensic pathologist Dr. Wren Muller is the best there is. Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of historical crimes, and years of experience working in the Medical Examiner's office, she's never encountered a case she couldn't solve. Until now. Case after case is piling up in Wren's examination table and soon she is sucked into an all consuming cat and mouse chase with a brutal murderer getting more brazen by the day."

This is a fast paced plot driven story that takes place in Louisiana. Here there are plenty of good places to stash a dead body. They can be hidden in tall grass by the water's edge or next to exposed tree roots. The variety of these places provide different decomposition times which could confuse a medical examiner not as experienced as Dr. Muller.

The serial killer and Wren Muller characters are well developed. We read more about the serial killer's background than Muller, who is the protagonist. He has a data entry day job but also attends medical school at Tulane. Because of his busy schedule he can only "work" on weekends. He always leaves different calling cards when he dumps a body in order to confuse the police. I liked him as a character. Wren is the perfect sleuth. She has the educational background and employment experience to conduct forensic investigations and would be great as a series protagonist. There is a side to her personality that could make her character a little softer. She was a crime victim herself. I don't know if the author plans on this being a series but I hope so. 

Mystery lovers will definitely want to read this book. 5 out of 5 stars!

The Nanny

The Nanny is a fantastic psychological thriller by Ruth Heald. I have read every one of her books and they all are unputdownable. In The Nanny, there are many twists and turns but they particularly happen in short sequence beginning at the midway point in the book. 

The publisher's summary:  

"I clutched baby Chloe's blanket, tears streaming down my face as I remember the night she disappeared. I looked up at the apartment block I once called home. I knew I'd never be welcome here again. One mistake had ruined everything.

When I  accepted a job working as a nanny for David and Julie and their young children, I couldn't believe my luck. I bonded with the baby Chloe instantly and would have done anything for her. She had David's thick dark hair and smiling eyes. I fell in love with her and was excited about her future. But when a terrible mistake led to Chloe disappearing, I was instantly blamed. With no evidence, I was let go and I returned home to try and rebuild my life. 

Twenty years later and I am still haunted by what happened. I have a family of my own now and I've worked hard to be the best wife and mother I can be. But I've never forgotten the child who stole my heart. Then a young woman arrived on my doorstep and the past secret that I have kept from my family comes hurtling into my present. I try to tell myself that I am overreacting but the woman in front of me looks so much like David. Who is she and why is she here?"

I loved this book. It is plot driven with a super fast pace. Half of the story takes place in 1999 Thailand and half in London in the present day. There isn't much that the Thailand setting provides other than being known for its stiff criminal penalties. 

There are quite a few characters. Hayley is the main character and she is married to Lars with a young daughter named Alice. Hayley's mother lives with them also as she has early dementia and mom has a caregiver named Michelle. In 1999 Hayley had been traveling during her gap year with two girlfriends and they landed in Bangkok. Running short of money caused her to accept a job with British expats David and Julie MacFarlane as a nanny for their newborn infant Chloe and two of David's daughters from an earlier marriage. 

Hayley has alot of secrets that she has kept from her girlfriends, the MacFarlanes, her husband and mother. Trying to keep them all close to her heart gives the story tension that keeps the reader engaged. We don't know what the secrets are and I wasn't sure who was going to turn out to be the villain. While the story is told in alternating time periods, there is no alternating plot. 

The Nanny is sure to be a hit with mystery lovers. 5 out of 5 stars.

Ducks

Ducks is a graphic memoir by Kate Beaton. Inside the pages of this hardcover book we read about the two years of her life spent working in Canada's oilfields. When Kate graduated from college, she had a hefty student loan to repay. Knowing that she would never make enough money from working in her chosen field to pay it off, Kate took a job in Alberta's oil sands where she worked as a laborer and then in the crib shop where she handed out tools to workers. She took a few months off after the first year and paid off half her student loans. Kate then worked in a museum but couldn't make her minimum loan payments on that salary. She returned to the oil sands for another year. Her student loans were then paid off and she decided to work as a cartoonist. The rest, they say, is history.

I was impressed with her concern for paying off her student loan debt. Kate delayed beginning her career until the debt was paid. Many residents of the Cape Breton island that she grew up on traveled to the oil sands so they could support their families. I was astonished by the amount of sexual harassment that she had to endure while working there. It doesn't say much for Canadian men and I am surprised by the conduct because I have always heard that Canadians were more group oriented than individualistic. So why the Ducks title? During her second year hundreds of ducks died from getting caught in the sands. This received alot of media attention at the time.

The story itself is well written with an obvious beginning, middle and end. There were twists and turns during her employment which gave it a mystery flare. The drawings were done in black and white in comic book strip format. At over 400 pages it is a hefty book but is also a fast read. I am looking forward to reading more from this young cartoonist.

5 out of 5 stars.

Starry Messenger

Starry Messenger is Neil deGrasse Tyson's 18th book but the first one that I have read. I didn't know what to expect. I thought that maybe he would make a statement about Christianity being a false religion. This is not a problem for me. I know what his views are from regularly watching his Star Talk TV program. I also wondered whether the material would be over my head. 

I did not see any main point that Tyson was trying to communicate in this book. While there are chapter divisions, the reader sees him pontificating on various social issues with no connection between the material. In the Preface, Tyson states that societal ills could all be solved by people thinking as scientists. If we could just see earth as the Apollo astronauts did, our differences would disappear.  Scientists are the only objective people on the planet. Scientists do not have opinions, they just have facts.

