Mary Anning's Curiosity by Monica Kulling

4 stars
JF
historical fiction

First let's talk about what this is not.

This is not an in-depth biography.

Really, it's not a biography at all.

It is not a deep work of nonfiction.

It would not be a good resource for a school project.

Okay, with that out of the way, here's what it IS--

A really cute, if brief, story...

about a fascinating figure....

a woman I'd never heard of.

Mary Anning helped her father find curiosities as a child.

And eventually found an ichthyosaur.

I got this for MeiMei (age 7) and I think she was just a titch on the young side of the perfect age.  It's a great introduction to a strong woman who was a paleontologist before the word existed.

And certainly before anyone would really give credit to a woman in such a field.

If you've got a youngish budding scientist, you really should give this a try.

(If you've got a kid looking for a subject for a biographical report, I would definitely suggest Mary Anning!)

The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse

5 stars

R- 1? maybe

received for review (an embarrassingly long time ago... I think it's older than 3 of my children)

Haunting.  Amazing.

I don't usually completely love short story/novella type works.  They either just fall short entirely or leave me so badly wishing for more that I'm totally disappointed in their depth.

(Exceptions to this would be Connie Willis and Poe... and a few others.)

Not so here.

What Mosse managed to accomplish in such a small number of pages is pretty darn amazing.

That said-- I meant it when I said haunting.

This is not the easiest read emotionally.

But it's so worth it.

Try it.

The Bachelor Girl's Guide to Murder by Rachel McMillan

1.5 stars
R- 1?
reader's choice

Yikes.

I should have loved this.  I mean, really.

I fully expected to come away from this with a new must-follow series.

But no. Just no.

The plot didn't work for me.  The characters didn't work for me.

Really just none of it worked for me.

I can't actually quite put my finger on why.  It just didn't work.

The Age of Treachery by Gavin Scott

4 stars
R- 1.5
Reader's Choice

This one was fun.  Post WWII espionage, academia, mythology, a hint of the occult.....

Good times.

The mystery is the focus, though it veers a bit into the espionage/thriller.  Not much, just a touch.

My only complaint (and this is so much a "I'm cranky on this subject this week" thing) is the ubiquitous "the hero must meet a women and instantly (and mutually) be in love".  I'm just over it.

Thankfully, though, this doesn't seem like it's going to be a "new love in every book" kind of series-- the same woman is in the next book.

So it's got that going for it.

Plus-- bonus points: Tolkien, CS Lewis, and Ian Fleming are all characters.  How can you not love that?

Overall, read it.

Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter

5 stars
YF
(Parents of younger readers should be aware that there is a transvestite and a few mild swear words.)

Another thoroughly satisfying and entertaining installment!

I loved seeing more of Jenny's story and getting more character development there.

As always, Abigail's voice is marvelous.

I really do just love these books.

If you haven't tried them yet, start at the beginning certainly.  This is not a series to jump into in the middle.

Raven Queen by Pauline Francis

2.5 stars
YF

I so wanted this to be good.  It's totally my thing and I was excited to read it.

Meh.

It just.... wasn't.

I can't quite put my finger on why.... the writing is fine.  The story is interesting.

But it just didn't work.

I think my issue (at least in part) was the level of liberties taken with historical characters/events.  There just doesn't seem to be evidence to support this take on Jane and the half the book is from the perspective of an admittedly entirely fictitious character.

I don't know... it just didn't work for me.  I think the story would have been better either A) sticking closer to what we actually know about Jane or B) as complete fiction that maybe is very loosely based on an actual event.

Meh.

The Conversation by Jean d'Ormesson

translated by Timothy Bent
Received for review

3.5 stars
r- 2.5?
A little stilted, possibly because of the translation, possibly because it's all things Napoleon actually said worked into a dialogue.
Overall, really interesting and quick read, though the sidebar about the second consul's sexuality seemed odd and out of place.

Under the Jeweled Sky by Alison McQueen

3.5 stars
R- 2
copy received for review

I enjoyed the blend of past and "present" (the character's present, not ours) but the time period didn't feel like quite as much of a "presence" as I maybe wanted.

