Love and Death Among the Cheetahs by Rhys Bowen

 

Love and Death Among the Cheetahs by Rhys Bowen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have always loved the Royal Spyness books in great part because Lady Georgiana was a scrappy, peripheral member of the royal family who needed to figure out how to make her way in a world she was unprepared for. She didn't have the haughty, upper class snootiness of her "peers". I feel like that is changing with this book. 

She and Darcy are now married, she's the mistress of a great estate - and she's starting to sound just like all the other upper class snobs.   They are on their honeymoon in Kenya after Georgie complained about not having an adequate honeymoon.  They are staying on the estate of a friend of a friend and find the expats living there are elitist, racist, alcoholic snobs.  (Just the place for a honeymoon!!)

Of course, there is a murder and only Georgie and Darcy are equipped to solve it.  I didn't like the majority of the character or their behavior.  I wonder about why the author felt she had to write this book.  There is a disclaimer at the beginning about the racist behavior and some language belonging to the time and place and she wanted to reflect historical accuracy in her dialogue.  That likely flavored my opinion of the book before reading it.  Not the best entry in the Royal Spyness series.

Not sure I like that very much.

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Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict

 

Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've read several of Marie Benedict's historical fiction books and after I finished The Only Woman in the Room, I decided I wasn't going to read any more of her books.  They aren't horrible, but they get tedious especially, when the main character is in dialogue with others and the dialogue doesn't ring true to the character or the times.  Robust editing could have made a difference, but... 

In any case, my book club voted on Lady Clementine for our August choice.  Since I hate when one member holds an entire group hostage because she refuses to read a particular author or genre, I sucked it up and agreed with the choice.  Wonder of all wonders - I liked this book the best of the Benedict books I've read!

Clementine Churchill is an extremely interesting person and that probably helped a lot when telling her story. There is also a lot of documentation from which to draw, so much of the meat of the story was already established.  She truly was a woman with ideas before their time, a force of nature in her own right, and Winston Churchill's equal.  

After reading the book I started looking into Clementine Churchill and she was everything the author described.  The beginning of the book had more of the internal monologues than the remainder of the book.  These are when the author is at her weakest.  I understand this is historical fiction, but I lose faith in a storyteller when too many assumptions are made, especially when "recounting" private thoughts, conversations, and motivations.  There were fewer of these moments in the second half of the book, and I liked the second half better.

I hope this means that the author or the editing is getting better and not that Clementine is such an interesting person it doesn't take much to write an engaging book about her.

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The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

 

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the story of a family broken by broken parents who thought they were doing the best for their family, but ultimately ended up inviting destruction into their home.

The book starts with Libby a 26 year old orphan learning about her birth family and receiving a substantial inheritance she knew nothing about.  This didn't ring true to me and almost put me off the book.

Next we are whisked off to Paris and a young mother who must ask her abusive ex-husband for help, then we are back before Libby's birth, then to today's London.  It's a whirlwind of time and place.

Initially there are a lot of characters to keep track of and our narrative moves from here and now to there and when.  Eventually all of the characters and timelines merge and the books seems to be wrapped up quite nicely...and then there is the last sentence of the book.  Not gonna lie, that last sentence made me love this book.

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Fantasy Football

Football - It's that time of year again! 

We are a family that loves football, and we live in a football town.  The Orioles are our baseball team and they are beloved, but they are more like a comfortable friend.  They have their ups and downs (lately - more downs), and the stadium attendance reflected that.

But the Ravens... football fans are a different breed.  Baltimore fans are rabid.  While they love the Ravens and the whole town turns purple every Friday, the home fans ruthlessly pick apart the team; players, coaches, and management every Monday morning on the sports radio programs.  It's hard to live in this town and not be a Ravens fan.  The energy every Sunday is gripping, and attending a tailgate and home game was like a visiting a big purple carnival.

My son-in-law has managed a fantasy football team every season for many years now, and the extended family joins in with delight.  Each year I have a team and try to do my best with the players I end up with, but I seldom know non Raven players and tend to select them based on names that amuse me - and there are plenty.

I always try to pick a team name that reflects my literary interests.  I've been the Dewey Decimators, The Game of Throws, and Fifty Shades of Ray.  

