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Book Notes Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 11:47 on 22 April 2016

What? Another book from Mom's list? I know, I know, I can't believe it either. Thing is with this book, I can't believe this is a book Mom would read either. I mean, I can understand why she read some of the other books she's read, they fit various themes of what I believe she reads. Except, she reads what she wants to read, what she finds interesting, and this is one of those, "Wait, what?" books that she wanted to read.

I guess.

I'm not giving anything of the book away when I say the book centers around two sex slaves escaping after killing their captors while working a bachelor party, because this particular part of the book happens in the first paragraph of the book. The rest of the book is about the aftermath of that act: the why, the history, the emotions, the recovery, the fall. It is told from the first person viewpoint of one of the sex slaves (ex sex slaves) and from the third person omniscient view of the father-husband-brother-of-the-groom, his wife, and his daughter.

The causal violence in the book threw me off.

The sex slaves in the book threw me off.

The description of the emotional journey of the wife threw me off.

The emotional attachment to help someone in need totally resonated.

The book is lingering with me. I'm not sure I recommend the book, nor am I sure I'm glad I spent the time reading it. It is lingering, though.

The Grownup

Book Notes Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 19:55 on 18 April 2016

This definitely is one of the books from Mom's pile of books. She recently added this one to my list as one "you have to read!" Except she hadn't read, so I'm unsure why she felt I needed to read it.

I suspect it's because it's by the same author as Gone Girl, and Mom really liked the twist in that one.

This one starts out as giant con job, and turns into a ghost story. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the twist near the end, while the actual ending had me cracking up.

The book is a quick read, no reason not to borrow it from the library and read it in an evening, with enough time left over for a barbeque, to be honest.

The Passenger

Book Notes Posted by kitt at 16:54 on 18 April 2016

I know! I know! SHOCK! Another from the pile of books from Mom. I swear I have other piles of books and books from other people and books from lists that sound interesting. I do! I do!

Though, I suspect I beat Mom in finishing this book. Go me.

The book starts with the main character fleeing her life after the death of her husband, who had fallen down the stairs. Normally, contacting authories is the correct reaction, but Tanya Dubois has a past that she doesn't want investigated, so instead of the "correct" reaction, she runs.

She adopts new identities in an attempt to establish a new life, but continues to be on the run from town to town. She eventually moves towards confronting the dark secret of her past, learning more than a few things along the way, with a satisfying resolution at the end.

The story cuts off at an interesting place, the part where things could start to become boring, so we have a "she lived happily ever after," but I'm uncertain that one could switch from looking over one's shoulder for ten years to settling down. I guess it could happen.

The book was interesting, but I don't know that I'd recommend it. I might have to start a new rating scale: Don't read, get from library, borrow from friend, buy a copy, buy two copies, one to lend.

Something like that.

Looking for Alaska

Book Notes kitt decided around 20:53 on 14 April 2016 to publish this:

I swear, all of the books I have been reading lately are from Mom's pile. It might begin to frustrate me if my pile of books doesn't start reducing in size, too. Something about the growing stacks, from two to three, is starting to bug me.

Also bugging me about this book is the setup. We have a geeky, six-foot kid who actively wants to go to private school because he has no friends in the public school he attends, who meets the most amazingly beautiful girl in the school, who we later learn is also attracted to him, and we are supposed to believe this setup?

If a six foot kid isn't immediately recruited to the basketball team, even in a private school, something is wrong. But the most unbelievable part is having the most attractive girl in the school being attracted to the book's protagonist who has exactly no friends in his previous school. Having no friends? No girls attracted to him, throwing themselves at him, wanting to date him? That's a hard suspension of disbelief to have. Just saying.

The book countdowns to the major event in the book, then counts up from said major event. It does that well for structure, but fails to convey the overwhelming heartbreak that is involved in said event. Not sure how else to explain how the second part felt superficial.

It's a good story, so for that reason I'd likely hand the book to a friend, though I wouldn't be worried about asking for the book back, or buying a second copy so that I had a version to loan. My copy will likely go into the Little Lending Library out front.

Dissolution

Book Notes Instead of being asleep at 13:27 on 11 April 2016, kitt created this:

Why I have this book, I have no idea. Okay, I have maybe some idea, but said idea involves Mom's pile of books and my misguided attempt at reading books outside of my usual genre of science fiction / fantasy. That, and the fact that this is book one of a series, what could go wrong?

Well, nothing went wrong, per se, with this book. It's about a hunchback (read: outcast, cerebral, loner, rational) detective, Matthew Shardlake, from the mid-1500s who solves mysteries for Cromwell of Henry VIIIth fame. While part of me is thinking, "Huh, right, of course Cromwell was a man, and a man of power, and as a man of power, he did deals," the rest of me is wondering, "Eh? This is an odd setting for a mystery."

Which is also to say, I'm not a fan of this book, but not because the writing was bad (it wasn't, it was good), and not because the mystery wasn't convincing (it was convincing), and not because the world wasn't built up well (it was built up well, with the reader stepping into the hunchback's world midtale, and, nicely, without beleaguered explanations), but because this really isn't my style of book.

I'm not a fan of mid-millenium England or Victorian England or all of those older Englands. So, a mystery set in England during the Reformation where people of power all scramble for more power at the cost of the masses, yeah, just doesn't do it for me.

If, however, you do like mysteries set in Old England, have at it. This book is a quick read, and there are two more Shardlake mysteries.

Vital Abyss

Book Notes Posted by kitt at 20:48 on 10 April 2016

Okay, when do I ever start a review without an "okay?" The answer is, "Never," though usually I delete the "Okay," before a actually post the review.

Speaking of review introductions, man, am I starting to dislike reviews and tutorials and articles that have 50% "why I'm writing this" and like 30% actual meat of the story, and 20% wrap up. Kinda like these two paragraphs so far.

I am really liking the Expanse backstories that I've been reading. They fill in the gaps where events, movtivations, and circumstances are just assumed (rightly so), in the plot the reader follows in the main books. Just as with the Churn where we learn of Amos' backstory, and Gods of Risk where we see more of Bobbie, and The Butcher of Anderson Station where we understand the conversion of Fred Johnson, this book provides the backstory to the scientists doing the research into the protomolecule. It also explains some of the questions about just how people can do experiments on a population in the millions and not question the morality of such an action.

Fans of the Expanse should, of course, read this book, too. I wish the four shorter books were combined into one book, but, hey, more money as four smaller books than a compendium.

I kinda wonder if I should include plot lines so that I remember these books I'm reading. See? That was the lingering, unrelated 20% conclusion in this review.

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