In some ways the story could have taken place anytime/anyplace.

Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but in a historical fiction set in India during partition and the subsequent mess, a little more of that might have been nice.

Overall, this maybe wasn't so much my style, but I did end up enjoying it.  An interesting tale of love lost but still with a hopeful ending.

Kizzy Ann Stamps by Jeri Watts

5 stars
YF/JF

I really loved this book about integration.

Kizzy is going to be one of the first black kids to attend the white school.  Her teacher tells her to write to the woman who will be her new teacher, and so she does, because EVERYBODY does what that teacher says. :)

I loved the format-- nearly the entire book is Kizzy's letters.  You have to infer what the teacher says in response until the very end, when one letter from the teacher is included.

Great story about integration, being yourself, and learning how to shine.

Boo's review:
5 stars

Basically it's a collection of letters she wrote to her teacher.  It was back when white people could still treat black people badly.  There were other black kids in her class-- she used to go to a black school, but they could be in the white school now.

[Mommy note:  Boo got really in to black history last school year, so I was hoping she'd like this one.]

Blackout and All Clear by Connie Willis

5 stars each
R-1
Time Travel books 3 and 4

Oh. My. Gosh.

Tons of threads to track, complex beyond all belief, but so amazingly well done.

AMAZINGLY, I tell you.

Interestingly, Blackout is much more optimistic, while All Clear is more somber overall.

I loved these books.  Both of them.

I do STRONGLY recommend you read Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog before these.  Things will come up and confuse you otherwise.  Especially Doomsday.

I do have one question that makes me desperately wish Connie Willis had a contact page somewhere, but I'll be darned if I can find one...

WHY in the VE-day segments they were calling her Douglas?????????????? Did I totally miss the explanation or was there just not one?? 

That drove me nutty.

I might have just missed it, though.

Overall, highly highly recommended.  Such an amazing perspective on London during WWII.  And on heroism.  And most of all, on the struggles of those left behind.

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

5 stars
r- 1?
re-read

Oh my gosh, I had forgotten how funny this book is.  Not that I'd forgotten it was amusing, but it's downright hilarious.

Set in the same universe as Fire Watch and Doomsday Book, this one is pure comedy as the historians race to find out exactly where the Bishop's Birdstump (a hideous example of Victorian art at it's worst) was when Coventry was bombed.

And to put back a cat.  Or not.

And fix the paradox they created.  Or did they?

If you read nothing else by Connie Willis, you should really read this one.

(If you read nothing else by Connie Willis, though, I may seriously have to question our friendship... and your sanity.)

Fire Watch (novella) and Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Fire Watch
5 stars

This novella/short story/whatever you want to call it is the earliest entry, in terms of when they were written, in Connie Willis' time-travel books.

It technically happens after Doomsday Book... or before... or after.... depending on how you look at it... Gah!  Time travel!

Anyway.

In terms of the "present" (which is really the future to us readers, but whatever) in Oxford, it's after.  Let's just leave it at that, shall we?  Otherwise my brain might explode.

So, this is a pretty quick read and really you can read it whenever, but you really want to read it BEFORE reading Blackout/All Clear.

LOVE the philosophical "what is a historian?" "what is history?" "what is important?" stuff in this one!

Doomday Book
5 stars
R-1

As the title may indicate, this is not the most cheerful book.  Darker than the later To Say Nothing of the Dog (which I read first, but I'm reviewing them in order, so be patient), this still isn't that dark.  It's a great read about life in 1348/49.

Yeah, I know, that's the black death, so maybe "a great book about death" would be more appropriate.

Whatever.

Look, it's been a long week, okay?

Technically this is a reread for me, but I must have originally read it before I started blogging, because somehow I've never reviewed it.

Okay, this review makes even less sense than my reviews normally do.

Let's just say TOTALLY RECOMMENDED and leave it at that, eh?

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society by Amy Hill Hearth

5 stars
reader's choice

I really enjoyed this one.

Set in Florida in 1962, the story cover a lot of issues and is just entertaining besides.

Makes you think, for sure.

When a Yankee comes and shakes up the little town all heck breaks loose.