As I was reading I kept looking for the reason that the book was written. I didn't find one. I did notice, however, that there were two ideas repeated in every chapter. First, he is concerned how visiting space aliens view humankind. I don't know why he is upset about this as there is no scientific proof that aliens exist. Remember, all scientists are objective and only deal with facts. Second, Christianity is the reason for all of the problems in the world. Tyson states that the God of the Bible demands competition among his earthlings which promotes racism, colonialism etc..., as well as the idea that Christians are superior to non-Christians. He cites at least one verse from Genesis in each chapter to prove his points. I have to say that he has a psychological complex about the Bible because he has written about it so much in this work. So what if he's an atheist. But when someone can't stop writing and talking about the Bible in this way, he has a personal problem separate from being an atheist.

The material was not over my head. This is not a scientific book. It is about society as a whole from caveman days to the present. With the two main ideas presented in each chapter being ideas that have not been proved by science, why are his "objective" "opinions"  being touted as truth? Also, I got the impression that he feels superior to us regular folks who are not scientists. Superiority runs deep in this work. Again, I had to wonder how he became superior to everyone else since God is the entity requiring superiority from his followers and Tyson is not a God follower.

The book was a disappointment. I expected a scientific book. What I got was unorganized ramblings regarding problems on earth. The writing itself was good but the content was lacking. I am rating it 3 out of 5 stars.

Book of the Month: September

The Apple Creek Announcement by Wanda Brunstetter was my favorite read for September. Brunstetter wrote what I believe is her best book to date. She added to the plot a character's quest to find her birth mother. It read more like a mystery than the typical Amish fiction novel and for that reason I have selected the book as my favorite for the month. 

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

My favorite book cover of the month for September is Laura Childs' A Dark and Stormy Tea. I could not determine who the book cover designer is but wonder whether it was an in-house designer at Berkeley. This was disappointing because I like to write about the artist behind the cover. What I like about this cover is that it is a table set for afternoon tea. I LOVE afternoon tea so these drawings are always attractive to me. My favorite dessert, macarons, are on the table and there is a beautiful set of purple china also. What's not to like?

Her Perfect Life

Her Perfect Life is Sam Hepburn's first novel. She later published Gone Before in 2020 and A Good Mother in 2021. Hepburn writes psychological thrillers. This is the first book of hers that I have read. The premise for the story is how far would a person go to create the perfect life. Character Gracie Dwyer has it all, the handsome husband, the adorable child, the beautiful home and the glittering career. The perfect life. Her new friend Juliet doesn’t exactly fit in. She’s a down-on-her-luck single parent with no money and not much hope. So just what is it that draws Gracie and Juliet together? And when the cracks start to appear in Gracie’s perfect life, can both of them survive?

When I began reading I thought that the story sounded familiar and that perhaps I already read this book. After reviewing my previously published book reviews I noticed that in 2020 I reviewed Valerie Keogh's book The Perfect Life.  It is exactly like this novel. I also got it confused with Hank Phillippi Ryan's 2021 book, also titled Her Perfect Life and wondered whether I purchased the right book. I knew that I was going to read a book with this title for the Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge but failed to write down the author's name, not knowing that there could be more than one book with this title.

I was not thrilled with the Hepburn book. It had a slow start. There was no suspense and I felt nothing for the characters. While the plot is similar to the Keough book, the writing is not as good as Keough's. Since I thought the Keough book was mediocre, this book was a big disappointment.

Children of Sugarcane

I received a free copy of the Children of Sugarcane through the Early Reviewer's Program at Librarything. It is a historical fiction novel of 19th century India and the British owned sugarcane plantations in Natal, South Africa. The book was published in 2021 in South Africa by Jonathan Ball Publishers. It was then published in the UK in 2022. Author Joanne Joseph is a well known media personality in South Africa and has hosted both radio and television programs there. She previously wrote an expose of prisons in Thailand but this is her first novel. 

The publisher's summary:

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.

Stacking the Shelves #22

This past week I visited my local public library and found a book by Charles Finch that I had not read.  His 2021 novel, An Extravagant Death, sleuth Charles Lenox gets a chance to travel to America. Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli sends him on a diplomatic mission to New York City on behalf of the Queen. While there, Lenox hobnobs with both the old Knickerbocker society and the new robber barons. After the season's most beautiful debutante throws her self off a cliff, it is assumed that she killed herself. Lenox thinks that it could be murder. With his reputation for solving cases having preceded him, Lenox is invited to a magnificent Newport mansion to investigate the death.  

I have not posted in this meme before about library books that I have added to my stack. I finally feel safe going to the library since the pandemic began so there may be more of these posts. Last year I read Finch's The September Society which he published in 2008. He has 16 books published to date. 14 of them are part of the Charles Lenox series. I loved The September Society and plan on reading all of his books, whenever I get the time. 

What have you stacked your shelves with this week?

Palimpsest

I have been thinking for awhile about reading this graphic memoir about a woman who was adopted from her native country Korea to her adoptive parents in Sweden.  I finally picked up the comic and it was fantastic.

The publisher's summary:

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.

Welcome to St. Hell

Welcome to St. Hell is a groundbreaking memoir about being a trans teen. Lois/Lewis has a few things to say to his younger teen self. He knows she hates her body. He knows she's confused about who to snog. He knows she's really a he and will ultimately realize this... but she's going to go through a whole lot of mess (some of it funny, some of it not funny at all) to get to that point. Lewis is trying to tell her this... but she's refusing to listen.

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.