Brave New World. Worth a 2nd read. Am I brave enough?
Breath Eyes Memory. Worth all of the time for re-reading.
Bridge to Terabithia. Excellent book. Have tissues handy.
Bridget Jones Diary. Entertaining but not life altering.
But Did You Die? Funny stuff.
Canterbury Tales. Entertaining at the very least.
The Cask of Amatillado. Don’t we all have someone that we’d like to exact revenge upon?
The Cat Who Wore a Pot on Her Head. Favorite children’s book.
Catch-22. This would be a good time to read the novel for the 1st time.
Catcher in the Rye. I have read this book several times. Holden Caulfield isn’t the worst character but he’s a punk. I don’t relate to him as much as other people do.
4 Years Trapped in My Mind Palace by Johan Twiss is set in a nursing care facility in the San Francisco area. At first I was not excited about reading about a nursing home because it reminds me of my job in a similar facility. However, the book is also set in the mind of Aaron’s new roommate, Solomon.
Aaron, a 14-year-old boy, who contracted Cryptococcal meningitis, is currently in a vegetative state. He cannot control his body but his mind is just as active as before the illness. No one knows that Aaron is aware of what is going on until Solomon moves into the room. Solomon can hear his thoughts. It’s the first time in two years that Aaron could communicate with anyone.
Solomon also has dementia. Occasionally, Aaron gets trapped in Solomon’s memories. Solomon was a jazz musician and also fought in WWII. He has seen some amazing things. Famous boxing matches. Great music.
He has also seen things like the liberating of the concentration camps and other horrors of war.
Will Aaron get trapped in the memories or in his own mind forever? Will he be able to communicate with anyone else?
Most people will enjoy this book. It has a little bit of something for everyone. Romance. Action. Adventure. Nostalgia.
If you don’t like unhealthy people or old people, then you might not be a fan of this book. Aaron’s own parents disappear for awhile. They don’t call, write or visit. They pay the bills for his care but that’s all. ( I mean really . . . what kind of monsters are they anyway?) Will the parents visit him again?
I recommend this book to everyone, except those cruel parental monsters and Nazis of course.
Beneath the Broken Moon by Patrick Todoroff was set in a land similar to Middle Earth after the apocalypse.
The main character is Addas, a half human half ork, who has been living in an ork settlement. I use the term living loosely. He is not treated well by anyone except maybe a goblin named Snat. Somehow he is volunteered to be the tracker for a Dwarf/Ork expedition. Addas has never done any tracking in his life. However, doing this job may lead to something better. He believes that it cannot be worse than his current situation.
He doesn’t know how to read and he hears the voice of his deceased mentor, Chalk.
So the expedition begins and Addas leads them to the next point without many problems. He does begin to piece together that there is more to this trip than anyone tells him.
I did enjoy reading this book, except that the print was so tiny. It was a fluke with my Kindle. Luckily my new glasses came yesterday.
If you enjoy sci-fi or fantasy, then you should give this book a chance.
If you don’t like adventure or books from a different perspective then maybe this isn’t the book for you.
Links
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4539130.Patrick_Todoroff
* I received an ARC from Reedsy Discovery in exchange for doing a review. All opinions are my own. Obviously.
The Body Double by Emily Beyda begins in an unnamed small town movie theater but mostly takes place in Hollywood, California.
The narrator doesn’t have a name. She’s been brought to Hollywood in order to be a body double for a famous movie star – both on and off-screen. She spends her time learning everything about Rosanna Feld so that she can become Rosanna. Her only job is to be Rosanna. She’s paid a lot of money to forget her former life.
Max is the man who hires her to be the body double. He’s a sleazeball but the narrator seems to like him. She’s suspicious of him but she overlooks quite a bit to keep him happy.
She does spend some time trying to figure out what happened to the real Rosanna. In the end, her questions are answered. I won’t give away the ending but it was not what I expected.
If you’re interested in stories about Hollywood and movie stars – the glamour and also the seedy parts- then you will probably enjoy “The Body Double.” The book has been compared to the movie “Vertigo.” I cannot believe that I haven’t seen the movie.