Overall, totally recommended.

That's all I can really say about it-- go read it. :)

Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures by Emma Straub

3 stars
r- maybe 2?
copy received for review

I struggled with this one.

Well-written, certainly.

But oh my gosh, I was bored.

And really, I can't point to anything wrong with the book.  There isn't anything really.

I just simply do. not. care.

I can't understand why anyone would want to live a Hollywood life, I really really don't.

So there was absolutely no way for me to connect to the main character.

I tried.  I wanted to feel sorry for her when tragedy struck, if nothing else, but she seemed to be doing such a spectacular job of that herself that I just couldn't quite do it.

Overall... I don't know.  It wasn't for me, but I am positive I'll be in the minority on that.

The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn

4 stars
R- 3

Yet another romance.

I'm even starting to wonder about myself, really. ;)

So this one is absolutely hilarious, to be sure, but I really don't care enough to read the sequel.

Which says a lot more about me than it does about the books, I imagine.  :)

Anyway, recommended as an entertaining regency escape.

Rutherford Park by Elizabeth Cooke

3 stars
R- 2
Copy received for review

So, this isn't a bad book.

The quotes on the jacket compare it to Downton Abbey, which I've been meaning to watch, but haven't yet.

The problem is, I couldn't bring myself to like any of the characters all that much.

Unless we're counting the setting/house/atmosphere as a character.  Because that was awesome.

But the characters just aren't, for the most part, very likable people.

I understand that they're trapped by the rigidness of society etc etc etc but still.

I don't like them.

Anyway, interesting book.  If you like Downton Abbey and the like I'd say it might be worth a try.

The Lady Most Likely by Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, and Connie Brockway

3 stars
R- 3.5

Like The Lady Most Willing, this is a novel in three parts by three different authors.

Honestly, probably even steamier than the first one.  And by first one, I mean second one, because this one in fact came first, I just read it second.

(That was a great sentence, by the way.  You should write that one down.)

Which is why it got 3 stars instead of 4.

But it was also possibly funnier.  Or more consistently funny?  Something.

I laughed and laughed.

Overall, still not really my style, but it was entertaining.

The Wild Princess by Mary Hart Perry

A Novel of Queen Victoria's Defiant Daughter

4 stars
R- 3
Copy received for review

A historical romance full of intrigue about Princess Louise, later Duchess of Argyll.

While I ended up really enjoying this one I have a couple of caveats.

One, little steamy and I'm not a fan of romances where one or both are married and they aren't married to each other.

Two, I'm sorry, but when your job, which you are evidently quite good at, depends HIGHLY on discretion, I struggle with the idea that you are going to get drunk and mouth off in a pub in the first 50 pages.  Really, I have a hard time respecting you at that point.

I will say, it felt like a fluke later.  As you got to know the character better you're left asking what in the heck was happening at the beginning of the book because it seems a bit out of character.  I get what the author was setting up and why, but seriously?  Made it hard to respect him as the book goes on.

Which is bad since he's the leading man.

Anyway, other than those annoyances, I did enjoy this one.  There was enough going on, enough intrigue, to keep it from just being a romance.

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

5 stars

LOVED this book.

Similar to The Invention of Hugo Cabret, this one combines two storylines-- one told in pictures and one in words.

Combining silent movies, the history of museums, a world fair, Deaf culture and family drama, Wonderstruck is a complex tale.

I possibly liked it better than Hugo Cabret.

The drawings are, of course, amazing.

Boo also really enjoyed this one.  :)

The American Sun & Wind Moving Picture Company by Jay Neugeboren

R- 2.5
(Copy received for review)

I have no idea how to rate this book.

It wasn't at all what I expected.

It wasn't really about the history of movies... and yet it kind of was.  Sort of.

It was beautifully tragic... and tragically beautiful.

In the end, it was a novel of broken people.  From the abused to the completely crazy.

And there is no resolution, really.  Just to warn you.

But it was utterly compelling.  I devoured the first 80 pages within a couple of hours of it arriving in the mail.  I don't usually start books right when they show up on my doorstep, since I have so many things to read, but this one sucked me right in.