Ever since Hamilton came out on Disney+, I've been addicted to the show.  I watch it ad nauseam, I listen to it on Spotify, I read everything I can about it, and I have the Chernow book in my reading queue.  Of course, this year's team needs to reflect my Hamilton love.  

Debuting in a few weeks will be my team:  Not Throwin' Away My Pass.

Desolation Mountain by William Kent Krueger

 

Desolation Mountain by William Kent Krueger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I will always love every Cork O'Connor book. This is currently the latest in his series - number 17 - how can that be?

Mining continues to be an issue on Minnesota's Iron Range.  Environmental devastation is pitted against economic devastation with both sides having avid proponents.  A Minnesota senator is flying into the area to speak at a town hall meeting when her plane crashes.  Cork O'Connor and son Stephen are some of the first responders to the scene.  They are soon shooed away by an assortment of government agencies.  Of course, Cork is reluctant to leave the search.  Additionally, Stephen has been having a disturbing vision that could be related to the plane crash.

One of the characters Cork connects with is Bo Thorsen who first appeared in an early book by Kruegar.  Thorsen had been a Secret Service agent, but is now in business for himself.  I found Cork and Bo to be an interesting combination, both alike and yet different.  Cork has his family to support and ground him, while Bo is almost entirely alone in the world.  Both men worked in service to their communities and held themselves to a higher standard.  Both men ended up leaving that service in order to be accountable to themselves.  As I read the book, I wondered if in Bo we were seeing what Cork would have become without his family to give him structure and perspective.  I would be happy to see these two men working together.

As usual, the author includes an interesting assortment of supporting characters - both good and bad.  Native spiritualism abounds and Henry Meloux who is now 100 is still offering obtuse observations and bits of wisdom.

It's been a few years since we've had an additional Cork O'Connor book.  I hear there is a prequel in the works. I am putting him on my watch list along with Harry Bosch, Jack Reacher, Virgil Flowers, and Lady Georgina Rannoch O'Mara. 

Keep them coming Mr. Kruegar!

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The Guest List by Lucy Foley

 

The Guest List by Lucy Foley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Agatha Christie was the first mystery author I read and loved. I loved those British mysteries whether set in a boat, on a train or at a house party. This book brought me right back to reading those beloved Christie stories.

The story takes place over two days on a desolate and possibly haunted island off the coast of Ireland. A wedding between two beautiful, up and coming, celebrities is about to happen. The wedding guests are friends and family who have mostly been kept apart from each other. Once all of the guests are together and the alcohol is flowing secrets start emerging and a character ends up dead. There are a host of possible and probable suspects. Clues are doled out sparingly and judiciously through the point of view chapters, and I was kept guessing until the end.

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I Got a Monster by Baynard Woods

 

I Got a Monster: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Corrupt Police Squad by Baynard Woods
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was fascinating to me. I live in suburban Baltimore and remember hearing about the Gun Trace Task Force and subsequent shake up in the Baltimore Police Department, but I didn't follow it closely. In all honesty, it seemed as though the BPD was always in the midst of a shake up of some sorts.

Reading the details of the corruption among the GTTF and throughout the police department was frightening. It truly seemed as though the "inmates were running the asylum." I had no idea how rampant the corruption was or how high it went. It's a wonder the city of Baltimore didn't explode sooner or more violently.  It certainly makes one wonder who is policing the police.

The book was well researched and documented. As I read each chapter I also read the accompanying research notes - something I never do. The writing wasn't as polished as it could have been. At some points I felt I wasn't being told the story of this corrupt group, but rather was having a list of their crimes reported to me.  Michelle McNamara's beautiful prose and the way she captured the narrative thread while telling the story of the Golden State Killer has definitely raised the bar as far as true crime reporting.  Now that I know what it can be, my expectations are much higher than they would have been a few years ago.

I hope this book will catch the eye of the public and not only be of interest to those of us in Baltimore.

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The Devil's Bed by William Kent Krueger

 

The Devil's Bed by William Kent Krueger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love William Kent Krueger's books - especially his Cork O'Connor mysteries.  This one of his earlier books. I went back to read it because the main character, Bo Thorsen, is also a character in his latest Cork O'Connor mystery.