If you aren’t a fan of Hollywood or crime fiction, then this book might be too fancy for you.
Can witches ever really have true friends? In The Furies by Katie Lowe, Violet learns about betrayal and witchcraft more than she learns about any other school subject.
The setting is Elm Hollow Academy, an all-girls boarding school, near a small town. It’s a boarding school but it doesn’t seem like the students live there. In the beginning, a student has been posed on the swings after her death. The narrator doesn’t tell the reader who the student is until the end.
Violet has lost her father and sister. Her mother is alive but stuck in a cycle of depression. Violet can get away with almost anything because her mother isn’t paying attention. She had been homeschooled for the last year. Violet took on the responsibility of her own education so she decided to attend Elm Hollow Academy.
There has been a student, Emily, that disappeared before Violet arrived on campus. Apparently, Emily and Violet resembled each other. Violet also became friends with Emily’s friends – Robin, Alex and Grace. The art teacher, Annabel, invited Violet to participate in a secret group that learned about the local women accused of witchcraft and Furies, goddesses of vengeance.
Violet and her group of friends go through all of the growing pains of friendship. Can they trust each other with their personal secrets? Are they more like enemies than friends? Maybe frenemies.
If you like “The Craft” or “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” then there is a good chance that you will enjoy “The Furies.”
Witch hunters and Nancy from “The Craft” will probably not be a fan of this book.
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Jerkwater by Jamie Zerndt is set in Mercer, Wisconsin. It’s typical small jerkwater town, except for the rotests for Native American fishing rights. There isn’t a specific date but in 1983 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Native Americans could spearfish in lakes they had previously relinquished. So if I had to guess I would say that the book takes place in the mid-80s.
Read more about it here: Native American fishing rights article
No one really wants to admit that they are racist. However, are the fishermen who are protesting against the Native American fishing rights really and truly concerned about whether a spear is used or not?
The story is told from the point of view of three characters – Shawna, Kay and Douglas. Shawna is a Native American with a disdain for white people, especially the man who killed her mother and his best friend. She is also neighbors with Kay and Doug. Kay is Doug’s mother and also a possible alcoholic widow in the early stages of dementia.
They are all trying to find their way in the world. Shawna wants to kill a man. She stalks him for awhile. Will she deal with her issues before she winds up in jail?
Douglas has taken over his dad’s mechanic shop but it’s not his career of choice. Will he follow his true passion or stay in the shop?
There are some funny parts in the book. Kay can be amusing even though parts of her behavior are related to the dementia. We all know and love someone like Kay – brutally honest and probably had a drink with breakfast.
Most people will enjoy this book. If the reader is against Native American fishing rights – then they are too petty for this book.
The Bear by Andrew Krivak is set in a forested area at the base of a mountain. The technical term would be a Subalpine forest. It sounds like a beautiful place. There aren’t any other people besides the dad and his daughter. There seems to have been an end to civilization as we know it. The dad has taken his daughter to a place where they can live off of the land.
The girl is very young – maybe between 8-10. In the beginning of the book, she lives with her father in a cabin. He teaches her everything – how to read, hunt, make bows, etc. By the middle of the book, the girl is alone.
Well, she isn’t exactly alone. The bear keeps her from starving by giving her fish. The girl isn’t an expert hunter yet. She learns quickly otherwise she will starve because the bear goes into hybernation.
There is also a puma who saves her from drowning and catches some food for her. She can hear the bear and the puma talking to her. Were they really talking or was it a hallucination? It doesn’t matter because it got her through life for a little bit longer. Would any of us make it one day in the wilderness? They make it bear-able. Pun intended.
The girl is trying to get back to the cabin but it’s too difficult during the winter. Also, she cannot cross the river yet.
If you like post-apocalyptic stories without zombies, then this could be the book for you.
If you don’t like anything about doomsday prepping, survivalists or nature, then you might not like this book. The Bear really beautifully written so it’s too bad you are missing out because you aren’t into prepping.
FYI: Andrew Krivak the author is not the same Andrew Krivak that recently had a murder conviction overturned. They are different people.
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