Bo Thorsen is a secret service agent posted in Minnesota.  He's tasked with keeping the First Lady safe while visiting her father in Minnesota.  

I didn't like this book as much as his current books. His characters weren't as formed as is usual for this author.  His story had more graphic violence and less of the Ojibwe philosophy that are hallmarks of the O'Connor stories.  I see potential in the Thorsen character and could envision an additional series here - maybe an urban counterpart to the O'Connor stories.  I could tell the author hadn't quite hit his stride as  yet. It was easy to tell he was on his way, but wasn't as polished as he is today.  

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Camp Grandkids

 

Last week just about broke me!!  My local grandkids' daycare was closed for the week, and my daughter asked if I'd fill in.  Of course, I was delighted to host "Camp Mimi" for a 1 and 3 year old.  I armed myself with new toys, games, and snacks.  

What I ran out of was energy!!  We were on the go the entire time with

the exception of the daily nap-time hour for the 1 year old.  This "Camp Mimi" falling in the midst of an upsurge of Covid cases in my state, I didn't feel confident taking the grandkids on outings.  We played outside and inside, we played with Playdoh and made cookies, we build with Zoobs and made Brio train routes, we played with water and chalk.

I was happy to see them arrive each morning, but I was also happy to see them head home each evening.  Time to rest for a while and then begin training for the next daycare closure.

Review: The Vanishing Half

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Imagine identical twin sisters living very different lives.  

It all comes down to choices.  How and where you choose to live, and the consequences those choices bring.  Stella and Desiree were shadows of each other and seemed to be inseparable until one particular choice was made and that choice informed their lives forever.  

This book is also about secrets and lies, and the commitment to keeping those secrets and lies.   We see how that can damage relationships and change paths...sometimes for the better, but not always.

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The Lost Man by Jane Harper

The Lost Man by Jane Harper
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book takes place in the Australian outback, and the author paints the setting with such vivid strokes that it becomes a character in the story. It takes place on a cattle station, isolated and alone in a very harsh and deadly landscape. It's the story of a family and their secrets.

I thought the book started slow and took a while to really capture my attention. I'm not sure why. I think it took me a while to appreciate the setting and while the book is written in English, there are some cultural differences that I needed to adjust to.

I gave it a three star rating, because I'm still thinking about the ending. It heads into some murky territory that I'm not too sure what to make of.

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Untamed by Glennon Doyle

Untamed by Glennon Doyle
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Glennon Doyle talks about her family, life, and philosophies. I haven't read her other books and didn't know of her ministry prior to reading her book.

I really enjoyed reading this memoir(?) at first, but as I continued with it I found many sections to be repetitive. Often, I could predict what her response to the situation described in the chapter would be.

She is very verbose and could tend toward preachy. She would make her point and then hammer it home. It got old. Her writing came across with a certain smugness that really put me off. I got a "look at me" vibe from her writing. She mentions difficult times throughout her story, but doesn't really give us a look into them. I understand these are very private moments, but she's writing about her life and she broached the topics.

I'm still deciding what I think about her self-describing as a Christian writer. She refers to God as the Knowing, and refers to Christ as the "Jesus story". It sounded as though she was not willing to offend, and was tiptoeing around the language associated with being Christian.

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Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
My rating: 5 of 5 stars 

This is a beautiful, beautiful book.  The seminal event of the book is a plane crash that leaves one survivor - a 12 year old boy.  We meet the passengers on that flight, and discover with Edward what it takes for him to recover.

The author tells the story in two timelines, one before the crash and one after.  As the reader gets closer to the end of the book, she also gets closer to the crash.  It's gut wrenching.

All of the people in the boy's life want the best for him, but there is no playbook written for this kind of situation.  I love the way all of the characters were drawn; Edward, his aunt and uncle, neighbor girl, and principal being my favorite.  We even got to know several of the passengers and that made the description of the crash even more gut wrenching.

Learning that the author modeled the plane crash on a real crash lent authenticity and authority to the thread of narrative that takes place on the plane.

This book is well worth the time spent reading it.       



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